S.C. Braga

History

Braga has been known as Arsenal do Minho and changed their kits from green and white to their Arsenal-style red during the 1945–46 (with the reserve squad) and the 1946–47 (with the main team) seasons due to their president José Antunes Guimarães who had business connections in London and was an Arsenal fan (this is one version of the story: the other one says that Josef Szabó, a Hungarian coach who loved Arsenal's playing style asked the president to change the green and white uniform to an Arsenal-style red). That year (1947), Braga won the Second division title reaching the First division for the first time. Braga even renamed their youth team Arsenal de Braga.

Braga's emblem is the city of Braga's shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus with the blue from the city's shield changed to red. On the top of the emblem is the golden Mural Crown of Braga, with the name "Sporting Clube de Braga" on it. Many Braga fans have said that Mother Mary gives them luck. The fans of Braga are known as Arsenalistas due to their team home kit that resembles that of English club Arsenal. They are also known as Bracarenses because of being from the city of Bracari, later named Bracara Augusta, city of Portugal that is now known as Braga.

Aside from the loyalty of its supporters, the Minho derby against Vitória de Guimarães is a match that both sets of fans eagerly await. This match is more than football – it is a way people from the north view each city. The derby is one of Portugal's most intense matches, and children under 13 are restricted from entering unless an adult is with them. The rivalry goes back to when the City of Braga was the ancient capital of Gallaecia and the largest Portuguese city by the time the Kingdom of Portugal was formed by Afonso I of Portugal. At that time, Guimarães became the seat of the King and nobility, whereas the city of Braga remained the centre of trade and religious power (the largest city and seat of the Archbishop).

European ambitions and recent history

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 penalities) 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. 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. 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. On 15 September 2010, Braga were heavily defeated 6–0 by Arsenal in its first group stage match. 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. 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: 20 December 2016

National

International

Other

European record

Update: 20 December 2017

Current squad

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

Out on loan

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