S.C. Braga

European ambitions and recent history

Braga's ranking in Europe since 2003

Season	UEFA Ranking	Points
2003–04	–	–
2004–05	139th	15.739
2005–06	136th	17.533
2006–07	96th	27.107
2007–08	79th	33.176
2008–09	50th	39.292
2009–10	48th	39.659
2010–11	28th	62.319
2011–12	29th	63.069
2012–13	29th	62.833
2013–14	40th	52.959
2014–15	37th	51.776
2015–16	46th	43.116
2016–17	55th	37.366

In the 1960s and 1970s, Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in the UEFA competitions. Braga's recent run of successive European participations began in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup after finishing fifth in the league under Jesualdo Ferreira's first full season in the club. This marked the beginning of the club's rise in success both in the Premeira Liga and Europe. In the 2005–06, Braga challenged for the championship until the penultimate round, finishing in fourth place. In 2006–07, Portuguese up-and-coming manager Carlos Carvalhal became manager of the club and started with a poor start to the season, losing to AZ in the UEFA Cup despite crushing Czech champions Slovan Liberec 4–0 (which had drawn against Sevilla only a week before), and a 4–1 loss to Madeiran side Marítimo. These losses proved to be the end of his season, despite success in European competitions, with an overall score of 3–2 against Italian club Chievo in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Carvalhal resigned and was replaced with Rogério Gonçalves, with former Portugal national team captain Jorge Costa his assistant manager. Gonçalves' first game in charge was a 3–1 over Benfica, and a week after a hard-fought loss against UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup champions Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium. After a 1–0 away defeat to União de Leiria in a league match on 18 February 2007, Gonçalves resigned. Braga president António Salvador announced on the same day that assistant manager Jorge Costa would be in charge until the end of the 2006–07 season. In his first game, Braga beat Parma 1–0 (2–0 on aggregate). The club then played Tottenham Hotspur, where it lost 6–4 on aggregate in the round of 16. Braga eventually finished fourth in the league for the third-straight year, just topping fifth-placed Belenenses by a point on the final matchday.

During the summer of June 2007, it was announced that French insurance company AXA would be the club's sponsor in a multimillion-dollar deal in which the name of the stadium was changed to Estádio AXA, with this being the first in Portugal.

After the 2006–07 season, Braga qualified for the UEFA Cup, where they faced Hammarby IF. Despite losing the first leg in Sweden 2–1, Braga won at home 4–0 to qualify to the group stage for the third consecutive time. There, its first game was against Bolton Wanderers, a 1–1 draw. Braga then played German giants Bayern Munich, favourites to win the competition. Despite the negative feedback, Braga drew 1–1 after Roland Linz scoring the vital goal. After that impressive display, Braga faced Aris with another 1–1 draw, with Linz scoring another vital goal for the Minhotos. Braga then went into the last game against Red Star Belgrade, where it achieved a 2–0 victory, enough to take the club into the next round to face Werder Bremen. Braga lost the first leg 3–0 (in which the club missed two penalties) and the second 1–0.

The 2008–09 UEFA Cup campaign saw Braga play Bosnian side HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, which dropped from the Champions League second qualifying round. Braga started as favourites and beat Zrinjski Mostar 3–0 on aggregate. In the next phase, the Minho side were paired with Artmedia Petržalka, which Braga defeated 6–0 on aggregate on the strength of an Albert Meyong hat-trick.

After qualifying for the UEFA Cup group stage proper for a third successive season, Braga was paired with FA Cup winners Portsmouth, Milan, VfL Wolfsburg and Heerenveen. Braga started the match at home to Portsmouth and were convincing 3–0 winners, with Luis Aguiar scoring from a free-kick and setting up the other two goals. In the next group match, Braga faced a daunting task at the San Siro against competition favourites Milan. The game finished in a 1–0 defeat for the Portuguese side. Despite the loss, Braga dominated the game for many long periods of time, holding the Italians to 0–0 after 93 minutes, but an individual goal from Ronaldinho from 35 metres out gave the Italians the full three points. The next game was against Felix Magath's Wolfsburg, where Braga lost 3–2 despite scoring the first two goals. The last game was at the Abe Lenstra Stadion in the Netherlands against Heerenveen. Braga won the game 2–1 and progressed to the next stage. After progressing further in the UEFA Cup than any of their ten fellow winners of the UEFA Intertoto Cup, Braga were declared the last outright champions of the competition.

