Nimesh Morarji

 

The Portuguese Super League is all set to kick off on the 24th August.
This season the Super League is called Liga Sagres due to sponsorship agreements. We also have a situation where all (big) teams are worried about  winning the championship because that is the only way to be sure of Champions League football next season. With than in mind all the major teams in Portugal (Benfica, Sporting and Porto) are doing everything that they can to ensure the championship title will be heading to them come the end of the season.

Last season Porto won the league by more than 10 points, a truly huge margin that Sporting and Benfica won’t let happen again.

This season has good expectations for other teams too. Guimarães and Braga are becoming stronger and stronger and they want to fight for a place in the top 3. Guimarães was 3rd  last season (and they came from the 2nd division to do it). They will hope to repeat the trick and qualify this season for the Champions League group stage.

There were some widely reported corruption problems last season [link to article]  that have led to Porto not competing in the Champions League and their chairman Pinto da Costa being suspended for two years. Boavista also lost their place in the top flight after they were demoted.

Hopefully this season the winner will be the team who is in fact more competitive and not who can buy the Cup.

This time Fifa and the world will be watching Liga Sagres, and in Portugal all are hoping that it can show the beauty and magic that gave birth to coaches like José Mourinho and Carlos Queiroz and players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Figo.

  Benfica

Two years ago, president Luis Felipe Vieira and the director of sport had a disagreement and Vieira fired him, but the almighty from Benfica had a plan for the future and it would involve a big risk for the season 07/08. Rui Costa who was at the end of his career was pencilled in to become the future director of sport and, in the long term, president of Benfica.

Rui Costa still had energy to play so Luis Felipe Vieira took control of everything and Rui could play. On the field Rui made the difference but off the pitch Benfica were struggling with lots of bad decisions from the president. Never before had Benfica finished more than 17 points behind the eventual league winners. After this bad experience things needed to be changed.

This season Rui Costa started as the new Director of Sport and this gave hope to the fans.

Quique Flores was hired as coach, Carlos Martins, Javier Balboa, Pablo Aimar and José Antonio Reyes are just a few of the names that Rui Costa secured to improve the team, and this should be enough to wake up these European giants. In fact, what made Quique Flores to accept this challenge were the words Rui Costa said to him, “please wake up a European giant.”

This season the team won’t be in the Champions league, but still they will try to conquer the Europe in UEFA Cup.

  Sporting Lisbon

Last season, Sporting lost some influential players and stumbled a little in the league, but still managed to grab second place and a ticket to the money making league, the Champions league. This season they brought back many players they had had before.

Fabio Rochemback and Marco Caneira came in, and also on the plus side they got Helder Postiga from Porto. With just a few tweaks Sporting promises to be a strong team in the fight for this league title.

  FC Porto

Last season champions.  More than 10 points clear of second place.  Deadly. Precise. This was the Porto of last season.

Quaresma, the player that Inter are so eager to sign, had an amazing season and lit up the league like a star. At the time of writing he is still a Porto player and this will be a major boost. Chelsea took Bosingwa and Atlletico Madrid stole Paulo Assunção. With these major players leaving the club for new challenges, Porto hired some new guns.

Christian Roriguez from Benfica, definitely the best player in Portugal last season, and Hulk from Tokyo Verdy. Buying cheap and selling high is Porto’s style and they also got Freddy Guarin, Sapunaru and Rolando. In the second game this season Porto play against Benfica and in the third against Sporting. By the time they have played three games we should know how they are shaping for this campaign.

  Vitória Guimarães

Last season was the year of the comeback for Guimarães, gaining promotion to the first league.

Like an arrow the ‘Minho’ went from the second division to 3rd place in the Super League, in just one season. The final part of the season was a little tricky for Guimarães and they lost 2nd place to Sporting.

This season they have some good challenges ahead, qualifying for the Champions League and repeating last season’s campaign. They lost some important players from last season like Geromel, Mrdakovic and Targino, but secured some good ones also like Nuno Assis and Luis Filipe, both from Benfica.

