Portuguese Liga

Primeira Liga

Organising body	Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP)
Founded	1934 (1934)
Country	Portugal
Confederation	UEFA
Number of clubs	18 (since 2014–15)
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Liga Portugal 2 (1990–present) Segunda Divisão (1934–1990)
Domestic cup(s)	Taça de Portugal Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
League cup	Taça da Liga
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Conference League
Current champions	Porto (31st title) (2025–26)
Most championships	Benfica (38 titles)
Most appearances	Manuel Fernandes (486)
Top scorer	Fernando Peyroteo (332)
Broadcaster(s)	List of broadcasters
Sponsor(s)	Betclic
Website	ligaportugal.pt
Current: 2025–26 Primeira Liga

The Primeira Liga (Portuguese pronunciation: [pɾiˈmɐjɾɐ ˈliɣɐ]), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, it has been contested by 18 teams since the 2014–15 season, with the three lowest-placed teams relegated to the Liga Portugal 2 and replaced by the top-three non-reserve teams from this division.^[a]

Founded in 1934 as Campeonato da Liga da Primeira Divisão, it was named Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão from 1938 until 1999, when it was changed to its current naming. Over 70 teams have competed in the Primeira Liga, but only five have been crowned champions. Among them, the "Big Three" teams—Benfica (38 wins), Porto (31) and Sporting CP (21)—have won all but two Primeira Liga titles; the other winners are Belenenses (1945–46) and Boavista (2000–01).^[2]

The Primeira Liga reached a world ranking of fourth according to IFFHS's 2011 ranking.^[3]

In January 2025, Liga Portugal launched a redesign of its official digital platforms, developed in collaboration with the Portuguese technology company Magycal^[4]. The update introduced club-specific personalised experiences, real-time goal notifications and match updates, live statistics, line-ups, video highlights, and access to exclusive match replays, aiming to enhance fan engagement and modernise the league's digital ecosystem^[5].

History

Before the Portuguese football reform of 1938, a competition on a round-basis was already being held – the Primeira Liga (Premier League) and the winners of that competition were named "League champions". Despite that, a Championship of Portugal in a knock-out cup format was the most popular and defined the Portuguese champion, although the winners of this competition no longer count as Portuguese football champions.

Then, with the reform, a round-robin basis competition was implemented as the most important of the calendar and began defining the Portuguese champion. From 1938 to 1999, the name Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão (National Championship of the First Division) or just Primeira Divisão (First Division), was used.^[6]

Porto won the inaugural edition of the new league championship and successfully defended the title in the next season. In 1939–40 the tournament was expanded from eight to ten clubs, due to an administrative battle between Porto and Académico do Porto, regarding a Regional Championship game that ended with only 43 minutes after the start, and later repeated (which FC Porto won) according to Porto FA decision. FPF came out with a decision to satisfy both clubs, expanding the championship to 10 teams (one more from Porto FA and another from Setúbal FA) and annulling the result from the repetition match. With this decision, FC Porto lost the Regional title and finished in 3rd, Leixões SC became the new regional champion, while Académico was 2nd place. All 3 teams qualified for 1939–40 Primeira Divisão.^[7]

In the 1941–42 season, it was decided to expand the championship from eight to ten teams to admit Braga FA and Algarve FA champions (until this season only the top teams from Porto, Coimbra, Lisboa and Setúbal were admitted).^[8] Porto finished the regional championship in third place again, which did not grant entry into the Primeira Liga.^[9] However, a second expand (from 10 to 12) in the same season was decided, which allowed the club to participate.^[10]

After the 1945–46 season, the qualifying system based on regional championships was abandoned and adopted a pyramid system, with relegations and promotions between the 3 tiers. The clubs in Primeira Divisão, Segunda Divisão and Terceira Divisão no longer had to play their district championships on the same season as they had been doing since the first seasons of the Liga.^[8] Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history;

When the Portuguese League for Professional Football took control of the two nationwide leagues in 1999, it was renamed "Primeira Liga" (Premier League).

