S.C. Braga
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Sporting Clube de Braga (Script error: No such module "IPA".), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, it also has departments for athletics, badminton, basketball, billiards, boccia, boxing, esports, futsal, karate, kickboxing, muay thai, swimming, taekwondo and volleyball.[1][2]
Founded on 19 January 1921, Braga are nicknamed, Braguistas, and Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists) for the shirt colour that resembles English club Arsenal. Since 2003, Braga have played their home matches at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, which replaced the Estádio 1º de Maio, now used for the club's reserve team.
In the 2000s, Braga became one of Portugal's most decorated clubs (5th) and has had some success in European competitions, winning the last UEFA Intertoto Cup (the only Portuguese club to do so) in 2008, and reaching the final of the UEFA Europa League in 2011. Domestically, they have also won another 7 domestic trophies: three Taça de Portugal in 1965–66, 2015–16, and in 2020–21, and the Taça da Liga three times in 2012–13, 2019–20 and 2023–24.
The club qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, reaching the competition for the first time in their history, by eliminating Celtic and Sevilla following a 2nd-place finish in the 2009–10 Primeira Liga season. This represented the highest finish in the league in the club's history. Moreover, in the 2010s, Braga have cultivated a reputation for spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system.
Braga have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Vitória de Guimarães, with whom they contest the Minho derby.
History
Existing records say that in 1919, two years before the formal foundation, a group of Braga residents who were sympathisers of the Lisbon-based Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting CP) came up with the name Sporting Clube de Braga. The equipment used was also identical to that of Sporting CP. During weekend matches at Campo das Goladas, the friends from Braga wore the classic Sporting CP Stromp kit, with a green and white shirt split down the middle. Influenced by sympathisers of Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Benfica), a solution was found in 1921 to please everyone. The name remained true to Sporting CP, but the kit changed to red and white, in honour of the connection of some of the Braga fans to Lisbon's Benfica.[3]
Until 1945, SC Braga imitated Benfica's kit. Red shirt, shorts and white socks. That year, at the end of World War II, the club adopted the Arsenal version for their second team, with white sleeves.[3] Braga changed their kits to their current red and white during the 1945–46 season (for the reserve squad) and the 1946–47 season (for the first team). The change, according to one version of the story, was at the behest of their president, José Antunes Guimarães, who had business connections in London and was an Arsenal fan; according to an alternate version, it was József Szabó, Braga's Hungarian coach, who asked the president to change the uniform to an Arsenal-style red and white. In 1947, Braga won the Second division title in the new kit, reaching the First division for the first time. Braga even renamed their youth team Arsenal de Braga.
Braga's emblem is the city of Braga's shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus with the blue from the city's shield changed to red. On the top of the emblem is the golden Mural Crown of Braga, with the name "Sporting Clube de Braga" on it. Many Braga fans have said that Mother Mary gives them luck. The fans of Braga are known as Arsenalistas due to their team home kit that resembles that of English club Arsenal.[4] They are also known as Bracarenses because of being from the city of Bracari, later named Bracara Augusta, city of Portugal that is now known as Braga.
| Season | UEFA Ranking | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | – | – |
| 2004–05 | 139th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 15.739 |
| 2005–06 | 136th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 17.533 |
| 2006–07 | 96th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 27.107 |
| 2007–08 | 79th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 33.176 |
| 2008–09 | 50th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 39.292 |
| 2009–10 | 48th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 39.659 |
| 2010–11 | 28th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 62.319 |
| 2011–12 | 29th File:Red Arrow Down.svg | 63.069 |
| 2012–13 | 29th Steady | 62.833 |
| 2013–14 | 40th File:Red Arrow Down.svg | 52.959 |
| 2014–15 | 37th File:Green Arrow Up.svg | 51.776 |
| 2015–16 | 46th File:Red Arrow Down.svg | 43.116 |
| 2016–17 | 55th File:Red Arrow Down.svg | 37.366 |
In the 1960s and 1970s, Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in the UEFA competitions. Braga's recent run of successive European participations began in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup after finishing fifth in the league under Jesualdo Ferreira's first full season in the club. In the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, the side reached the last 16 before a 6–4 aggregate loss to Tottenham Hotspur.[5] That summer, the club signed a three-year sponsorship deal with French insurance company Axa, who took over the naming rights for the stadium for €4.5 million;[6] this was renewed for a further three years in 2010.[7]
Braga won the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup and again reached the UEFA Cup last 16 in the 2008–09 season, where they lost by a single goal to Paris Saint-Germain.[8]
