S.L. Benfica (basketball)

Benfica Basket is the professional basketball team of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, based in Lisbon, Portugal. It plays in Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (LCB), although in June 2007, the team decided to leave the LCB professional top league and join for the 2007–2008 season the Proliga,^[2] a league organized by the Federação Portuguesa de Basquetebol. From 2008–09 onwards, Benfica decided to return to the LCB, then known as LPB.

S.L. Benfica are a top club in Portugal. One of its most memorable moments was when Benfica's basketball team won a European Cup clash against Italian giants Buckler Bologna, beating the Italians 102–90, on December 1, 1993 at Pavilhão da Luz in Lisbon.^[3] Benfica also managed to win against other top European basketball teams such as Real Madrid (in Spain), Union Olimpija, Joventut Badalona (in Spain), Panathinaikos BC, Pau-Orthez (in France) and CSKA Moscow.^{[1][4][5][6][7][8][9]} Despite basketball not being nearly as popular with the population as football, Benfica also enjoys a major rivalry with FC Porto's basketball team and it usually leads to arguments between the fans, players and staff.

On June 6, 2009, the same season the club returned to the premier league, Benfica became the national champion after 14 years without titles and in 2010 they renewed the title.

History

Early years and first successes

Created in 1927^[1], the basketball team followed the steps of many other sports that were supported by the club, achieving great success almost immediately. The team established itself as a main contender by the 1940s and during the whole 1960s gained the status of championship favourite and was already the club with the most titles won. By this time the club had won eight national championships and eight cups. This dominating spell decreased the following decade until early 1980s. In this time-span Benfica could only win two championships, in the 1969–70 and the 1974–75 season, but won four national cups, the second most prestigious Portuguese tournament, in 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 and 1973–74. After these years, Benfica again dominated the national scene.

Golden years

The most successful period of the club was between 1985 and 1995. In eleven seasons, the team won ten national titles, seven of which in a row, five national cups, five league cups and six supercups, achieving the best season ever by a Portuguese basketball team in 1994–95 winning the Portuguese League, Portuguese League Cup, Portuguese Supercup, Portuguese Basketball Cup and finishing the European Champions' Cup in the Top 16. One of the highlight from that European Champions' Cup season was a 22 point victory (102–80) against CSKA Moscow in Lisbon on the 12th January, 1995.^[9] Benfica also made successful international campaigns in the other seasons considering the budget the team had compared with other European big teams. Some of the most successful of those campaigns include the 1993–94, when Benfica nearly reached the Top 8,^[10] and for a third season in a row Benfica managed to reach the Top 16 again in the European Champions' Cup, in 1995–96.^[11]

Decline in the late 1990s

This period was followed by a dark era in which Benfica was internally overshadowed by Ovarense, Portugal Telecom and FC Porto. Even though this period is considered to be a dark one, Benfica did manage to reach the LPB final once as well as winning SuperCups and finishing runners-up in the national cup and the league cup. Also noteworthy is an away win against Real Madrid, in the 1996–97 EuroCup, the same season the Spaniards won the competition.^[4] The team finally decided to withdraw from the top tier and applied for the second league, the Proliga,^[2] which was the highest division run by the Federação Portuguesa de Basquetebol. However the first division was folded and the LPB was again being overviewed by the national federation. This allowed the team to make a comeback to the main league.

Revival in the 2010s

After more than a decade without any titles and in the same season Benfica had made a return to the first league, the 2008–09 season, the team won the Portuguese League, with a perfect score of 100% wins during the regular season, becoming the second team in the world to do so, after Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1970s, and thrashing Ovarense 4–0 in the best-of-four game final. Benfica won the championship again the following season with a 91% winning record in the regular stage and a 4–1 final against Porto. The recent success brought the team to participate in the EuroChallenge, thus marking the end of a mid-term long hiatus from Portuguese clubs in European basketball competitions. In the following year, however, Benfica was beaten by Porto both in the regular season and the finals, losing the title to their rivals.

Trophies

• Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol: 22^[12]
  • 1939–40, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1969–70, 1974–75, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2008–09, 2009–10

• Taça de Portugal: 18^[12]
  • 1945–46, 1946–47, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1980–81, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96

• Taça da Liga: 6^[12]
  • 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96

• Supertaça: 9^[12]
  • 1984–85, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2008–09, 2009–10

• Torneio dos Campeões: 1^[12]
  • 2006–07

• Taça Hugo dos Santos: 1^[12]
  • 2010–11

• Taça António Pratas: 3^[12]
  • 2007–08, 2008–09, 2011–12

• Supertaça Portugal-Angola: 1
  • 2009–10

Roster 2011–12

Depth chart

Home arenas

• Pavilhão dos Desportos 1946–1965
• Pavilhão da Luz (old) 1965–2003
• Pavilhão Império Bonança 2003–present

Former notable players

References