Competition

Since the 2014–15 season, there are 18 clubs in the Primeira Liga, up from 16 in the previous seasons. During the course of a season, each club plays all teams twice – once at their home stadium and once at their opponent's stadium – for a total of 34 games. At the end of each season, the two lowest placed teams are relegated to the Segunda Liga and the top two teams from Segunda Liga are promoted to the Primeira Liga.

UEFA ranking

UEFA League Ranking as of the 2023–24 season:^[19]

Clubs

Tondela

Arouca

V. Guimarães

──────Moreirense

AVS

Braga

Famalicão

Porto

Gil Vicente

Rio Ave────

Casa Pia

Lisbon

Alverca

Estoril

Locations of teams in the 2025–26 Primeira Liga.

Sporting CP

Benfica

Est. Amadora

Locations of teams in the 2025–26 Primeira Liga from the Lisbon area

Nacional

Locations of teams in the 2025–26 Primeira Liga from Madeira.

Santa Clara

Locations of teams in the 2025–26 Primeira Liga from Azores.

League attendance record

Since the beginning of the league, there are three clubs with an attendance much higher than the others: Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP. They have also the biggest stadiums in Portugal, with more than 50,000 seats. Other clubs, such as Vitória de Guimarães and Braga, also have good attendances. Académica de Coimbra, Vitória de Setúbal, Boavista, Belenenses, and Marítimo are historical clubs, with more than 40 top-flight seasons, from the biggest Portuguese cities, and have also many supporters. However, they do not have big attendances nowadays. Their stadiums have between 10,000 and 30,000 seats.

In the 2023–24 season, Liga Portugal broke the record for stadium attendance in the last 12 years of Liga records, with an increase of more than 10% compared to the previous season.^[20] The total accumulated audience figures were 3,707,290 and 556,267 people, giving an average attendance of 12,115 and 1,818 spectators in the Primeira and Segunda Liga, respectively. It's also the highest in the last 34 years and the only one to pass the 12,000 barrier since the 1989–90 season.^[21]

This is due to the League's joint initiative with Continente "É Para Cartão" to bring families back to the stadiums.^[22] The slogan "Football is You" was a success, as this season many historic clubs in lower leagues managed to have much higher averages than several clubs in the Primeira Liga.^[23]

In the following season, 2024-25, the league once again set a new record for stadium attendance, with a 1.5% increase on the previous season. The total accumulated audience totalled 3,761,888 people, giving an average attendance of 12,294 spectators. This is the highest this season and the second time since the 1989/90 season that the 12,000 barrier has been surpassed. This is mainly due to the rise in the averages of Benfica, Sporting, Porto, Vitória de Guimarães, Farense and Gil Vicente, who are the only clubs to have improved their averages, while the rest of the clubs have fallen considerably.

The record season of 2024–25 saw the following statistics per club:^[24]

