S.C. Braga
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| Full name | Sporting Clube de Braga | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Os Arcebispos (The Archbishops) Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists) Minhotos (Those from Minho) |
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| Founded | 1921 | |||
| Ground | Estádio AXA, Braga (AXA Stadium) (Capacity: 30,154) |
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| Chairman |  António Salvador |
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| Manager | Domingos Paciência |
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| League | Portuguese Liga | |||
| 2008-09 | Portuguese Liga, 5th | |||
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Sporting Clube de Braga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈspɔɾtĩɡ ˈklub(ɨ) dɨ ˈbɾaɡɐ]), commonly known as Braga, is a Portuguese sports club, from the city of Braga, that was founded in 1921. Its football team plays at the Axa Stadium, also known as The Quarry, which was built for Euro 2004. In the 2000s, the club gradually became one of Portugal's most successful clubs after the Big Three, and they have also competed with relative success in European competitions, winning the last ever UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2008.
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[edit] History
[edit] Braga Celebrate The Cup
In 1966 the citizens of Braga were at an all time high as Braga won the Portuguese Cup. This came as a surprise, as not even the people of Braga expected their club to win. This was the first time Braga had won an honour. Braga have come close on several occasions since then.
[edit] The Ferreira Years
Jesualdo Ferreira is an icon at Braga as he led the club to glory as they reached 4th in the Portuguese Superliga. Many fans were hurt when Ferreira left, but Ferreira led the club to a high finish in the league, which led Braga to European competitions for the first time in decades. Ferreira left for Boavista F.C., the club that many Braga fans consider arch-rivals for the UEFA slot in the competition. At Braga, Ferreira was known as "The Professor" for his tactical decisions when deciding the starting line-up that led Braga to 4th place. Miklos Feher was a key part while at Braga. He managed an impressive record of 26 matches and 14 goals in the 2000/2001 season for Sporting Braga. He then pursued his dreams when he arrived in Lisbon to play for S.L. Benfica, although Feher's dream would be short as he died from a heart-attack on the field, in January 2004.
[edit] Fans of Braga
The fans of Braga are known as Arsenalistas due to their teams uniforms that reseble that of Arsenal. They are also known as Bracarense because of the Bracara Augustus region of Portugal that is now known as Braga. The club's attendance record was broken in May 2007 against C.F. Os Belenenses, in a game that gave Braga a final fourth place in the league.
[edit] Symbols and Europe
The emblem of Sporting Braga is the city of Braga's shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus. On the top of the emblem is the Royal Crown of Braga, with the name Sporting Clube de Braga on it. Many fans of Braga have said that Mother Mary gives them luck. Back in the 60's and 70's Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in the UEFA Competitions. The club is also participating in the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup. The team is also expecting a top three finish in the 2007/2008 season. Braga finished fifth in Jesualdo Ferreira's first full season and brought UEFA Cup football to the Municipal stadium. Then in the 2005/06 they challenged for the championship until the penultimate round, ending fourth. Braga's success was due in part to Jesualdo's astute management of his human resources. His pragmatic tactics also paid dividends, skills acquired in a varied career taking in spells with C.F. Estrela Amadora and the Moroccan army team FAR Rabat, plus four years with the Portugal under-21 side.Braga, who owe their Sporting Club tag to the better known Sporting Clube de Portugal, after whom they were named, have been known as Arsenal do Minho - Minho's Arsenal F.C. - and changed their kits from green-and-white hoops to their Arsenal-style red in 1920 when their then-coach Jozef Szabo, following a trip to England and Highbury, ordered the club to adopt new colours to establish their own identity (Braga even renamed their youth team Arsenal do Braga).
[edit] European Ambitions
In 2006-07, Portuguese up-and-coming manager Carlos Carvalhal became manager of the club and started with a poor start to the season, where Braga lost to AZ in the UEFA Cup despite crushing Czech Republic champions Slovan Liberec 4-0 (who had drawn against Sevilla FC only a week before), and a 4-1 loss to Madeiran side C.S. 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 A.C. ChievoVerona in the first round of the UEFA Cup. Somewhat unexpectedly, Carvalhal resigned and was replaced with Rogério Gonçalves with former Portugal captain Jorge Costa as assistant manager of the club. Gonçalves' first game in charge couldn't have gone better with a 3-1 over Benfica and a week after a hard-fought loss against UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup champions Sevilla in the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. After a 1-0 away defeat to União Leiria in a league match on 18 February 2007, Gonçalves resigned, one day afterwards. 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 F.C. 1-0 (2-0 on aggregate). They then played Tottenham Hotspur, where they lost 6-4 on aggregate in the last 16. However, they were not favourites to win, and after this result, attentions had been focused on qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. Braga eventually finished fourth in the league for the third successive time, just beating Belenenses by a point on the last day.