Braga was runners-up in the league for the only time in its history in the 2009–10 season under Domingos Paciência. Entering the UEFA Champions League for the first time, in the fourth qualifying round Braga beat Sevilla 1–0 at home and 4–3 away, thus making the group stage.[9] On 15 September 2010, Braga were heavily defeated 6–0 by Arsenal in its first group stage match.[10] Eliminated in third place, they dropped into the Europa League and reached the final in Dublin, where they lost to a goal by FC Porto's Radamel Falcao.[11]
Braga won the Taça da Liga for the first time in 2013 under José Peseiro, with one goal from Alan against Porto.[12] Two years later, Sérgio Conceição's side lost on penalties to Sporting CP in the Taça de Portugal final,[13] but Paulo Fonseca's triumphed over Porto on the same method in 2016 to win their first such cup in 50 years.[14]
In 2019–20, Braga went through four managers over the course of the season.[15] The second of these, Ruben Amorim, led them to a league cup victory over Porto, with Ricardo Horta scoring in added time to secure the trophy on home soil.[16]
On 28 July 2020, Carlos Carvalhal was announced as the new head coach, after 14 years away from the club.[17] He led the club to the league cup final again, where they lost to Amorim's new team Sporting,[18] but won the 2021 Taça de Portugal Final 2–0 against Benfica.[19] He would leave the club and be replaced by Artur Jorge after the 2021–22 season ended.[20]
On 10 October 2022, 21.67% of the club shares were bought for €80 million by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-run sovereign-wealth fund in Qatar owned by Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, who is also the owner of Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain through the QSI.[21] The season ended with third place and a return to the Champions League after 11 years, as well as club records for points (78), wins (25) and goals (75).[22]
SC Braga's considerable success in the first quarter of the 21st century, including participations in the UEFA Champions League, winning the Taça de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) for the second time in 2016 and the third in 2021, reaching the UEFA Europa League final in 2011, which they lost to fellow Portuguese side FC Porto and the inauguration of the Cidade Desportiva, newly built SC Braga's state-of-the-art facilities,[23] improved it on the UEFA club rankings and Portugal's professional football landscape to such an extent that SC Braga started to be dubbed one of the fourth greatest football club in Portugal and regarded as a big club together with the well-established classic Big Three.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
Finances and ownership
Results
In 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga - Futebol, SAD's net profit was 20.377 million euros and the EBITDA was 29.779 million euros.[30]
Ownership
Sporting Clube de Braga – Futebol, SAD is listed on Euronext Lisbon.[31] By 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga, the sports club as a whole, retained 36.99% of the football SAD (Sporting Clube de Braga – Futebol, SAD) stock, followed by Qatar Sports Investments with 29.60%, and then Sundown Investments Limited with 17.04%. Other investors held the remaining 16.37%.[32][33]
Rivalries
Rivalry with Vitória SC
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The Minho derby is the football rivalry between Sporting Clube de Braga and Vitória Sport Clube, two of the biggest clubs in the Minho region of northern Portugal. This derby is marked by great tension and passion, reflecting not only sporting competition, but also a historical and cultural rivalry between the cities of Braga and Guimarães that began even before the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal.[34] Since then it has been a struggle in all aspects of society, sport, culture, the economy... Football has only become a means used to transpose the rivalry. Considered to be one of the most exciting and fiercely contested matches in Portuguese football, the Dérbi Minhoto is eagerly awaited by the fans, who live intensely for the clash between these two cities traditionally known for their history and identity.[35][36]
Other rivalries
There is also a certain rivalry between Braga, Boavista, Belenenses and Vitória SC, due to the closeness in the number of titles and because they are some of the clubs with the largest number of fans in Portugal, with many people creating arguments to determine which would be the "4th big". However, the distance between these clubs and the Big Three is considerable enough in any sport to be given such a designation.[37]
League and cup history
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Recent seasons
| Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe (UEFA) | Notes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div. | Pos. | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Result | Result | Competition | Result | ||
| 2019–20 | 1st | 3rd | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 61 | 40 | 60 | R5 | W | Europa League | L32 | |
| 2020–21 | 4th | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 53 | 33 | 64 | W | RU | Europa League | L32 | ||
| 2021–22 | 4th | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 52 | 31 | 65 | R5 | R3 | Europa League | QF | ||
| 2022–23 | 3rd | 34 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 75 | 30 | 78 | RU | QF | Europa League Europa Conference League |
GS L32 |
||
| 2023–24 | 4th | 34 | 21 | 5 | 8 | 71 | 50 | 68 | R5 | W | Champions League Europa League |
GS L32 |
||
Honours
National
League
- Segunda Divisão[40]
- Winners (2): 1946–47, 1963–64
Cup
- Taça de Portugal
- Taça da Liga
- Taça Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
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International
- UEFA Intertoto Cup