List of champions and top scorers

Clubs										Players
Season		Champions	Points	Runners-up	Points	Third place	Points	Teams	Rounds	Bola de Prata (top scorer)	Club	Goals
Campeonato da Liga da Primeira Divisão
	1934–35	Porto	22	Sporting CP	20	Benfica	19	8	14	Manuel Soeiro	Sporting CP	14
	1935–36	Benfica	21	Porto	20	Sporting CP	18	8	14	Pinga	Porto	21
	1936–37	Benfica (2)	24	Belenenses	23	Sporting CP	19	8	14	Manuel Soeiro	Sporting CP	24
	1937–38	Benfica (3)	23	Porto	23	Sporting CP	22	8	14	Fernando Peyroteo	Sporting CP	34
Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão
	1938–39	Porto (2)	23	Sporting CP	22	Benfica	21	8	14	Costuras	Porto	18
	1939–40	Porto (3)	34	Sporting CP	32	Belenenses	25	10	18	F. Peyroteo / S. Kodrnja	Sporting CP / Porto	29
	1940–41	Sporting CP	23	Porto	20	Belenenses	19	8	14	Fernando Peyroteo	Sporting CP	29
	1941–42	Benfica (4)	38	Sporting CP	34	Belenenses	30	12	22	Correia Dias	Porto	36
	1942–43	Benfica (5)	30	Sporting CP	29	Belenenses	28	10	18	Julinho	Benfica	24
	1943–44	Sporting CP (2)	31	Benfica	26	Atlético CP	24	10	18	Francisco Rodrigues	Vitória de Setúbal	28
	1944–45	Benfica (6)	30	Belenenses	27	Sporting CP	27	10	18	Francisco Rodrigues	Vitória de Setúbal	21
	1945–46	Belenenses	38	Benfica	37	Sporting CP	32	12	22	Fernando Peyroteo	Sporting CP	37
	1946–47	Sporting CP (3)	47	Benfica	41	Porto	33	14	26	Fernando Peyroteo	Sporting CP	43
	1947–48	Sporting CP (4)	41	Benfica	41	Belenenses	37	14	26	António Araújo	Porto	36
	1948–49	Sporting CP (5)	42	Benfica	37	Belenenses	35	14	26	Fernando Peyroteo	Sporting CP	40
	1949–50	Benfica (7)	45	Sporting CP	39	Atlético CP	30	14	26	Julinho	Benfica	29
	1950–51	Sporting CP (6)	45	Porto	34	Benfica	30	14	26	Manuel Vasques	Sporting CP	29
	1951–52	Sporting CP (7)	41	Benfica	40	Porto	36	14	26	José Águas	Benfica	28
	1952–53	Sporting CP (8)	43	Benfica	39	Belenenses	36	14	26	Matateu	Belenenses	29
	1953–54	Sporting CP (9)	43	Porto	36	Benfica	32	14	26	João Martins	Sporting CP	31
	1954–55	Benfica (8)	39	Belenenses	39	Sporting CP	37	14	26	Matateu	Belenenses	32
	1955–56	Porto (4)	43	Benfica	43	Belenenses	37	14	26	José Águas	Benfica	28
	1956–57	Benfica (9)	41	Porto	40	Belenenses	33	14	26	José Águas	Benfica	30
	1957–58	Sporting CP (10)	43	Porto	43	Benfica	36	14	26	Arsénio Duarte	CUF do Barreiro	23
	1958–59	Porto (5)	41	Benfica	41	Belenenses	38	14	26	José Águas	Benfica	26
	1959–60	Benfica (10)	45	Sporting CP	43	Belenenses	36	14	26	Edmur Ribeiro	Vitória de Guimarães	25
	1960–61	Benfica (11)	46	Sporting CP	42	Porto	33	14	26	José Águas	Benfica	27
	1961–62	Sporting CP (11)	43	Porto	41	Benfica	36	14	26	Veríssimo	Porto	23
