Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
SL Benfica
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (commonly referred to as simply SL Benfica, Benfica or Benfica Lisbon) is a football club based in Lisbon, Portugal. Benfica was founded in 1904 as Sport Lisboa, but underwent a name change in 1908 after merging with Sport Club de Benfica.
Benfica was one of Europe's first powerhouses, and was the first team to break Real Madrid's dominance in the early European Champions Cup. Having won two European Cups in a row (1961 and 1962), the Lisbon club never managed to win a European trophy again, despite losing several ECC finals to AC Milan (1962 and 1989), Internazionale (1964), Manchester United (1967) and PSV (1988), plus a UEFA Cup in 1982 (Anderlecht). In 1968, it was considered the best European Team by France Football. Many of its successes in the 1960s were with all-time football great Eusébio in the side.
During the 1970s, the team faded slightly from the European scene, but remained the main force inside the Portuguese football scene. However, financial problems began undermining the club. In the 1980s the board decided to close the third level in the Estádio da Luz, and a questionable signing policy (which included squads composed of well over 30 players, signing players for hefty sums without any sporting or financial return, and signing fading Portuguese star Futre in the early 1990s), resulted in several problems in the years ahead. Consequently, the lowest point in recent Benfica's history was the heavy 7-0 loss against Celta Vigo for the UEFA Cup, followed by a sixth place and a fourth place that ruled them out of European competitions for the first time in history.
Recently, the club is attempting to recover from its financial and sporting failures.
Benfica play their home games in the new Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (unofficially "Estádio da Luz", literally the stadium of light) - which is partly built on top of the old stadium grounds -, one of Europe's largest sporting stadiums and host of the Euro 2004 final. They are Portugal's most decorated football team, having won 30 domestic league titles, 24 Portuguese Cups, and two European Cups.
As a multiple sports-oriented club, Benfica also field teams in basketball, roller hockey, indoor football (futsal), volleyball, handball, water polo, rugby and an athletics team. In total, Benfica have 13 international titles: 3 in football (two European Cups - 60/61 and 61/62, one Latina Cup - 49/50); one in roller hockey (CERS Cup - 90/91); 4 in rugby (3 Iberian Cup + 1 Torneio Ibérico) and 5 in athletics (Athletics European Cup ).
Current Football Squad (2004/05 season)
This is the full squad for the 2004/2005 season.
| Number | Player | Position | Previous club | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | ||||
| 1 | 
| José Filipe da Silva Moreira | GK | |
| 12 |
| Joaquim Manuel S. Silva Quim | GK | Sporting Clube de Braga |
| 24 | 
| Yannick Daniel Quesnel | GK | Futebol Clube de Alverca |
| Defenders | ||||
| 2 |
| Euripedes D. Adão Amoreirinha | CD | Futebol Clube de Alverca |
| 30 | 
| André Luís | CD | Santos Futebol Clube |
| 4 |
| Anderson R. L. Silva Luisão | CD | Cruzeiro Esporte Clube
|
| 13 |
| Alcides Eduardo M. Araújo Alves | CD | Santos Futebol Clube |
| 14 | 
| Panagiotis Fyssas | LD | |
| 18 |
| Manuel Dos Santos Fernandes | LD | Olympique de Marseille |
| 23 |
| Luís Miguel Brito G. Monteiro | RD | |
| 47 |
| João Pedro Da Silva Pereira | RD | |
| - | Ivan Dudic | RD | Red Star Belgrade | |
| 33 |
| Ricardo Sérgio Rocha Azevedo | CD\RD | |
| Midfielders / Wingers | ||||
| 5 |
| Paulo Almeida Dos Santos | DM | Santos Futebol Clube |
| 6 |
| Armando G. Teixeira "Petit" | DM | |
| 8 |
| Bruno João Morais Aguiar | LW\RW | Futebol Clube de Alverca |
| 10 | 
| Zlatko Zahovic | AM | |
| 19 |
| Everson Pereira Da Silva | RM | OGC Nice |
| 28 |
| Roger Galera Flores | AM | Fluminense |
| 15 |
| Nuno Assis | AM | Vitória de Guimarães |
| 37 |
| Manuel Henriques T. Fernandes | CM | |
| Forwards | ||||
| 7 |
| Carlos A. A. Garcia "Carlitos" | RF | GD Estoril-Praia |
| 9 | 
| Pedro Manuel Torres "Mantorras" | CF | |
| 11 |
| Geovanni Deiberson Maurício | CF\RF | |
| 20 |
| Simão Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa | RF\LF | |
| 21 |
| Nuno Miguel S. P. Ribeiro "Gomes" | CF | |
| 22 | 
| Azar Karadas | CF | Rosenborg B.K. |
| 25 | 
| Tomislav Sokota | (fired) | |
| Manager | ||||
| Giovanni Trapattoni | Italy national football team | ||
External link
- UNOFFICIAL - SL Benfica Website
- UNOFFICIAL - SL Benfica Website in English
- UNOFFICIAL - SL Benfica Website in German
- SL Benfica Supporters:
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details