Benfica

1904–1960

On 28 February 1904, after a football training session that day, the Catataus Group and members of Associação do Bem met at Farmácia Franco on Rua Direita de Belém with the goal of forming a social and cultural football club called Sport Lisboa, composed of Portuguese players only. Twenty-four people attended the meeting, including Cosme Damião. In that meeting, José Rosa Rodrigues was appointed club president, along with Daniel dos Santos Brito as secretary and Manuel Gourlade as treasurer. The founders decided that the club's colours would be red and white and that the crest would be composed of an eagle, the motto "E pluribus unum" and a football. Sport Lisboa played their first ever match on 1 January 1905, scoring their first goal. Despite important victories, such as the ones against Carcavelos and then-rivals Internacional, the club suffered from poor operating conditions, namely the football dirt field of Terras do Desembargador. As a result, eight players moved to Sporting CP in May 1907, threatening Sport Lisboa's existence, and later starting the rivalry between the two clubs.

On 13 September 1908, Sport Lisboa acquired Grupo Sport Benfica by mutual agreement and changed its name to Sport Lisboa e Benfica. Despite the merger, they continued their respective club operations. For Sport Lisboa, they maintained the football team, the shirt colours, the eagle symbol and the motto. For Grupo Sport Benfica, they maintained the field Campo da Feiteira, the main directors and the club's house. Both clubs determined that the foundation date should coincide with Sport Lisboa's because it was the most recognized club and quite popular in Lisbon due to its football merits. In regard to the crest, a bicycle wheel was added to Sport Lisboa's to represent cycling, the most important sport of Grupo Sport Benfica. Furthermore, the two entities of the newly named club had simultaneous members who helped stabilize operations, which later increased the success of the merger.

However, problems with the club's rented field (Campo da Feiteira) remained. Benfica moved to their first football grass field, Campo de Sete Rios, in 1913. Four years later, after refusing an increase in rent, they relocated to Campo de Benfica. Finally, in 1925, they moved to their own stadium, the Estádio das Amoreiras, playing there fifteen years before moving to the Estádio do Campo Grande in 1940. The Portuguese league began in 1934, and after finishing third in its first edition, Benfica won the next three championships in a row (1935–36, '36–37, '37–38) – the club's first tri, achieved by Lippo Hertzka. Throughout the 1940s, Benfica would win three more Primeira Liga (1941–42, '42–43, '44–45) and four Taça de Portugal (1940, '43, '44, '49), with coach János Biri achieving the first double for the club in 1943.

Benfica's first international success happened in 1950, when they won the Latin Cup (the only Portuguese club to do so), defeating Bordeaux with a golden goal from Julinho at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, with Ted Smith as coach. It was the first international trophy won by a Portuguese club. They reached another final of the competition in 1957 but lost to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. With the election of president Joaquim Ferreira Bogalho in 1952 and the arrival of coach Otto Glória in 1954, Benfica became more modernized and professional and moved into the original Estádio da Luz, with an initial seating capacity of 40,000; expanded to 70,000 in 1960. During the 1950s, Benfica won three Primeira Liga titles (1949–50, '54–55, '56–57) and six Taça de Portugal (1951, '52, '53, '55, '57, '59). Despite being Portuguese champions in 1955, Benfica were not invited to the inaugural European Cup by the organizers, thus making their UEFA debut in 1957–58 against Sevilla.

1960–2003

Led by coach Béla Guttmann, who had been signed by Maurício Vieira de Brito, Benfica became back-to-back European Champions by winning the European Cup against Barcelona in 1961 (3–2) and Real Madrid in 1962 (5–3). Consequently, Benfica played in the Intercontinental Cup, where they were runners-up to Peñarol in 1961 and Santos in 1962. Later on, Benfica reached three more European Cup finals, losing them to AC Milan in 1963, Inter Milan in 1965, and Manchester United in 1968. Therefore, for their international performance, Benfica were ranked first in European football in 1965, '66 and '69, and were presented with the European Team of the Year award in 1968. In the 1960s, Benfica won eight Primeira Liga (1959–60, '60–61, '62–63, '63–64, '64–65, '66–67, '67–68, '68–69), three Taça de Portugal (1962, '64, '69) and two European Cups (1960–61, '61–62). Many of these successes were achieved with Eusébio – the only player to win the Ballon d'Or for a Portuguese club – Coluna, José Águas, José Augusto, Simões, Torres, and others, who formed the 1963–64 team that set a club record of 103 goals in 26 league matches.