	1962–63	Benfica (12)	48	Porto	42	Sporting CP	38	14	26	José Augusto Torres	Benfica	26
	1963–64	Benfica (13)	46	Porto	40	Sporting CP	34	14	26	Eusébio	Benfica	28
	1964–65	Benfica (14)	43	Porto	37	CUF do Barreiro	35	14	26	Eusébio	Benfica	28
	1965–66	Sporting CP (12)	42	Benfica	41	Porto	34	14	26	Eusébio / E. Figueiredo	Benfica / Sporting CP	25
	1966–67	Benfica (15)	43	Académica	40	Porto	39	14	26	Eusébio	Benfica	31
	1967–68	Benfica (16)	41	Sporting CP	37	Porto	36	14	26	Eusébio	Benfica	42
	1968–69	Benfica (17)	39	Porto	37	Vitória de Guimarães	36	14	26	Manuel António	Académica	19
	1969–70	Sporting CP (13)	46	Benfica	38	Vitória de Setúbal	36	14	26	Eusébio	Benfica	20
	1970–71	Benfica (18)	41	Sporting CP	38	Porto	37	14	26	Artur Jorge	Benfica	23
	1971–72	Benfica (19)	55	Vitória de Setúbal	45	Sporting CP	43	16	30	Artur Jorge	Benfica	27
	1972–73	Benfica (20)	58	Belenenses	40	Vitória de Setúbal	38	16	30	Eusébio	Benfica	40
	1973–74	Sporting CP (14)	49	Benfica	47	Vitória de Setúbal	45	16	30	Héctor Yazalde	Sporting CP	46
	1974–75	Benfica (21)	49	Porto	44	Sporting CP	43	16	30	Héctor Yazalde	Sporting CP	30
	1975–76	Benfica (22)	50	Boavista	48	Belenenses	40	16	30	Rui Jordão	Benfica	30
	1976–77	Benfica (23)	51	Sporting CP	42	Porto	41	16	30	Fernando Gomes	Porto	26
	1977–78	Porto (6)	51	Benfica	51	Sporting CP	42	16	30	Fernando Gomes	Porto	25
	1978–79	Porto (7)	50	Benfica	49	Sporting CP	42	16	30	Fernando Gomes	Porto	27
	1979–80	Sporting CP (15)	52	Porto	50	Benfica	45	16	30	Rui Jordão	Sporting CP	31
	1980–81	Benfica (24)	50	Porto	48	Sporting CP	37	16	30	Nené	Benfica	20
	1981–82	Sporting CP (16)	46	Benfica	44	Porto	43	16	30	Jacques Pereira	Porto	27
	1982–83	Benfica (25)	51	Porto	47	Sporting CP	42	16	30	Fernando Gomes	Porto	36
	1983–84	Benfica (26)	52	Porto	49	Sporting CP	42	16	30	Fernando Gomes / Nené	Porto / Benfica	21
	1984–85	Porto (8)	55	Sporting CP	47	Benfica	43	16	30	Fernando Gomes	Porto	39
	1985–86	Porto (9)	49	Benfica	47	Sporting CP	46	16	30	Manuel Fernandes	Sporting CP	30
	1986–87	Benfica (27)	48	Porto	46	Vitória de Guimarães	41	16	30	Paulinho Cascavel	Vitória de Guimarães	22
	1987–88	Porto (10)	66	Benfica	51	Belenenses	48	20	38	Paulinho Cascavel	Sporting CP	23
	1988–89	Benfica (28)	63	Porto	56	Boavista	49	20	38	Vata	Benfica	16
	1989–90	Porto (11)	59	Benfica	55	Sporting CP	46	18	34	Mats Magnusson	Benfica	33
	1990–91	Benfica (29)	69	Porto	67	Sporting CP	57	20	38	Rui Águas	Benfica	25
	1991–92	Porto (12)	56	Benfica	46	Boavista	44	18	34	Ricky	Boavista	30
	1992–93	Porto (13)	54	Benfica	52	Sporting CP	45	18	34	Jorge Cadete	Sporting CP	18
	1993–94	Benfica (30)	54	Porto	52	Sporting CP	51	18	34	Rashidi Yekini	Vitória de Setúbal	21
