Benfica: Football Standings, Squad, News and Predictions for Lisbon's Eagles

Benfica are the Lisbon football club founded as Sport Lisboa on 28 February 1904 and named Sport Lisboa e Benfica in 1908, whose 2022-23 championship was their 38th Portuguese league title. They won the European Cup in 1961 and 1962, play at the Estádio da Luz, and reached 400,000 members in February 2025, the largest sports club membership recorded at that time. For readers in South Africa who call the game soccer, this is also the club that Eusébio, born in Mozambique, made famous.

The standings module explains league progress, while the dated news feed and squad module provide updates. If you mainly follow the Eagles on European nights, start with Benfica fixtures, where every match carries its time in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT. Think of it as the Lisbon corner of a busy Lagos viewing centre, with everything about one club in one place.

Who Are Benfica, the Eagles of Lisbon?

Benfica are a Lisbon football club with a history of domestic and European honours. They began on 28 February 1904 as Sport Lisboa and took the full name Sport Lisboa e Benfica in 1908. The nickname is As Águias, the Eagles, so a Nigerian who shouts for the Super Eagles already has a reason to look twice. Their great rivals are Porto and Sporting CP, the neighbours across Lisbon.

How Do You Read the Benfica Standings From Africa?

The Benfica standings sit in the live table module above, which updates after every Primeira Liga match, and the columns show how league results translate into points. Clubs meet home and away, with three points for a win and one for a draw, and the side on top at the end of the season is champion. Read the table's qualification markers alongside the competition labels, because European entry places depend on UEFA's access arrangements. South African readers can read the table, or log, in the same way. Compare Benfica's points with Porto and Sporting to follow the league dimension of those rivalries.

Where Is the Latest Benfica News and Transfer Talk?

Benfica news moves fastest around the dugout and the transfer windows, and the dated feed above carries each story as it lands. José Mourinho returned as head coach in September 2025 on a contract to the end of 2026/27, a quarter of a century after his first spell at the club in 2000. Injury updates and team news appear in the same feed before each match, because a fitness report can be out of date within hours. For readers in Nairobi and Accra, European draw announcements are a reason to follow the dated European news feed.

How Is the Benfica Squad Set Out?

The Benfica squad module lists the current first team by position, with each player's age and nationality, and it changes whenever the club buys, sells or promotes a youngster. Read it from the back, goalkeepers first and forwards last, and pay attention to the ages column. It could be argued that Benfica are one of Europe's great finishing schools, a club where talent arrives raw and leaves ready for the Premier League or LaLiga. For readers in Lagos, Kampala or Johannesburg, the nationality column is the one to scan for an African name, because one Super Eagles player in that list turns a Lisbon league match into a fixture worth staying up for.

How Should You Read Benfica Predictions and the Next Fixtures?

Benfica predictions on the site come as calls, each one giving a probability for the result and the reference price it was measured against, and every call stays on the record whether it lands or not. A league call weighs home advantage at the Estádio da Luz, the quality of the opponent and the gap between the two clubs in the table. A European call has to account for opponents from wealthier leagues. Perhaps the most useful habit is to compare our percentage with the price in front of you, and to treat every match as uncertain, because football always is.

Benfica's fixtures module separates domestic league matches from European ties. The competition label establishes the context: league results contribute points towards the championship, while European ties follow the format of their competition. Read that label alongside the dated prediction and its reference price before assessing the call.

What Have Benfica Won?

Benfica's 2022-23 championship was their 38th Portuguese league title. Their domestic honours also include the Taça de Portugal and Taça da Liga. But, the defining nights came in Europe. Benfica beat Barcelona 3-2 in the 1961 European Cup final, then returned a year later and beat Real Madrid 5-3 in 1962. In my opinion, that second final is the one match every new Benfica follower should know, with a young Eusébio helping Benfica beat Madrid.

Those two cups sit inside a longer European story. Benfica also reached the European Cup finals of 1963, 1965, 1968, 1988 and 1990, the UEFA Cup final in 1983 and the Europa League finals of 2013 and 2014. Earlier still, the Latin Cup of 1950 was the first international trophy won by any Portuguese club, and Benfica were Intercontinental Cup runners up in 1961 and 1962. Few clubs outside the biggest leagues can show a run of finals like that.

From Sport Lisboa to the Estádio da Luz: Home and Supporters

Benfica have played at the Estádio da Luz, the Stadium of Light, since 2003, and it holds 68,100 people. The club that started as Sport Lisboa in 1904 now fills one of the largest grounds in Portugal, and on European nights the noise travels well on a phone screen in a Nairobi matatu. As such, the stadium is part of the reason Benfica feel bigger on television than their league might suggest.

The supporters are the real measure of the club. Benfica reached 400,000 members in February 2025, the largest sports club membership recorded at that time, and members are the backbone of the institution. A 2006 study went wider and estimated about 14 million Benfica supporters worldwide. Of those, about 3.8 million were in Mozambique and 2.7 million in Angola, which tells you where the African story begins.

Why Do Benfica Matter to African Football Fans?

Eusébio is the heart of it. He was born in Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, Mozambique, in 1942, and became a key player in Benfica's European Cup finals of the 1960s. In 1965 he won the Ballon d'Or, and he remains the only player to win it while at a Portuguese club. For an African reader, that is a record worth repeating: one of the finest players in Europe in the 1960s grew up on this continent.

The 2006 estimates of support in Mozambique and Angola give Benfica's African connection a historical dimension. Readers in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda can explore that connection through Eusébio's career and the club's European history.

The nationality column offers another route into the squad for readers in Accra and Lagos. When an African player is listed, follow his position and appearances through the squad and results modules, then use the dated news feed for national team context.

Which Benfica Games Matter Most, and What Time Do They Kick Off?

Benfica's rivalry fixtures include Porto, a meeting known as O Clássico, and the Lisbon derby against Sporting CP. European fixtures add another competition to follow from Africa. Where to watch in each country is listed as data beside each fixture, because broadcast arrangements change from season to season.

Benfica's fixture times appear together in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT. For a 20:00 GMT start, Accra reads 20:00; Lagos follows at 21:00 WAT; Johannesburg uses 22:00 SAST; and Nairobi and Kampala use 23:00 EAT. Choose the column for your location when setting a reminder for a European fixture.