C.F. Os Belenenses

Early years

Founded in 1919, it reached its first Campeonato final in 1926, losing 2–0 to Marítimo, and won the title the next season with a 3–0 win over Vitória de Setúbal and winning a second championship in 1929. The club lost the 1932 title to Porto 2–1 in a replay after a 4–4 draw. The club won its third and final Campeonato in 1933 after defeating Sporting CP 3–1.^[2] With three Campeonato wins, Beleneneses was one of Portugal's "Big Four". Since the advent of the Primeira Liga, Os Belenenses has failed to keep up with the other three clubs (Benfica, F C Porto and Sporting CP).

League champions

The club won its only Primeira Liga title in 1945–46, edging Benfica by one point^[3] on the first occasion which a club outside the Big Three won the title. On 14 December 1947, they were the first team to face Real Madrid at their newly inaugurated Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (then called the Nuevo Estadio Chamartín) in a friendly match won 3–1 by Madrid.^[4] The club came runner-up in the league for the first time in the 1954–55 season, level on 39 points with Benfica.^[5] It was not until 1973 that Belenenses finished runner-up again, 18 points behind Benfica, and they never have since.^[6]

European forays

Belenenses were the first club to compete in the UEFA Cup in a two-legged 3–3 draw with Hibernian at the Estádio do Restelo in Belém.

The club has also played in the European Cup Winners' Cup. In the 1987–88 UEFA Cup, the club played Barcelona. In the first leg, they lost 2–0 in the Camp Nou, winning 1–0 at the Estádio do Restelo with Mapuata scoring. Belenenses won their sixth (and to date last) Taça de Portugal on 28 May 1989, defeating Benfica 2–1.^[7] Also that season, they ousted holders Bayer Leverkusen from the Cup Winners' Cup.

Downfall and recovery

Belenenses were relegated from the Primeira Liga for the first time in 1981–82, and have been relegated three other times since then.

21st century

The 2005–06 season saw Belenenses finishing fourth from bottom, which would mean relegation for the team. However, the club won a subsequent appeal which sent Gil Vicente down instead. With this reprieve, the club played in the top level of Portuguese football once again. On 27 May 2007, Belenenses reached their first Taça de Portugal final since their 1989 triumph (and most recent to date), but were defeated 1–0 by Sporting CP.^[8]

Cabral Ferreira, who served as club president of Belenenses from 2005 until 2008, died on 26 February 2008 after a long illness.^[9] Belenenses were relegated in 2010 to the Segunda Liga, but secured promotion back to the Primeira Liga in March 2013, their longest stint out of the top division.

During the 2014–15 season, Belenenses finished the championship in sixth place, thereby returning to European competitions through 2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualification.

They reached the group stage of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League after eliminating IFK Göteborg (2–1 on aggregate) and Rheindorf Altach (1–0 on aggregate) They finished fourth and last in their group, recording a surprising 2–1 away win against Basel, but drawing 0–0 twice against Lech Poznań; losing the return match against Basel; and losing both matches to Fiorentina.

Club split

In the end of 2017–18 season, Belenenses (Club) and Belenenses SAD turn into distinct directions, as the "Protocole on the use of Estádio do Restelo" ends and SAD refused to negotiate a new one with the Club. So in this new season, Belenenses SAD will play their homes games in Estádio Nacional, on the other hand Belenenses Club registered a team in 1ª Divisão Distrital de Lisboa, the equivalent to Sixth Division (last portuguese division), with the support of the majority of fans. As a consequence of that, Belenenses SAD can´t use Belenenses Logo and use only the Christian Cross as Logo. On the first games of the season, Jamor registered few attendance (under 1k people), while the game presentation of Belenenses Club had an attendance of almost 5k people.^[10]

Domestic

• Primeira Liga

Winners (1): 1945–46

• Taça de Portugal

Winners (3): 1941–42, 1959–60, 1988–89

Runners-up (5): 1939–40, 1940–41, 1947–48, 1985–86, 2006–07

• Supertaça de Portugal

Runners-up (1): 1989

• Campeonato de Portugal^[11]

Winners (3): 1926–27, 1928–29, 1932–33

Runners-up (3): 1925–26, 1931–32, 1935–36

• Segunda Liga

Winners (2): 1983–84, 2012–13

• Lisbon Championship (levels 2 and 3)

Winners (6): 1925–26, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1943–44, 1945–46

European

• Intertoto Cup

Winners (1): 1975

Current squad

As of 20 January 2018

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Muriel Becker 4 MF Merlin Tandjigora 5 MF Eduardo 6 DF Vincent Sasso 7 FW Licá 8 FW Dálcio 9 FW Tiago Caeiro 10 MF Diogo Viana 11 MF Matija Ljujić 12 DF Pierre Sagna 14 DF Luís Silva 16 FW Fredy 17 FW Henrique Almeida (on loan from Grêmio)

No. Position Player 21 DF Zakarya Bergdich 23 DF Cleylton 25 DF Nuno Tomás 37 DF Gonçalo Silva 39 GK Mika 47 MF Jonatan Lucca 50 FW Alhassane Keita 66 MF Nuno Coelho 67 MF Reinildo 70 MF Filipe Chaby 84 GK Guilherme 98 MF Kikas MF Tiago Esgaio FW Ousmane Dramé

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player — MF André Sousa (at Sporting de Gijón until 31 July 2019) — MF Ricardo Dias (at Académica de Coimbra until 31 July 2019)