S.L. Benfica B

Benfica B

Full name	Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B"
Nickname(s)	As Águias (The Eagles) Os Encarnados (The Reds)
Founded	1999
Ground	Benfica Campus
Capacity	2,720
President	Rui Costa
Head coach	Nélson Veríssimo
League	Liga Portugal 2
2022–23	Liga Portugal 2, 15th of 18
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Active departments of S.L. Benfica
Football (men's) Football B (men's) Football U19 (men's) Football (women's) Futsal Roller hockey Basketball Handball Volleyball Athletics Swimming Rugby union Table tennis Billiards Canoeing

Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B" (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɨˈpɔɾ liʒˈβoɐ i βɐ̃jˈfikɐ be], commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Benfica Campus' main pitch.

During the 2012–13 season, Benfica B played home matches at the Estádio da Luz until February, when they moved to Estádio da Tapadinha to prevent excessive wear of the stadium's grass.^[1] In 2013–14, they permanently moved to their own training ground, capable of receiving professional league matches.

As a reserve team, Benfica B cannot play in the same division as the club's main team, thus being ineligible for promotion to the Primeira Liga. Moreover, they cannot enter domestic cup competitions such as the Taça de Portugal and Taça da Liga.

Since 2018–19, Benfica have an under-23 team playing in Liga Revelação, a competition for players who left the under-19s but who are not ready to join or regularly play for the first-team.^[2]

History

As Benfica sought a way to provide playing time for their youth and reserve players, they created a B team in 1999. The team officially started competing in the 1999–2000 season, with their first match played away against Portimonense S.C. (2–2) in late August.^[3] After three seasons in the Portuguese Second Division, they suffered relegation to the Terceira Divisão, where they would spend three years,^[4] before achieving promotion to the Portuguese Second Division in 2005. In May of the following year, the board of directors extinguished the side, which returned to activity shortly after as part of the Liga Intercalar. As part of this competition, the team's best league finish was a second place, behind Estoril B, in the South Zone of the 2010–11 season.

Before the end of the 2011–12 football season in Portugal, seven Primeira Liga clubs announced their interest in creating a reserve team to fill the six vacancies available in the Segunda Liga (now Liga Portugal 2) for the 2012–13 campaign.^[5] Of those seven clubs, six were selected to take part in the competition: Benfica, Braga, Marítimo, Porto, Sporting CP and Vitória de Guimarães.^[6]

LPFP, who organize the professional football tiers in Portugal, announced that the clubs would have to pay €50,000 to register themselves at the league in order to compete in the upcoming season.^[7] In addition, LPFP also required them to follow new rules regarding player selection, in which each B team must have a squad with a minimum of ten players formed at the club's academy and with an age between 15 and 21 years, and a maximum of three players above 23 years old. LPFP also decided that reserve teams are unable to compete in cup competitions and to gain promotion to the Primeira Liga due to the possibility of playing against their club's first team.

In late May 2012, it was officially announced that the B teams of six Primeira Liga clubs would compete in the 2012–13 Segunda Liga, a decision that increased the number of teams from 16 to 22 and the number of matches from 30 to 42.^[8]

In 2014, Benfica B were invited to play in the first Premier League International Cup. On 29 May 2015, they played a friendly against F.C. United of Manchester in Broadhurst Park's official opening match.^[9][10] On 26 May 2019, they played a practice match against Liverpool in Marbella, Spain, five days before the latter's Champions League final.^[11]

Players

Current squad

As of 9 February 2024^[12][13]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 45 GK  JPN Leo Kokubo 48 DF  POR Rafael Rodrigues 52 FW  POR Henrique Pereira 57 FW  POR José Marques 60 MF  POR Nuno Félix 62 DF  FRA Lenny Lacroix 66 DF  USA Joshua Wynder 70 DF  POR Filipe Cruz 71 DF  POR João Tomé 73 DF  BRA Tiago Cóser 74 MF  SVN Žan Jevšenak 75 GK  POR André Gomes 76 DF  BRA Gustavo Marques (on loan from América Mineiro) 77 FW  POR Gerson Sousa

No. Pos. Nation Player 78 DF  POR Kiko Domingues 79 MF  POR Hugo Félix 80 FW  POR Pedro Santos 81 DF  ALB Adrian Bajrami 82 DF  POR Diogo Spencer 83 MF  POR Rafael Luís 84 MF  POR João Rego 86 MF  POR Diogo Prioste 88 FW  BRA Cauê (on loan from Lommel) 89 FW  POR Gustavo Varela 90 FW  CPV Gilson Benchimol (on loan from Estoril)[14] 92 GK  POR Pedro Souza 98 GK  POR Ricardo Ribeiro

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 49 MF  POR Martim Neto (Gil Vicente until 30 June 2024)[15] — DF  POR Ricardo Teixeira (at Leixões until 30 June 2024)[16] — MF  POR Tiago Dantas (at AZ Alkmaar until 30 June 2024)[17] — FW  POR Henrique Araújo (at Famalicão until 30 June 2024)[18]

