SL Benfica

Formed: 1904
 

Nickname: As Águias (The Eagles), Encarnados (The Reds)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs' Cup: 1961, 1962; (1963), (1965), (1968), (1988), (1990)
• UEFA Cup: (1983)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 32 (2010)
• Portuguese Cup: 24 (2004)

History• On 28 February 1904, Sport Lisboa e Benfica – originally known as Grupo Sport Lisboa – was founded at a meeting in a Lisbon pharmacy, Farmácia Franco, involving 24 men led by Cosme Damião.

• After winning ten Lisbon regional championships, a first national title arrived at the 15,000-capacity Campo das Amoreiras in 1935/36. Benfica moved to Campo Grande, where on-the-pitch success continued, and then to the Estádio da Luz in 1954.

• Under Hungarian Béla Guttmann the Eagles ended Real Madrid CF's monopoly of the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1960/61, beating FC Barcelona in the final. The next year they defeated Madrid to retain the trophy, aided by a new young signing from Mozambique: Eusébio.

• With Eusébio and a considerable number of Portuguese internationals in the squad, Benfica monopolised the domestic game in the 1960s, reaching – but losing – another three European Cup finals, in 1963, 1965 and 1968. The Encarnados suffered further European Cup final disappointment in 1988 and 1990 following two more decades of dominance alongside Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto.

• The club earned their 30th Portuguese title in 1993/94 but had to wait 11 years for No31 under Giovanni Trapattoni. By then Benfica were playing at the new Estádio da Luz, rebuilt to stage the UEFA EURO 2004 final. The Eagles made it 32 in the 2009/10 season under Jorge Jesus, ending Porto's four-year monopoly.

Club records
Most appearances: Nené (802)
Most goals: Eusébio (638)
Record victory: Benfica 13-1 AD Sanjoanense (Primeira Divisão, 27 April 1947)
Record defeat: Sporting Clube de Portugal 7-1 Benfica (Primeira Divisão, 14 December 1986)

* Last updated 1 June 2011