Taça da Liga

Taça da Liga

Organising body	Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional
Founded	2007
Region	Portugal
Number of teams	34 (2018–19 season)
Current champions	Sporting (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Benfica (7 titles)
Television broadcasters	RTP[1] Sport TV
Website	Taça CTT
2018–19 Taça da Liga

The Taça da Liga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtasɐ dɐ ˈliɣɐ]), known outside Portugal as the Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tiers of Portuguese football.^[2] Unlike the French and English league cups, the winners do not qualify for European competitions.

The Taça da Liga was established in the 2007–08 season, thus becoming the third official competition for professional clubs in Portugal,^[2] after a proposal by Sporting and Boavista was approved by LPFP members on 28 November 2006. Due to sponsorship reasons, it is currently known as Allianz Cup.

Benfica are the most decorated team, having won a record seven trophies. The current holders are Sporting, who defeated Vitória de Setúbal (the first club to win the trophy) in the 2018 final to secure their first title in the competition.

Format

The Taça da Liga format has suffered changes throughout the competition's history in order to increase the number of matches and also revenue for both clubs and LPFP. Since the 2015–16 season, the approved format is the following:

• First round – One-legged ties between all Segunda Liga teams (except reserve or B teams), with the winner advancing to the next round. In case of an odd number of participating teams, one team receives a bye to the next round.
• Second round – One-legged ties between the first-round winners, the twelve Primeira Liga teams ranked 5th–16th in the previous season, and the two teams promoted from the Segunda Liga. The winner advances to the next round.
• Third round – Four groups of four teams played in a single round-robin format, each containing three second-round winners and one of the four top-placed Primeira Liga season teams of the previous season. The group winners advance to the next round.
• Knockout phase – Semi-finals and final played as one-legged fixtures played in a neutral ground.

Finals

Participating clubs

Players statistics

Appearances

As of match played 10 January 2017^[5]

Rank	Nat.	Player	Apps	Goals	Years	Clubs
1		João Pedro	34	4	2007–2015	Beira-Mar, Leiria, Oliveirense, Naval, Braga Belenenses, Moreirense
		Ricardo Pessoa	33	6	2007–	Portimonense, Moreirense
3		Edgar Sá	33	2	2008–2016	Covilhã, Santa Clara
4		Jardel	32	1	2009–	Estoril, Olhanense, Benfica
		Tarantini	32	4	2007–	Portimonense, Rio Ave
6		Guedes	30	7	2007–	Penafiel, Paços Ferreira, Rio Ave
		Lourenço Almeida	30	2	2007–2014	Penafiel, Beira-Mar, Vitória de Setúbal, Desportivo das Aves, Santa Clara, Académico de Viseu
7		Steven Vitória	29	4	2007–2014	Olhanense, Covilhã, Estoril, Benfica
		Filipe Gonçalves	29	2	2007–2016	Vitória Setúbal, Paços Ferreira, Trofense, Moreirense, Estoril
		Pedro Ribeiro	29	1	2007–2017	Gil Vicente, Trofense, Belenenses, Penafiel

Goalscorers

All-time top scorers

As of match played 10 January 2017^[6]

Rank	Nat.	Player	Goals	Games	Years	Clubs
1		Tozé Marreco	12	24	2011–	Desportivo das Aves, União da Madeira, Naval, Tondela
2		Liédson	11	13	2007–2011	Sporting
3		Jonas	9	11	2014–	Benfica
		Rabiola	9	16	2009–	Porto, Desportivo das Aves, Penafiel
		Lima	9	16	2009–2015	Belenenses, Braga, Benfica
		Miguel Rosa	9	22	2008–	Estoril, Carregado, Belenenses
		Clemente	9	25	2009–	Chaves, Oliveirense, Santa Clara
8		Rafael Porcellis	7	9	2012–	Santa Clara, Feirense, União da Madeira
		Matheus	7	11	2007–2011	Vitória de Setúbal, Braga
		Óscar Cardozo	7	18	2007–2014	Benfica
		Hélder Guedes	7	30	2007–	Penafiel, Paços Ferreira, Rio Ave

Bold = Still active

Goalscorers by seasons

Season	Player	Country	Club	Goals
2007–08	Matheus	Brazil	Vitória de Setúbal	5
2008–09	Liédson	Brazil	Sporting CP	4
2009–10	Carlão	Brazil	União de Leiria	3
2010–11	Hugo Vieira	Portugal	Gil Vicente	5
2011–12	Baba Diawara	Senegal	Marítimo	4
	Rodrigo	Spain	Benfica
	Miguel Rosa	Portugal	Belenenses
2012–13	Fabrício	Brazil	Sporting da Covilhã	5
	Josué	Portugal	Paços de Ferreira
	Porcellis	Brazil	Santa Clara
	Rabiola	Portugal	Desportivo das Aves
2013–14	Tozé Marreco	Portugal	Tondela	3
	Jackson Martínez	Colombia	Porto
	Moreira	Portugal	Leixões
	Ricardo Pessoa	Portugal	Portimonense
	Wágner	Brazil	Moreirense
2014–15	Jonas	Brazil	Benfica	5
2015–16	Raúl Jiménez	Mexico	Benfica	4
	Talisca	Brazil	Benfica
2016–17	Welthon	Brazil	Paços de Ferreira	4
2017–18	Gonçalo Paciência	Portugal	Vitória de Setúbal	5

Sponsorship

Since its inception (except in the period between 2011–15) the Taça da Liga has had the following naming sponsors meaning it has been known by different names:

Records

As of 10 January 2016^[7]

• Most tournament wins (team): 7 wins, Benfica
• Most final appearances (team): 7, Benfica
• Most tournament wins (individual): 7, Luisão for Benfica
• Most final appearances: (individual): 6, Luisão for Benfica (2009–11, 2014–16)
• Most matches (team): 45, Benfica
• Most matches (individual): 34, João Pedro & Ricardo Pessoa
• Most game wins (team): 37, Benfica
• Highest goalscorer (career): 12 goals, Tozé Marreco^[8]
• Highest goalscorer (season): 5 goals, by Matheus for Vitória Setúbal (2007–08), Hugo Vieira for Gil Vicente (2010–11) and Jonas for Benfica (2014–15)
• Most goals scored in a match (individual): 4 goals, by Rabiola for C.D. Aves vs C.D. Trofense, 29 July 2012
• Biggest win: Moreirense 1–6 Benfica, third round, 26 January 2016
• Biggest win in a final: Marítimo 2–6 Benfica, 20 May 2016
• Highest scoring game: 8 goals, Belenenses 5–3 Leixões S.C., first round, 7 August 2011 and Marítimo 2–6 Benfica, final, 20 May 2016
• Most penalties in a deciding penalty shootout: 20 – Vitória de Guimarães 6–7 Sporting (27 September 2007)
• Youngest goalscorer in the final: Bruno Pereirinha, 20 years and 19 days, for Sporting vs Benfica, 2009
• Youngest captain in the final: João Moutinho, 21 years, 6 months and 14 days for Sporting vs Vitória Setúbal, 2008

See also

• Taça de Portugal
• Taça Ribeiro dos Reis (unofficial predecessor organized by the Portuguese Football Federation)
• Taça Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (another predecessor organized by the Portuguese Football Federation)
• List of association football competitions in Portugal
• List of Taça da Liga winning managers

References

External links

• Official website (in Portuguese)
• Portugal - List of League Cup Finals, RSSSF.com