Coaching staff

Records and statistics

Season-to-season record

Season	Div	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Top scorer	Goals	Refs
1999–2000	III	13th	38	14	6	18	53	49	48	Cláudio Oeiras	11	[21][22]
2000–2001	III	9th	38	14	11	13	58	57	57	Jorge Cordeiro	16	[23][24]
2001–2002	III	18th	38	11	11	16	35	42	44	Jorge Ribeiro	5	[25]
2002–2003	IV	3rd	34	14	14	6	47	25	56			[26]
2003–2004	IV	5th	34	15	8	11	63	48	53			[26]
2004–2005	IV	1st	34	21	9	4	71	29	72			[26]
2005–2006	III	11th	30	11	8	11	40	40	41	Vasco Firmino	5	[27][28]
2012–2013	II	7th	42	15	17	10	71	54	62	Miguel Rosa	17	[29][30]
2013–2014	II	5th	42	20	10	12	77	56	70	Funes Mori	13	[31][32]
2014–2015	II	6th	46	22	11	13	81	60	77	Rui Fonte	17	[33][34]
2015–2016	II	19th	46	15	10	21	59	64	55	Sancidino Silva	6	[35][36]
2016–2017	II	4th	42	18	9	15	56	58	63	Heriberto Tavares	11	[37][38]
2017–2018	II	13th	38	14	7	17	54	60	49	Heriberto Tavares	14	[39]
2018–2019	II	4th	34	15	7	12	47	42	52	Chris Willock	11	[40]
2019–2020	II	14th	24	7	7	10	31	35	28	Daniel dos Anjos	8	[41]
2020–2021	II	8th	34	12	8	14	53	43	44	Gonçalo Ramos Henrique Araújo	11	[42]
2021–2022	II	5th	34	17	6	11	61	44	57	Henrique Araújo	14	[43]
2022–2023	II	15th	34	10	8	16	52	58	38	Henrique Pereira	9	[44]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 27 May 2023. Only competitive matches are counted, including those in the Premier League International Cup.

Name	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win %	Honours	Refs
Alan Murray		1999	November 1999	9	4	0	5	13	12	044.44		[45][46]
José Morais		November 1999	2001	67	24	17	26	98	94	035.82		[47][48]
António Veloso		9 June 2001	2002	38	11	11	16	35	42	028.95		[49][50]
Carlos Gomes		2002	July 2004	68	28	24	16	107	72	041.18		[51][52]
João Santos		2004	2006	64	32	17	15	111	69	050.00	2004–05 Terceira Divisão	[53][54]
Luís Norton de Matos		4 May 2012	30 May 2013	42	15	17	10	71	54	035.71		[55][56]
Hélder Cristóvão		3 July 2013[57]	12 May 2018	224	93	49	82	340	309	041.52		[58][59]
Bruno Lage		1 July 2018[60]	3 January 2019	15	8	3	4	15	11	053.33		[61][62]
Nélson Veríssimo (caretaker)		3 January 2019	15 January 2019	3	0	1	2	5	7	000.00		[63][64]
Renato Paiva		15 January 2019	25 December 2020	58	21	12	25	84	85	036.21		[65]
Nélson Veríssimo		25 December 2020	28 December 2021	36	18	10	8	64	38	050.00		[64]
Paulo Mateus (caretaker)		28 December 2021	28 December 2021	1	0	0	1	1	2	000.00		[66]
António Oliveira		5 January 2022	13 May 2022	18	7	3	8	37	57	038.89		[67]
Luís Castro		2 June 2022	8 June 2023	34	10	8	16	52	58	029.41		[68]
Nélson Veríssimo		6 July 2023	Present	0	0	0	0	0	0	!—		[64]

Honours

• Terceira Divisão

Winners: 2004–05

Under-23s current squad

As of 7 September 2023^[69]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  SWE Alexander Sandahl — GK  POR João Félix — GK  POL Marcel Mendes — GK  SRB Luka Velickovic — DF  POR João Conceição — DF  POR Leandro Santos — DF  BRA Tiago Coser — DF  POR José Müller — DF  POR João Fonseca — DF  MLI Modibo Keita — DF  POR Tiago Parente — DF  POR Vladimir Mendes — MF  POR João Veloso

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  AUS Paul Okon-Engstler — MF  CAN Carlos Meotti — MF  POR Tiago Freitas — FW  POR Gonçalo Moreira — FW  POR José Melro — FW  NED Kyanno Silva — FW  POR Ivan Lima — FW  POR Ricardo Nóbrega — FW  POR Rodrigo Rêgo — FW  EST Karel Mustmaa — FW  POR Martim Fortes — FW  USA Marcos Zambrano — FW  FRA Sofiane Dris

Coaching staff

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and French)
• S.L. Benfica B at LPFP (in English and Portuguese)