In the 2010–11 season, Braga made its Champions League debut at home in a 3–0 win against Celtic in the first leg of the third qualifying round.^[2] It lost the second leg away at Celtic Park 2–1, but went through to the play-off round on an aggregate score of 4–2.^[3] In the fourth qualifying round, Braga beat Sevilla 1–0 at home and 4–3 away, thus entering the Champions League group stage for the first time.^[4] On 15 September 2010, Braga were heavily defeated 6–0 by Arsenal in its first group stage match.^[5] On 28 September, Braga lost 3–0 against Shakhtar Donetsk, but on 19 October, Braga defeated Partizan 2–0. Two weeks later, on 3 November, Braga won 1–0 against Partizan in Belgrade.

On 23 November, Braga beat Arsenal 2–0 at home, keeping its hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages alive if it could better Arsenal's result during the final round of matches. On 9 December, however, Braga lost 2–0 to Shakhtar while Arsenal beat Partizan 3–1. The results meant that Shakhtar and Arsenal progressed to the second round, but Braga finished third in the group to qualify for the knockout stage of the Europa League, where it would come to eliminate Lech Poznań, Liverpool and Dynamo Kyiv to reach the semi-finals of the competition, the first time Braga reached both the quarter-finals and semi-finals of a European competition. It was also the first time three Portuguese clubs – Braga, Benfica and Porto – reached the Europa League semi-finals simultaneously. On 28 April, Braga lost 2–1 against Benfica in the first leg of the semi-finals. On 5 May, Braga went on to win the tie in the second leg with a 1–0 home win to reach the tournament final. On 18 May, Braga lost the final 1–0 to Porto.

In the 2012–13 season, Braga played for the second time in the group stage of the Champions League after eliminating Udinese in the play-off round, winning in penalties after the first and second legs ended in 1–1 draws.^[6][7][8] Braga lost its first game of the group stage of the Champions League to CFR Cluj at home, 2–0, and won its second after defeating Galatasaray in Istanbul, 2–0. In its third match, Braga visited Old Trafford to lose 3–2 to Manchester United, despite once leading the match 0–2. On the fourth matchday, Braga received Manchester United but, after keeping a one-goal advantage until the 80th minute, it eventually conceded three goals to lose 1–3. During its domestic season, it finished in fourth place, behind Paços de Ferreira, which earned the Primeira Liga's final Champions League position.

Braga then reached back-to-back Taça de Portugal finals in 2015 and 2016. In the 2015 final, Braga led Sporting CP 2–0, but Sporting scored twice in the final few minutes – including a 93rd-minute equaliser – to send the match to extra time and a penalty shoot-out, which Sporting won. A year later, Braga once again saw a 2–0 lead disappear, this time against Porto, which also equalized in injury time and took the game to a penalty shoot-out. This time, however, Braga prevailed for its second cup victory and first since 1966.

Recent seasons

Last updated: 3 October 2018

National

• Primeira Liga

• Runners-up (1): 2009–10

• Taça de Portugal

• Winners (2): 1965–66, 2015–16
• Runners-up (4): 1976–77, 1981–82, 1997–98, 2014–15

• Taça da Liga

• Winners (1): 2012–13
• Runners-up (1): 2016–17

• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

• Runners-up (3): 1982, 1998, 2016

• Segunda Divisão^[11]

• Winners (2): 1946–47, 1963–64

International

• UEFA Intertoto Cup

• Winners (1): 2008 (Outright Winner)

• UEFA Europa League

• Runners-up (1): 2010–11

Other

• Taça Federação Portuguesa de Futebol

• Winners (1): 1976–77 (First Division)

