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Reigning champions are FC Porto, who have now won four straight Portuguese titles. Porto have won 24 Portuguese championships overall, second only to the 31 titles won by Benfica.
This season, Sporting Braga are the surprise club so far, though the northern club just lost ground Monday to Portuguese giants Benfica, who beat Naval 1 May 1-0, to go even on points with Braga. Braga had defeated Benfica 2-0 on 31st October, so they remain in first, because tie-breakers in Portugal are head-to-head results, not goal difference (like in Spain’s La Liga) {click here for ‘Tie-breakers for football teams on level points’, by Daryl at The Offside.com}.
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Porto and Benfica both draw very well…38,700 per game for Porto last season; 35,700 per game for Benfica. The third club in the Portuguese big 3, Sporting CP [Lisbon] drew 26,500 per game last season. Sporting CP haven’t won a title since 2002. The only other two clubs that have decent sized fan bases are Sporting Braga, and another club from the Norte region’s greater metropolitan area of Minho {see this}, Vitória [Guimarães]. Guimarãres drew 16,500 per game last season; Braga drew 10,500.
Attendances are up this season 4.5%, but it’s still early {2009-10 attendances, here),
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Porto are in the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League Group Stage, and have clinched passage to the First Knockout Round.
There are 3 Portuguese clubs in the 2009-10 UEFA Europa League Group stage…Benfica and Sporting CP look set to clinch spots in the Round of 32, while the small Madeira Islands club Nacional will most likely miss out on advancement. Nacional punched above their weight last season, equalling their best-ever league finish, fourth place. The club only draws in the 2,000s.
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org {click here (set at Portuguese Liga 2009-10)}. Thanks to the E-F-S site, for attendance figures {click here}. Thanks to www.demis.nl , for the base map.
Thanks to http://redboys1992.blogspot.com
