S.L. Benfica (basketball)

Created on 20 March 1927, the basketball team followed the steps of many other sports that were supported by the club, achieving great success almost immediately. The team established itself as a main contender by the 1940s and during the whole 1960s gained the status of championship favourite and was already the club with the most titles won. By this time the club had won eight national championships and eight cups. This dominating spell decreased the following decade until the early 1980s. During this time span, Benfica would win only two championships, in the 1969–70 and the 1974–75 season, but won four national cups, the second most prestigious Portuguese tournament, in 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 and 1973–74. After these years, Benfica again dominated the national scene.

The most successful period of the club was between 1985 and 1995. In eleven seasons, the team won ten national titles, seven of which in a row, five national cups, five league cups and six super cups, achieving the best season ever by a Portuguese basketball team in 1994–95 winning the Portuguese League, Portuguese League Cup, Portuguese Super Cup, Portuguese Basketball Cup and finishing the European Champions' Cup in the Top 16. One of the highlight from that European Champions' Cup season was a 22-point victory (102–80) against CSKA Moscow in Lisbon on 12 January 1995. Benfica also made successful international campaigns in the other seasons considering the budget the team had compared with other European big teams. Some of the most successful of those campaigns include the 1993–94, when Benfica was close to reach the Top 8,{{cite web |url=http://www.fibaeurope.com/cid_KNce8jInH7Qj1EsyH5rjn2.roundID_1177.compID_,Uz02qBnJiADOq5VntEf53.season_1994.pageID_aNkh-4erIwgkUjHHdqZER1.html |title=Semi-final round 1993–94 |website=FIBA Europe |access-date=17 September 2010}} and for a third season in a row Benfica managed to reach the Top 16 again in the European Champions' Cup, in 1995–96, grabbing a win against Panathinaikos, the eventual champions.{{cite web |url=http://www.fibaeurope.com/cid_KNce8jInH7Qj1EsyH5rjn2.roundID_1382.compID_,Uz02qBnJiADOq5VntEf53.season_1996.pageID_aNkh-4erIwgkUjHHdqZER1.html |title=Semi-final round 1995–96 |website=FIBA Europe |access-date=17 September 2010}}

This period was followed by a dark era in which Benfica was internally overshadowed by Ovarense, Portugal Telecom and FC Porto. Even though this period is considered to be a dark one, Benfica did manage to reach the LPB final once as well as winning Super Cups and finishing runners-up in the national cup and in the league cup. Also noteworthy is an away win against Real Madrid, in the 1996–97 EuroCup, the same season the Spaniards won the competition. The team finally decided to withdraw from the top tier and applied for the second league, the Proliga, which was the highest division run by the Federação Portuguesa de Basquetebol. However the first division was folded and the LPB (league) was again being overviewed by the national federation. This allowed the team to make a comeback to the main league.

After more than a decade without any titles and in the same season Benfica had made a return to the first league, the 2008–09 season, the team won the Portuguese League, with a perfect score of 100% wins during the regular season, becoming the second team in the world to do so, after Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1970s, and thrashing Ovarense 4–0 in the best-of-four game final. Benfica won the championship again the following season with a 91% winning record in the regular stage and a 4–1 final against Porto. The recent success brought the team to participate in the EuroChallenge, thus marking the end of a mid-term long hiatus from Portuguese clubs in European basketball competitions. The following year, Benfica won the League Cup and the Super Cup but did not renew the championship as it lost 4–3 in the final to Porto.

In the next season Benfica regained the title of Portuguese champion after defeating Porto in their home court Dragão Caixa (53–56) in the last best-of-five series game following a 2–2 playoff tie. Benfica retained the title the following season, having only lost two games, one in the regular season, and the other in the play-off final, which they won 3–1 against Académica de Coimbra, both defeats coming only in overtime. Overall Benfica won every title except the Cup, losing against Vitória de Guimarães in the final, amassing only three losses in the entire season in all competitions. On 23 May 2014, Benfica defeated Vitória de Guimarães (3–0) and conquered its 25th champions title (third consecutive), completing the domestic treble of League, Portuguese Cup and Hugo dos Santos Cup. In this season they won a total of 4 titles (including the 2013 Super Cup).