• Taça Ribeiro dos Reis

• Runners-up (1): 1970–71

Overview

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1966–67	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R1	AEK Athens	3–2	1–0	4–2
		R2	Raba ETO Győr	2–0	0–3	2–3
1978–79	UEFA Cup	R1	Hibernians	5–0	2–3	7–3
		R2	West Bromwich Albion	0–2	0–1	0–3
1982–83	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Pre	Swansea City	1–0	0–3	1–3
1984–85	UEFA Cup	R1	Tottenham Hotspur	0–3	0–6	0–9
1997–98	UEFA Cup	R1	Vitesse	2–0	1–2	3–2
		R2	Dinamo Tbilisi	4–0	1–0	5–0
		R3	Schalke 04	0–0	0–2	0–2
1998–99	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Liepājas Metalurgs	4–0	0–0	4–0
		R2	Lokomotiv Moscow	1–0	1–3	2–3
2004–05	UEFA Cup	R1	Hearts	2–2	1–3	3–5
2005–06	UEFA Cup	R1	Red Star Belgrade	1–1	0–0	1–1 (a)
2006–07	UEFA Cup	R1	Chievo	2–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)	3–2
		GS	AZ Alkmaar	–	0–3	3rd
			Slovan Liberec	4–0	–
			Sevilla	–	0–2
			Grasshopper	2–0	–
		L32	Parma	1–0	1–0	2–0
		L16	Tottenham Hotspur	2–3	2–3	4–6
2007–08	UEFA Cup	R1	Hammarby	4–0	1–2	5–2
		GS	Bolton Wanderers	–	1–1	2nd
			Bayern Munich	1–1	–
			Aris	–	1–1
			Red Star Belgrade	2–0	–
L32	Werder Bremen	0–1	0–3	0–4
2008–09	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R3	Sivasspor	3–0	2–0	5–0
2008–09	UEFA Cup	Q2	Zrinjski Mostar	1–0	2–0	3–0
		R1	Artmedia Petržalka	4–0	2–0	6–0
		GS	Portsmouth	3–0	–	3rd
			Milan	–	0–1
			VfL Wolfsburg	2–3	–
			Heerenveen	–	2–1
		L32	Standard Liège	3–0	1–1	4–1
		L16	Paris Saint-Germain	0–1	0–0	0–1
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Q3	Elfsborg	1–2	0–2	1–4
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	Q3	Celtic	3–0	1–2	4–2
		PO	Sevilla	1–0	4–3	5–3
		GS	Arsenal	2–0	0–6	3rd
			Shakhtar Donetsk	0–3	0–2
			Partizan	2–0	0–1
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	L32	Lech Poznań	2–0	0–1	2–1
		L16	Liverpool	1–0	0–0	1–0
		QF	Dynamo Kyiv	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		SF	Benfica	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
		Final	Porto	0–1
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	PO	Young Boys	0–0	2–2	2–2 (a)
		GS	Club Brugge	1–2	1–1	2nd
			Birmingham City	1–0	3–1
			Maribor	5–1	1–1
		L32	Beşiktaş	0–2	1–0	1–2
2012–13	UEFA Champions League	PO	Udinese	1–1	1–1 (5–4 pens)	1–1 (5–4)
		GS	CFR Cluj	0–2	1–3	4th
			Galatasaray	1–2	2–0
			Manchester United	1–3	2–3
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	PO	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	0–2 (a.e.t.)	1–0	1–2
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	GS	Marseille	3–2	0–1	1st
			Slovan Liberec	2–1	1–0
			Groningen	1–0	0–0
		L32	Sion	2–2	2–1	4–3
		L16	Fenerbahçe	4–1	0–1	4–2
		QF	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–2	0–4	1–6
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	GS	Shakhtar Donetsk	2–4	0–2	3rd
			Gent	1–1	2–2
			Konyaspor	2–1	1–1
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	Q3	AIK Stockholm	2–1 (a.e.t.)	1–1	3–2
		PO	FH Hafnarfjardar	3–2	2–1	5–3
		GS	Ludogorets Razgrad	0–2	1–1	1st
			1899 Hoffenheim	3–1	2–1
			İstanbul Başakşehir	1–2	2–1
		L32	Marseille	1–0	0–3	1–3
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	Q3	Zorya Luhansk	2–2	1−1	3–3(a)
Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate

Current squad

As of 1 September 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 Matheus 2 DF Diogo Figueiras 3 DF Lazar Rosić 4 DF Lucas Cunha 5 DF Nuno Sequeira 6 DF Ailton 7 FW Wilson Eduardo 8 MF Ricardo Ribeiro 10 MF Xadas 11 MF Eduardo Teixeira 12 GK Tiago Sá 14 DF Pablo Santos 17 MF João Novais 19 FW Murilo

No. Position Player 20 FW Paulinho 21 MF Ricardo Horta 24 DF Ricardo Ferreira 25 MF Claudemir 26 FW Fábio Martins 27 MF Fransérgio 28 GK Marafona 34 DF Raul Silva 36 DF Bruno Viana 47 DF Ricardo Esgaio 55 FW Luther Singh 60 MF João Palhinha 87 DF Marcelo Goiano 99 FW Dyego Sousa

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 — DF Andrej Lukić (at Apollon Smyrnis) — DF Rui Silva (at Santa Clara) — MF Alef (at AEK Athens) — MF Bruno Jordão (at Lazio) — MF Marko Bakić (at Mouscron)

No. Position Player — MF Mamadou Loum (at Moreirense) — FW Crislan (at Shimizu S-Pulse) — FW Pedro Neto (at Lazio) — FW Nikola Stojiljković (at Red Star Belgrade) — FW Ahmed Hassan (at Olympiacos)