- Winners (1): 2008 (Outright Winners)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
European record
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Overview
Fully up to date as of 2 August 2024.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League / European Cup | ||||||||
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | ||||||||
| UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup | ||||||||
| UEFA Europa Conference League | ||||||||
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | ||||||||
| Total |
Matches
Players
Current squad
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Out on loan
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|
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Former players
Club staff
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Manager | Template:Flagicon Carlos Vicens |
| Assistant Managers | Template:Flagicon Mario Enguidanos Template:Flagicon Lander García Template:Flagicon Jordi Fernández |
| Analyst | Template:Flagicon Guillermo Alonso |
| Goalkeeper Coach | Template:Flagicon Orlando Silva Template:Flagicon Eduardo Carvalho |
| Fitness Coach | Template:Flagicon Antonio Gómez |
| Chief Scout | Template:Flagicon Paulo Meneses |
| Scout | Template:Flagicon Ernesto Peixoto |
| Youth Chief Scout | Template:Flagicon José Luís Antunes |
| Head of Medical | Template:Flagicon Vítor Moreira |
Managerial history
- Template:Flagicon József Szabó (1935–37), (1945), (1953–54)
- Template:Flagicon Mário Imbelloni (1955–56)
- Template:Flagicon Eduardo Viso (1955–56)
- Template:Flagicon József Szabó (1956–57), (1960–61)
- Template:Flagicon António Teixeira (1964–65)
- Template:Flagicon José Valle (1965–66)
- Template:Flagicon Rui Sim-Sim (1966)
- Template:Flagicon Manuel Palmeira (1966)
- Template:Flagicon Fernando Caiado (1966–67)
- Template:Flagicon José Valle (1967)
- Template:Flagicon José Maria Vieira (1967–68)
- Template:Flagicon Artur Quaresma (1968–69)
- Template:Flagicon Federico Passos (1969)
- Template:Flagicon Alberto Pereira (1969–70)
- Template:Flagicon Joaquim Coimbra (1970)
- Template:Flagicon José Carlos (1975–76)
- Template:Flagicon Mário Lino (1976–77)
- Template:Flagicon Hilário Conceição (1977)
- Template:Flagicon Mário Imbelloni (1977–78)
- Template:Flagicon Fernando Caiado (1978–79)
- Template:Flagicon Hilário Conceição (1979–80)
- Template:Flagicon Mário Lino (1980–81)
- Template:Flagicon Quinito (1981–82)
- Template:Flagicon Juca (1 July 1982 – 30 June 1983)
- Template:Flagicon Quinito (1983–85)
- Template:Flagicon Henrique Calisto (1985)
- Template:Flagicon Humberto Coelho (1 July 1985–87)
- Template:Flagicon Manuel José (1987–89)
- Template:Flagicon Raul Águas (1990)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Garcia (1990–92)
- Template:Flagicon Vitor Manuel (1992)
- Template:Flagicon António Oliveira (1992–94)
- Template:Flagicon Neca (1994)
- Template:Flagicon Manuel Cajuda (1 July 1994 – 30 June 1997)
- Template:Flagicon Fernando Castro Santos (1997–98)
- Template:Flagicon Alberto Argibay Pazos (1998)
- Template:Flagicon Vítor Oliveira (1 July 1998–98)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Manuel (1998)
- Template:Flagicon Manuel Cajuda (1 April 1999 – 30 June 2002)
- Template:Flagicon Fernando Castro Santos (2002–03)
- Template:Flagicon Jesualdo Ferreira (19 April 2003 – 8 May 2006)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Carvalhal (10 May 2006 – 8 November 2006)
- Template:Flagicon Rogério Gonçalves (13 November 2006 – 19 February 2007)
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Costa (19 February 2007 – 30 October 2007)
- Template:Flagicon António Caldas (interim) (31 October 2007 – 11 November 2007)
- Template:Flagicon Manuel Machado (12 November 2007 – 21 April 2008)
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Jesus (20 May 2008 – 15 June 2009)
- Template:Flagicon Domingos (20 June 2009 – 30 June 2011)
- Template:Flagicon Leonardo Jardim (1 July 2011 – 30 June 2012)
- Template:Flagicon José Peseiro (1 July 2012 – 30 June 2013)
- Template:Flagicon Jesualdo Ferreira (1 July 2013 – 23 February 2014)
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Paixão (23 February 2014 – 23 May 2014)
- Template:Flagicon Sérgio Conceição (2014–15)
- Template:Flagicon Paulo Fonseca (2015–16)
- Template:Flagicon José Peseiro (1 July 2016 – 15 December 2016)
- Template:Flagicon Jorge Simão (17 December 2016 – 26 April 2017)
- Template:Flagicon Abel Ferreira (27 April 2017 – 30 June 2019)
- Template:Flagicon Ricardo Sá Pinto (3 July 2019 – 23 December 2019)[43]
- Template:Flagicon Ruben Amorim (27 December 2019 – 3 March 2020)
- Template:Flagicon Custódio (3 March 2020 – 1 July 2020)
- Template:Flagicon Artur Jorge (1 July 2020 – 28 July 2020)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Carvalhal (28 July 2020 – 15 May 2022)
- Template:Flagicon Artur Jorge (15 May 2022 – 3 April 2024)
- Template:Flagicon Rui Duarte (3 April 2024 – 18 May 2024)
- Template:Flagicon Daniel Sousa (24 May 2024 – 12 August 2024)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Carvalhal (12 August 2024 – 28 May 2025)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Vicens (28 May 2025 – present)
References
External links
- Template:Official website Template:In lang
- S.C. Braga at LPFP Template:In lang
- S.C. Braga at UEFA
- FootballLineups team profile
- Braga News at PSNL Soccer
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- ↑ Braga break into big time . uefa.com. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
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- ↑ Upon the formation of the Liga de Honra (League of Honor), a new second level national league in 1990, the Portuguese Second Division became the third tier of Portuguese football.
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