In the 2014–15 season, Benfica returned to the European competitions, playing in EuroChallenge where they finished in third place of Group E. At domestic level, Benfica won all the five competitions.{{cite web |url=https://www.slbenfica.pt/noticias/detalhedenoticia/tabid/2788/ArticleId/41968/language/pt-PT/.aspx |title=Basquetebol é Tetracampeão! |language=pt |trans-title=Benfica are champions for the fourth consecutive time |date=30 May 2015 |publisher=S.L. Benfica |access-date=30 May 2015 |quote=Supertaça, Taça de Portugal, Troféu Hugo dos Santos, Troféu António Pratas e Campeonato Nacional}}{{cite news |url=https://abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx?id=552025 |title=Benfica derrota V. Guimarães e sagra-se tetracampeão nacional |language=pt |trans-title=Benfica beat V. Guimarães and become national champions four times in a row |date=30 May 2015 |newspaper=A Bola |access-date=31 May 2015 |quote=tendo conquistado todos os troféus que houve em disputa.}} Starting the 2015–16 season, they won their fifth and fourth consecutive António Pratas Trophy, setting a club record of ten consecutive Portuguese trophies won.{{cite news|date=29 September 2015|title=Troféu António Pratas vem para a Luz|trans-title=Troféu António Pratas goes to Luz|url=https://www.slbenfica.pt/noticias/detalhedenoticia/tabid/2788/ArticleId/43105/language/pt-PT/.aspx|language=pt|website=S.L. Benfica|access-date=16 November 2016}} They achieved the domestic treble of League Cup, Portuguese Cup, and league title the next season.{{cite news|date=10 June 2017|title=SL Benfica dethrone FC Porto to complete triple crown in Portugal|url=http://www.fiba.basketball/europecup/16-17/news/sl-benfica-dethrone-fc-porto-to-complete-triple-crown-in-portugal|work=FIBA|access-date=30 September 2019}}

In September 2022, Benfica qualified for the regular season of the 2022–23 Basketball Champions League. It was the first time a Portuguese team entered the regular season of the league.{{Cite web |title=Unicaja, S.L. Benfica, Bakken Bears and Tofas Bursa advance to the Regular Season |url=https://www.championsleague.basketball/22-23/qualifiers/news/unicaja-s-l-benfica-bakken-bears-and-tofas-bursa-advance-to-the-regular-season |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=FIBA.basketball |language=en}}

{{update|section|date=June 2023}}

Note: Benfica score is always listed first.{{cite web|url=http://www.fibaeurope.com/pageID_lcl7zghbHDw3J3t2wyEi,0.compID_MsfTeemRHYovSUdkYV76x0.season_1998.roundID_2553.teamID_975.html|title=Participations in FIBA Europe competitions|website=FIBA Europe|access-date=19 October 2016}}

Benfica played its home basketball games at the Pavilhão dos Desportos, from 1946 to 1965. The club then played its home games at the Pavilhão da Luz, from 1965 to 2003. Since 2003, Benfica has hosted its home games at the Pavilhão Fidelidade, which has a seating capacity of 2,400 people.

• Portuguese League

: Winners (30) – record:{{cite web |url=https://www.slbenfica.pt/pt-pt/homebasquetebol/palmar%C3%A9s.aspx |title=Honours |website=S.L. Benfica |access-date=25 April 2016 |language=pt}} 1939–40, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1969–70, 1974–75, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24

• Portuguese Cup

: Winners (23) – record: 1945–46, 1946–47, 1960–61, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1980–81, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2022–23

• League Cup / Hugo dos Santos Cup

: Winners (13) – record: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2023–24

• Portuguese Super Cup

: Winners (15) – record: 1985, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2023

• Troféu António Pratas LPB

: Winners (5) – record: 2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16

• Troféu António Pratas Proliga

: Winners (1): 2007–08

• Supertaça da Lusofonia

: Winners (1): 2010

{{Basketball roster header

| team=S.L. Benfica

| color1=white |bg1=#B50000|color2=black |bg2=silver}}

{{player3| num=0 |nat=AGO |first=Eduardo |last=Francisco |pos=F |m=1.98 |kgs= |year=2003 |month=11 |date=05 }}

{{player3| num=1 |nat=USA |first=Aaron |last=Broussard |pos=G |m=1.92 |kgs= |year=1990 |month=04 |date=14 |dab=basketball}}

{{player3| num=4 |nat=POR |first=José |last=Silva |pos=F |m=1.93

|kgs=92 |year=1989 |month=04 |date=16 |dab=basketball}}

{{player3| num=6 |nat=POR |first=Jose |last=Barbosa |pos=G |m=1.77 |kgs= |year=1990 |month=10 |date=18 |dab=basketball}}