During the 1970s, with president Borges Coutinho, Benfica continued dominating Portuguese football, as they won six Primeira Liga titles (1970–71, '71–72, '72–73, '74–75, '75–76, '76–77) and two Taça de Portugal (1970, '72). In 1971–72, Benfica reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they were eliminated by Ajax of Johan Cruyff. Led by Jimmy Hagan the following season, Benfica became the first club in Portugal to win the league without defeat, winning 28 matches – 23 consecutively – out of 30, and drawing 2. They scored 101 goals, and Eusébio was again crowned Europe's top scorer, 2 goals short of his record (42). From October 1976 to September 1978, Benfica were unbeaten in the league for 56 matches. This decade was also marked by Benfica's admission of foreign players into the team, becoming the last Portuguese club to do so, in 1979.

In the 1980s, Benfica continued to thrive domestically. With Lajos Baróti in 1980–81, Benfica became the first club to win all Portuguese trophies in one season: Supertaça de Portugal, Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal. Later, under the guidance of Sven-Göran Eriksson, they won two consecutive Primeira Liga (1982–83, '83–84), one Taça de Portugal (1983) and reached the final of the UEFA Cup in 1983, lost to Anderlecht. Following improvements to the Estádio da Luz, Benfica opened the stadium's third tier in 1985, transforming it into the largest stadium in Europe and third largest in the world. A season later, after they had won the domestic Super Cup in 1985 and the Portuguese Cup in 1986, Benfica clinched the double of Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal. Then, from 1988 to 1994, Benfica won three Primeira Liga (1988–89, '90–91, '93–94), one Taça de Portugal (1993), one Super Cup (1989) and reached the European Cup finals of 1988 and 1990, won by PSV Eindhoven and Milan respectively.

Financial trouble in the early 1980s and a large investment on players throughout that decade started to deteriorate the club's finances under Jorge de Brito's presidency. The rampant spending and a questionable signing policy (over 100 players during Manuel Damásio's term) further aggravated the problem. Soon after, with president João Vale e Azevedo, Benfica was in huge debt and sometimes unable to pay taxes and player salaries. From 1994 to 2003, Benfica had eleven coaches, won the 1995–96 Taça de Portugal, suffered their biggest defeat in European competitions, 7–0 to Celta de Vigo in 1999, had their lowest ever league finish, a sixth place in 2000–01, and were absent from European competition in 2001–02 and '02–03, the first time since 1958–59. Back in 2000, club members had approved the construction of the new Estádio da Luz shortly after the election of Manuel Vilarinho.

2003–present

In 2003–04, with president Luís Filipe Vieira, Benfica ended their longest silverware drought by winning the Taça de Portugal. The following year, Benfica won their first league title since 1994, and the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. After that and until 2009, when Benfica won their first Taça da Liga – thus becoming the first club to win all major Portuguese competitions – they did not win any trophies and finished fourth in the 2007–08 league. In Europe, Benfica had three consecutive appearances in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, with their best result being a quarter-final stage in 2005–06 after eliminating then European champions Liverpool on 3–0 aggregate.

For 2009–10, Jorge Jesus was appointed coach, a position he held until 2015. During that six-season span, Benfica won 10 domestic trophies, including an unprecedented treble in Portuguese football (league, cup and league cup) in 2013–14 and the club's first back-to-back league titles since 1984. At international level, Benfica were ranked sixth in the UEFA team ranking in 2015 due to their first European semi-final in 17 years at the 2010–11 Europa League, an appearance in the Champions League quarter-finals in the 2011–12 campaign, and two consecutive Europa League finals, in 2012–13 and '13–14.

Later managed by Rui Vitória, Benfica won a fourth Primeira Liga title in a row – their first ever tetra – one Taça de Portugal, one Taça da Liga and two successive Super Cup trophies; the latter in 2017 after they reachieved a 36-year-old treble. Internationally, a year after they had consecutively reached the Champions League knockout phase for the first time in their history, Benfica suffered their biggest loss in the competition, 5–0 to Basel, and went on setting the worst Portuguese group stage campaign.

Following negative results in 2018–19, coach Bruno Lage led Benfica to their 37th champions title while achieving the league's all-time best second round. Later on, after thrashing Sporting CP in the Super Cup, Jesus returned for 2020–21 as part of the biggest spending in Portuguese football, amid the COVID-19 pandemic; they were eliminated in the Champions League third qualifying round, lost a Super Cup match, finished third in the league, and lost a Portuguese Cup final for a second time in a row. From 2021–22 to '22–23, with president Rui Costa, Benfica lost a league cup final for the first time and were third in the league before coach Roger Schmidt led them to their 38th league title and a second consecutive place in the Champions League quarter-finals.