	1994–95	Porto (14)	62	Sporting CP	53	Benfica	49	18	34	Hassan Nader	Farense	21
	1995–96	Porto (15)	84	Benfica	73	Sporting CP	67	18	34	Domingos Paciência	Porto	25
	1996–97	Porto (16)	85	Sporting CP	72	Benfica	58	18	34	Mário Jardel	Porto	30
	1997–98	Porto (17)	77	Benfica	68	Vitória de Guimarães	59	18	34	Mário Jardel	Porto	26
	1998–99	Porto (18)	79	Boavista	71	Benfica	65	18	34	Mário Jardel	Porto	36
Primeira Liga
	1999–2000	Sporting CP (17)	77	Porto	73	Benfica	69	18	34	Mário Jardel	Porto	37
	2000–01	Boavista	77	Porto	76	Sporting CP	62	18	34	Pena	Porto	22
	2001–02	Sporting CP (18)	75	Boavista	70	Porto	68	18	34	Mário Jardel	Sporting CP	42
	2002–03	Porto (19)	86	Benfica	75	Sporting CP	59	18	34	Fary Faye / Simão	Beira-Mar / Benfica	18
	2003–04	Porto (20)	82	Benfica	74	Sporting CP	73	18	34	Benni McCarthy	Porto	20
	2004–05	Benfica (31)	65	Porto	62	Sporting CP	61	18	34	Liédson	Sporting CP	25
	2005–06	Porto (21)	79	Sporting CP	72	Benfica	67	18	34	Albert Meyong	Belenenses	17
	2006–07	Porto (22)	69	Sporting CP	68	Benfica	67	16	30	Liédson	Sporting CP	15
	2007–08	Porto (23)	75(1)	Sporting CP	55	Vitória de Guimarães	53	16	30	Lisandro López	Porto	24
	2008–09	Porto (24)	70	Sporting CP	66	Benfica	59	16	30	Nenê	Nacional	20
	2009–10	Benfica (32)	76	Braga	71	Porto	68	16	30	Óscar Cardozo	Benfica	26
	2010–11	Porto (25)	84	Benfica	63	Sporting CP	48	16	30	Hulk	Porto	23
	2011–12	Porto (26)	75	Benfica	69	Braga	62	16	30	Óscar Cardozo / Lima	Benfica / Braga	20
	2012–13	Porto (27)	78	Benfica	77	Paços de Ferreira	54	16	30	Jackson Martínez	Porto	26
	2013–14	Benfica (33)	74	Sporting CP	67	Porto	61	16	30	Jackson Martínez	Porto	20
	2014–15	Benfica (34)	85	Porto	82	Sporting CP	76	18	34	Jackson Martínez	Porto	21
	2015–16	Benfica (35)	88	Sporting CP	86	Porto	73	18	34	Jonas	Benfica	32
	2016–17	Benfica (36)	82	Porto	76	Sporting CP	70	18	34	Bas Dost	Sporting CP	34
	2017–18	Porto (28)	88	Benfica	81	Sporting CP	78	18	34	Jonas	Benfica	34
	2018–19	Benfica (37)	87	Porto	85	Sporting CP	74	18	34	Haris Seferovic	Benfica	23
	2019–20	Porto (29)	82	Benfica	77	Braga	60	18	34	Carlos Vinícius	Benfica	18
	2020–21	Sporting CP (19)	85	Porto	80	Benfica	76	18	34	Pedro Gonçalves	Sporting CP	23
	2021–22	Porto (30)	91	Sporting CP	85	Benfica	74	18	34	Darwin Núñez	Benfica	26
	2022–23	Benfica (38)	87	Porto	85	Braga	78	18	34	Mehdi Taremi	Porto	22
	2023–24	Sporting CP (20)	90	Benfica	80	Porto	72	18	34	Viktor Gyökeres	Sporting CP	29
	2024–25	Sporting CP (21)	82	Benfica	80	Porto	71	18	34	Viktor Gyökeres	Sporting CP	39
	2025–26	Porto (31)	88	Sporting CP	82	Benfica	80	18	34	Luis Suárez	Sporting CP	28