{{player3| num=9 |nat=USA |first=Trey |last=Drechsel |pos=F |m=1.98

|kgs=93 |year=1996 |month=07 |date=27}}

{{player3| num=11 |nat=SRB |first=Ivan |last=Pavicevic |pos=C |m=2.06 |kgs= |year=2002 |month=08 |date=26 }}

{{player3| num=12 |nat=TUN |first=Makrem |last=Ben Romdhane |pos=FC |m=2.06 |kgs=102 |year=1989 |month=03 |date=27 |note=C}}

{{player3| num=13 |nat=POR |first=Diogo |last=Gameiro |pos=G |m=1.82 |kgs= |year=1995 |month=08 |date=13 }}

{{player3| num=15 |nat=CPV |name= Betinho |last=Gomes |pos=F |m=2.01 |kgs=87 |year=1985 |month=05 |date=02 |dab=basketball}}

{{player3| num=23 |nat=USA |first=Toney |last=Douglas |pos=G |m=1.88 |kgs=86 |year=1986 |month=03 |date=16 }}

{{player3| num=24 |nat=SEN |first=Mor Laye|last=Diop |pos=F |m=2.06 |kgs= |year=2003 |month=12 |date=21 }}

{{player3| num=27 |nat=POR |first=Sérgio |last=Silva |pos=PG |m=1.93 |kgs= |year=1996 |month=03 |date=05 |dab=basketball}}

{{player3| num=32 |nat=USA |first=Terrell |last=Carter |pos=C |m=2.08 |kgs=132 |year=1996 |month=01 |date=06 }}

{{player3| num=33 |nat=GER |first=Daniel |last=Relvão |pos=C |m=2.08 |kgs=116 |year=1996 |month=06 |date=26 }}

{{player3| num=96 |nat=CPV |first=Ivan |last=Almeida |pos=F |m=1.98 |kgs=94 |year=1989 |month=05 |date=10 }}

{{Basketball roster footer

| head_coach = {{player||POR|Norberto Alves}}

| asst_coach =

• {{player||POR|Nuno Ferreira}}
• {{player||POR|Luís Catarino}}

| team_man = João Nuno Crespo

| roster_url = https://www.slbenfica.pt/pt-pt/modalidades/basquetebol

| accessdate = 11 June 2024

}}

Players who won a league title with Benfica or who were picked in the NBA draft.

{{div col|colwidth=28em}}

• {{flagicon|USA}} Bruce Holland (4 seasons: 1977–81)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Henrique Vieira (11 seasons: 1981–92)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Carlos Lisboa (12 seasons: 1984–96)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Mike Plowden (10 seasons: 1985–95)
• {{flagicon|ANG}} Jean-Jacques Conceição (8 seasons: 1988–96)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Pedro Miguel (11 seasons: 1989–2000)
• {{flagicon|ANG}} José Carlos Guimarães (4 seasons: 1991–94, 1996–97)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Steve Rocha (4 seasons: 1992–95, 1996–97)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Carlos Seixas (7 seasons: 1992–99)
• {{flagicon|NOR}} Torgeir Bryn (1 season: 1994–95)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Luís Silva (8 seasons: 1994–99, 2002–05)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Sérgio Ramos (8 seasons: 1995–99, 2008–12)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Brian Rewers (1 season: 1997–98)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Mark Acres (1 season: 1997–98)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Jamal Faulkner (3 seasons: 1997–99)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Jamie Watson (1 season: 2002–03)
• {{flagicon|ESP}} Tomás Jofresa (1 season: 2003–04)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Ben Davis (1 season: 2005–06)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Ashante Johnson (3 seasons: 2005–07)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Carlos Andrade (7 seasons: 2006–07, 2012–18)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Corey Benjamin (1 season: 2006–07)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Geno Carlisle (1 season: 2006–07)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Tyson Wheeler (1 season: 2006–07)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Miguel Minhava (7 seasons: 2006–13)
• {{flagicon|ANG}} Edson Ferreira (1 season: 2008–09)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Rahein Brown (1 season: 2008–09)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Seth Doliboa (5 seasons: 2008–09, 2011–2015)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Cristóvão Cordeiro (2 seasons: 2008–10)
• {{flagicon|POR}} João Santos (2 seasons: 2008–10)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Miguel Barroca (2 seasons: 2008–10)
• {{flagicon|POR}} António Tavares (3 seasons: 2008–11)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Ben Reed (4 seasons: 2008–12)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Diogo Carreira (8 seasons: 2008–16)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Nick DeWitz (1 season: 2009–10)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Will Frisby (1 season: 2009–10)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Elvis Évora (4 seasons: 2009–13)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Heshimu Evans (4 seasons: 2009–13)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Carlos Ferreirinho (6 seasons: 2010–16)
• {{flagicon|ANG}} António Monteiro (1 season: 2011–12)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Marcus Norris (1 season: 2011–12)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Ted Scott (1 season: 2011–12)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Fred Gentry (5 seasons: 2011–16)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Lace Dunn (1 season: 2012–13)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Ricky Franklin (1 season: 2012–13)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Cláudio Fonseca (4 seasons: 2012–16)
• {{flagicon|USA}} David Weaver (1 season: 2013–14)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Artur Castela (2 seasons: 2013–16)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Jobey Thomas (3 seasons: 2013–15)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Mário Gil Fernandes (4 seasons: 2013–17)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Ron Slay (1 season: 2014–15)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Fábio Lima (4 seasons: 2014–15, 2018–21)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Daequan Cook (1 season: 2015–16)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Marko Loncovic (2 seasons: 2015–17)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Nuno Oliveira (3 seasons: 2015–18)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Derek Raivio (1 season: 2016–17)
• {{flagicon|ANG}} Carlos Morais (2 seasons: 2016–18)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Neemias Queta (1 season: 2017–18)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Quincy Miller (1 season: 2020–21)

