Os Arcebispos (The Archbishops) Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists) Arsenal do Minho (Minho's Arsenal) Minhotos (Those from Minho) Os Guerreiros do Minho (The Minho Warriors) Braguistas (supporters)
Sporting Clube de Braga (Portuguese pronunciation:[sɨˈpɔɾtĩˈkluβɨðɨˈβɾaɣɐ]), commonly known asSporting de Braga or justBraga, is a Portuguesesports club from the city ofBraga. Best known for the men's professionalfootball team playing in thePrimeira Liga, the top flight ofPortuguese football at theEstádio Municipal de Braga, it also has departments for athletics, badminton, basketball, billiards, boccia, boxing, esports, futsal, karate, kickboxing, muay thai, swimming, taekwondo and volleyball.[1][2]
Founded on 19 January 1921, Braga are nicknamed,Braguistas, andOs Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists) for the shirt colour that resembles English clubArsenal. Since 2003, Braga have played their home matches at theEstádio Municipal de Braga, which replaced theEstádio 1º de Maio, now used for theclub's reserve team.
The club qualified for the2010–11 UEFA Champions League, reaching the competition for the first time in their history, by eliminatingCeltic andSevilla following a 2nd-place finish in the2009–10 Primeira Liga season. This represented the highest finish in the league in the club's history. Moreover, in the 2010s, Braga have cultivated a reputation for spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing ayouth system.
Existing records say that in 1919, two years before the formal foundation, a group of Braga residents who were sympathisers of the Lisbon-basedSporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting CP) came up with the name Sporting Clube de Braga. The equipment used was also identical to that of Sporting CP. During weekend matches at Campo das Goladas, the friends from Braga wore the classicSporting CP Stromp kit, with a green and white shirt split down the middle. Influenced by sympathisers ofSport Lisboa e Benfica (Benfica), a solution was found in 1921 to please everyone. The name remained true to Sporting CP, but the kit changed to red and white, in honour of the connection of some of the Braga fans to Lisbon's Benfica.[3]
Until 1945, SC Braga imitated Benfica's kit. Red shirt, shorts and white socks. That year, at the end ofWorld War II, the club adopted theArsenal version for their second team, with white sleeves.[3] Braga changed their kits to their current red and white during the 1945–46 season (for the reserve squad) and the 1946–47 season (for the first team). The change, according to one version of the story, was at the behest of their president, José Antunes Guimarães, who had business connections inLondon and was an Arsenal fan; according to an alternate version, it wasJózsef Szabó, Braga's Hungarian coach, who asked the president to change the uniform to an Arsenal-style red and white. In 1947, Braga won the Second division title in the newkit, reaching the First division for the first time. Braga even renamed their youth teamArsenal de Braga.
One of the first matches played in Arsenal-style kits against R C Celta Vigo
Braga's emblem is the city ofBraga's shield withMother Mary and babyJesus 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 asArsenalistas due to their team home kit that resembles that of English club Arsenal.[4] They are also known asBracarenses because of being from the city ofBracari, later namedBracara Augusta, city of Portugal that is now known as Braga.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in theUEFA competitions. Braga's recent run of successive European participations began in the2004–05 UEFA Cup after finishing fifth in the league underJesualdo Ferreira's first full season in the club. In the2006–07 UEFA Cup, the side reached the last 16 before a 6–4 aggregate loss toTottenham Hotspur.[5] That summer, the club signed a three-year sponsorship deal with French insurance companyAxa, who took over the naming rights for the stadium for €4.5 million;[6] this was renewed for a further three years in 2010.[7]
Braga was runners-up in the league for the only time in its history in the 2009–10 season underDomingos Paciência. Entering theUEFA Champions League for the first time, in the fourth qualifying round Braga beat Sevilla 1–0 at home and 4–3 away, thus making thegroup stage.[9] On 15 September 2010, Braga were heavily defeated 6–0 by Arsenal in its firstgroup stage match.[10] Eliminated in third place, they dropped into the Europa League and reachedthe final inDublin, where they lost to a goal byFC Porto'sRadamel Falcao.[11]
In 2019–20, Braga went through four managers over the course of the season.[15] The second of these,Ruben Amorim, led them to a league cup victory over Porto, withRicardo Horta scoring in added time to secure the trophy on home soil.[16]
On 28 July 2020,Carlos Carvalhal was announced as the new head coach, after 14 years away from the club.[17] He led the club to the league cup final again, where they lost to Amorim's new team Sporting,[18] but won the2021 Taça de Portugal Final 2–0 against Benfica.[19] He would leave the club and be replaced byArtur Jorge after the 2021–22 season ended.[20]
On 10 October 2022, 21.67% of the club shares were bought for €80 million byQatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary ofQatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-run sovereign-wealth fund inQatar owned byTamim bin Hamad Al Thani, theEmir of Qatar, who is also the owner ofLigue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain through the QSI.[21] The season ended with third place and a return to the Champions League after 11 years, as well as club records for points (78), wins (25) and goals (75).[22]
SC Braga's considerable success in the first quarter of the 21st century, including participations in theUEFA Champions League, winning theTaça de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) for the second time in 2016 and the third in 2021, reaching theUEFA Europa League final in 2011, which they lost to fellow Portuguese sideFC Porto and the inauguration of theCidade Desportiva, newly built SC Braga's state-of-the-art facilities,[23] improved it on theUEFA club rankings and Portugal's professional football landscape to such an extent that SC Braga started to be dubbed one of the fourth greatest football club in Portugal and regarded as a big club together with the well-established classicBig Three.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
Sporting Clube de Braga – Futebol, SAD is listed onEuronext Lisbon.[31] By 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga, the sports club as a whole, retained 36.99% of the footballSAD (Sporting Clube de Braga – Futebol, SAD) stock, followed byQatar Sports Investments with 29.60%, and then Sundown Investments Limited with 17.04%. Other investors held the remaining 16.37%.[32][33]
TheDerby do Minho is the football rivalry between Sporting Clube de Braga andVitória Sport Clube, two of the biggest clubs in theMinho region of northern Portugal. This derby is marked by great tension and passion, reflecting not only sporting competition, but also a historical and cultural rivalry between the cities ofBraga andGuimarães that began even before the formation of theKingdom of Portugal.[34] Since then it has been a struggle in all aspects of society, sport, culture, the economy... Football has only become a means used to transpose the rivalry. Considered to be one of the most exciting and fiercely contested matches in Portuguese football, the Dérbi Minhoto is eagerly awaited by the fans, who live intensely for the clash between these two cities traditionally known for their history and identity.[35][36]
There is also a certain rivalry between Braga,Boavista,Belenenses andVitória SC, due to the closeness in the number of titles and because they are some of the clubs with the largest number of fans in Portugal, with many people creating arguments to determine which would be the "4th big". However, the distance between these clubs and theBig Three is considerable enough in any sport to be given such a designation.[37]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^Upon the formation of theLiga de Honra (League of Honor), a new second level national league in 1990, the Portuguese Second Division became the third tier ofPortuguese football.