• Before 1995–96, the points were awarded in a format of two points for a win. In that season, Primeira Liga switched to the now standard three points for a win system.
• (1) Porto saw six points subtracted for corruption allegations in the Apito Dourado,^[26] but they recovered those points in July 2017.

Performance by club

All Primeira Liga champions have come from either Lisbon or Porto.

All-time Primeira Liga table

The all-time Primeira Liga table is an overall record of all match results, points, and goals of every team that has played in Primeira Liga since its inception in 1934. The table is accurate as of the end of the 2025–26 season. For comparison, older seasons have been calculated according to the three-points-per-win rule.

Records

Individual records

Appearances As of 20 February 2021 Rank Player Appearances 1 Manuel Fernandes 486 2 António Sousa 484 3 João Vieira Pinto 476 4 Dinis Vital 442 5 António Veloso 437 6 Nené 422 Manuel Bento 8 Vítor Damas 416 9 João Pinto 408 10 Vítor Baía 406

Top scorers As of 20 February 2021 Rank Player Goals 1 Fernando Peyroteo 332 2 Eusébio 320 3 Fernando Gomes 319 4 José Águas 291 5 Nené 262 6 Manuel Fernandes 243 7 Matateu 219 8 José Torres 218 9 Arsénio Duarte 215 10 Rui Jordão 213

Player transfer fees

Top transfer fees paid by Primeira Liga clubs

Rank	Player	Fee (min.)	Date	Transfer		Reference(s)
1	Samu Aghehowa	€32M[d]	23 August 2024	Atlético Madrid	Porto	[30]
2	Richard Ríos	€27M	22 July 2025	Palmeiras	Benfica	[31]
3	Orkun Kökçü	€25M[e]	10 June 2023	Feyenoord	Benfica	[32]
4	Darwin Núñez	€24M	4 September 2020	Almería	Benfica	[33]
5	Franjo Ivanović	€22.8M[f]	31 July 2025	Union Saint-Gilloise	Benfica	[34]
6	Luis Suárez	€22.2M[g]	28 July 2025	Almería	Sporting CP	[35]
7	Fotis Ioannidis	€22M[h]	1 September 2025	Panathinaikos	Sporting CP	[36]
8	Raúl Jiménez	€21.8M	21 July 2016	Atlético Madrid	Benfica	[37]
9	Giannelli Imbula	€20M	1 July 2015	Marseille	Porto	[38]
	Óliver Torres		9 February 2017	Atlético Madrid	Porto	[39]
	Raúl de Tomás		3 July 2019	Real Madrid	Benfica	[40]
	Julian Weigl		2 January 2020	Borussia Dortmund	Benfica	[41]
	Everton Soares		14 August 2020	Grêmio	Benfica	[42]
	David Carmo	€20M[i]	5 July 2022	Braga	Porto	[43]
	Viktor Gyökeres	€20M[j]	1 July 2023	Coventry City	Sporting CP	[44]
	Arthur Cabral	€20M[k]	10 August 2023	Fiorentina	Benfica	[45]
	Victor Froholdt	€20M[l]	23 July 2025	Copenhagen	Porto	[46]
	Dodi Lukébakio	€20M[m]	1 September 2025	Sevilla	Benfica	[47]

Top transfer fees received by Primeira Liga clubs

Rank	Player	Fee (min.)	Date	Transfer		Reference(s)
1	João Félix	€126M	3 July 2019	Benfica	Atlético Madrid	[48]
2	Enzo Fernández	€121M	31 January 2023	Benfica	Chelsea	[49]
3	Darwin Nuñez	€75M[n]	13 June 2022	Benfica	Liverpool	[50]
4	Rúben Dias	€68M	29 September 2020	Benfica	Manchester City	[51][52]
5	Gonçalo Ramos	€65M	22 November 2023	Benfica	Paris Saint-Germain	[53]
6	Viktor Gyökeres	€63.5M[o]	26 July 2025	Sporting CP	Arsenal	[54]
7	Manuel Ugarte	€60M	7 July 2023	Sporting CP	Paris Saint-Germain	[55]
	Otávio		22 August 2023	Porto	Al-Nassr	[56]
	Nico González		3 February 2025	Porto	Manchester City	[57]
10	João Neves	€59.9M[p]	5 August 2024	Benfica	Paris Saint-Germain	[58]

Media coverage

See also

• LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year
• Portuguese Golden Ball
• SJPF Player of the Month
• SJPF Young Player of the Month
• CNID Footballer of the Year
• Bola de Prata
• Campeonato Nacional Feminino
• List of sports attendance figures
• List of association football competitions in Portugal
• List of foreign Primeira Liga players

Notes

References

Sources

• Tovar, Rui (2011). Almanaque do FC Porto 1893–2011 (in Portuguese). Alfragide: Caderno. ISBN 9789892315430.

External links

• Official website
• Portugal – List of Champions at RSSSF