{{div col end}}

{{div col|colwidth=28em}}

• {{flagicon|POR}} Teotónio Lima (12 seasons: 1956–65, 1972–75)
• {{flagicon|POR}} José Curado (3 seasons: 1984–87)
• {{flagicon|USA}} Tim Shea (3 seasons: 1988–91)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Mário Palma (6 seasons: 1991–97)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Carlos Lisboa (10 seasons: 1997–99, 2011–17, 2019–21)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Norberto Alves (2004–06, 2021–present)
• {{flagicon|POR}} Henrique Vieira (5 seasons: 2007–11)
• {{flagicon|POR}} José Ricardo (1 season: 2017–18)
• {{flagicon|ESP}} Arturo Álvarez (1 season: 2018–19)

{{div col end}}

• Portuguese League

: Winners (3): 2020–21, 2021–22,[https://desporto.sapo.pt/modalidades/basquetebol/artigos/benfica-campeao-portugues-de-basquetebol-feminino-pela-segunda-vez Benfica campeão português de basquetebol feminino pela segunda vez] 2023–24

• Portuguese Cup

: Winners (3): 2020–21, 2021–22,[https://maisfutebol.iol.pt/gdessa-barreiro/modalidades/basquetebol-benfica-conquista-taca-de-portugal-feminina Basquetebol: Benfica conquista Taça de Portugal feminina] 2023–24

• Federation Cup

: Winners (2): 2021–22, 2022–23[https://www.slbenfica.pt/pt-pt/agora/noticias/2022/03/27/basquetebol-feminino-benfica-gdessa-barreiro-final-taca-da-federacao Primeira Taça Federação para o Cosme Damião!]

• Vítor Hugo Cup

: Winners (4): 2019–20, 2022–23, 2023–24,[https://www.record.pt/modalidades/basquetebol/detalhe/benfica-vence-gdessa-barreiro-e-revalida-taca-vitor-hugo-em-basquetebol-feminino Benfica vence GDESSA Barreiro e revalida Taça Vítor Hugo em basquetebol feminino] Record (in Portuguese) 2024–25

• Portuguese Super Cup

: Winners (3): 2021, 2022,[https://visao.sapo.pt/atualidade/desporto/2022-09-17-benfica-conquista-supertaca-de-basquetebol-feminina/ Benfica conquista Supertaça de basquetebol feminina] 2024

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last1=Perdigão|first1=Carlos|last2=Pires|first2=Fernando|title=100 Anos de Lenda|trans-title=100 Years of Legend|date=2004|publisher=Diário de Notícias|isbn=972-9335-52-4|edition=First|pages=242–247|language=pt}}

• {{Official website}} {{in lang|pt|en|es|fr}}

{{S.L. Benfica}}

{{S.L. Benfica (basketball) current roster}}

{{Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol teams}}

Basketball

Category:Basketball teams established in 1927

Category:Basketball teams in Portugal

Category:1927 establishments in Portugal