Guimarães isn’t a team made to win the league but they sure promise headaches for the big sides.

  Sporting Braga

Founded in 1921 and the winner’s of one domestic Cup in 1965/66, Sporting Braga is a team that is slowly growing up. After watching their rival Guimarães achieve success, they are fully fired up for this season. Mossoró and Meyong joined the team and will help Braga to conquer a place in the top five of the Liga Sagres.

  Marítimo

One of the teams that looked to be destined to record some great achievements last season, but at christmas time came the bogy man (Benfica) and took their very best player, Makukula, away to Lisbon. Still 5th place was a good finish and this season they will look to repeat it.

  Setubal

Jose Mourinho was born in this city. The team was founded in 1910 and has won three domestic cups and one league title.  Setubal are a team that are always fighting for a place in Europe, like Guimarães, Braga, Maritimo, Belenenses, Amadora and Nacional. All these teams are at the same level and always try to grab that 4th spot behind the big three. Last season the best they could do was 6th place. This season they hope to get 4th or better. In 2005 Setubal defeated Benfica in the final of thel cup and Bétis in the Iberia Cup. In 2008 they also took the league cup by beating Sporting.

  Belenenses

In the old days Belenenses were considered a big team like Porto, Benfica or Sporting, now they are trying to get back on track. With some ups and downs Belenenses are definitely a team to consider.  The winners of three cups and six championships, the Blues are trying to get back to their former glories. No doubt they will have to wait a while.

  Académica

Also known as the students Academica are a team from the capital of the best university in Portugal, Coimbra. Wearing black like the uniform of the university students, Académica is currently coached by Domingos Paciência, a former Porto player.

  Estrela da Amadora

Another team from the great city of Lisbon, Benfica, Sporting and Belenenses are the others. Amadora are a team without high expectations or special goals like winning a title. They are happy to be in the middle of the table and from time to time get a European spot in the UEFA Cup.

  Nacional

This is the second team from the island of Madeira that appears in Liga Sagres (Maritimo is the other one). Not long ago Nacional was a team that was always fighting against relegation and constantly relegated, now they have established themselves as a solid Super League team, showing good campaigns since the 2002/03 season. Manuel Machado is the coach for this season.

  Naval

A small team that we can say really has no chance of competing with the bigger ones. They always seem to get bullied around in games and it’s a miracle that they have stayed in the Super League the 2005/06 season. Can they survive again this season?

  Paços de Ferreira

Paços de Frereira are a team from the furniture capital of Portugal. All big teams know that this side is a thorn in their side. It is always difficult to beat Paços de Ferreira if you are a major team in Portugal and they always remind everyone of the tale of David and Goliath. No big money, no big names, only big motivation when they play against the big sides. Maybe if they kept this form in others games too, they could achieve something in the Super League.

  Rio Ave

Last season Rio Ave got 2nd   place in the second division. This season they have the chance to stay in Liga Sagres. With a striker called Ronaldo (no, not the Manchester United one), I hope they can do it.

  Trofense

Champions of the second division. After last season’s success they really deserve a chance to play in the Liga Sagres. They should be a good side to watch out for and always play good football. Trofense are keen to leave their mark on the Super League.

  Leixões

From the city of Porto, Leixões has a big fight on their hands if they want to survive in the Liga Sagres. With adversaries like Trofense, Rio Ave, Paços de Ferreira and Naval, it will certainly be a heart pounding competition to see who stays and who get relegated to the second division at the end of the season.

With all these great ingredients waiting to be mixed throughout the year, this season promises to be one of the very best yet. The smaller clubs seem to have changed their way of thinking and now believe they can compete with the big three. It will be hard for Benfica, Porto and Sporting to continue at the top of the table whilst fighting the advances of the smaller sides. Amongst these smaller teams some will of course be relegated and the battle for survival will be as exciting as that for the title.