During the summer of June 2007, it was presented that AXA would be the club's sponsors in a multi-million 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 stagee for the third consecutive time. There, their first game was against Bolton Wanderers where the game finished 1-1. Braga then played German giants Bayern Munich, who were the favourites to win the competition; despite the negative feedback, Braga drew 1-1 with Roland Linz scoring the vital goal. After that good display, Braga faced Aris F.C. 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 of Serbia where they picked up a 2-0 victory, which was enough to take them into the next round. They went on to face Werder Bremen but lost the first leg 3-0, which Braga missed two penalty's, and the second 1-0.
The 2008-09 UEFA Cup season saw the Minho club go against Bosian club HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, who dropped from the UEFA Champion's League second round. The Minho club started as favourites and beat Zrinjski Mostar 3-0 on aggregate. In the next phase, the Minho side were paired with Slovak giants FC Artmedia Petržalka, who were then beaten 6-0 on aggregate with Albert Meyong scoring a hat-trick in the process from the Minhoto side. After successfully qualifying for the UEFA Cup group stage proper for a third successive season, the Portuguese side were paired with FA Cup winners Portsmouth, Italian giants A.C. Milan, VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, and SC Heerenveen of the Netherlands. Braga started the game at home to Portsmouth and were convincing 3-0 winners with Luís Aguiar scoring from a freekick and setting up the other two goals. This game proved to be Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp's last game as he then moved to Tottenham Hotspur. In the next group game, Braga faced a daunting task at the San Siro against the 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 VfL 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. This year, Braga will be awarded the UEFA Intertoto Cup outright after getting further in the UEFA Cup than any of their ten fellow winners of the summer competition.
[edit] Minho Rivalry
Aside from the loyalty of the supporters, which earned the Arsenalistas a big part of Portuguese football culture, the Minho derby against Vitória 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 other cities. The derby is one of Portugal's most intense derbies, 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 Galicia, and Guimarães, who was led by the first Portuguese King, Afonso I of Portugal, was one of Portugal's biggest cities.
[edit] Honours
[edit] Domestic
- Portuguese Cup:
- Winners (1): 1966
- Runners-up (3): 1977, 1982, 1998
- Portuguese Super Cup:
- Runners-up (2): 1982, 1998
[edit] International
- UEFA Intertoto Cup:
- Winners (1): 2008
[edit] Current Squad
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[edit] Transfers 2009/10
In
Angelo Peña - Estudiantes de Mérida - Undisclosed Fee
Roland Linz - Grasshoppers - Loan Ended
Andrés Madrid - FC Porto - Loan Ended- Fernando Alexandre - Estrela Amadora - Free
Ney - Estrela Amadora - Free- Diogo Valente - FC Porto - Free
Rodrigo Possebon - Manchester United - Loan- Joabe - Villa Nova - Undisclosed Fee
Out
- Orlando Sá - FC Porto - Undisclosed Fee
Luis Aguiar - Dynamo Moscow - 3,000,000 €- Paulo Jorge - APOEL - Undisclosed Fee
- Castanheira - APOEL - Free
- Stélvio - União Leiria - Loan
List of transfers of Portuguese Liga 2009-10 season
[edit] Notable Former Coaches
- Jesualdo Ferreira
- Jorge Jesus
- Manuel Cajuda
- Carlos Carvalhal
- Jorge Costa
- António Conceição
- António Caldas
József Szabó
[edit] League And Cup History
The club has 51 presences at the top level of Portuguese football. Its best classification are seven 4th places. The table below shows the club's performance since its first presence in the 1st Division in the 1947/1948 season.
| Season | Tier | Finish | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Cup | Europe | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947–48 | 1 | 13 | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 47 | 69 | 16 | ||||
| 1948–49 | 1 | 8 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 39 | 54 | 24 | ||||
| 1949–50 | 1 | 8 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 52 | 53 | 24 | Not held | |||
| 1950–51 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 42 | 57 | 25 | ||||
| 1951–52 | 1 | 8 | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 32 | 49 | 21 | ||||
| 1952–53 | 1 | 13 | 26 | 8 | 2 | 16 | 37 | 58 | 18 | ||||
| 1953–54 | 1 | 5 | 26 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 54 | 36 | 28 | ||||
| 1954–55 | 1 | 5 | 26 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 52 | 42 | 29 | ||||
| 1955–56 | 1 | 14 | 26 | 5 | 3 | 18 | 36 | 84 | 13 | Relegated | |||
| 1956–57 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Promoted | |||
| 1957–58 | 1 | 5 | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 51 | 52 | 25 | ||||
| 1958–59 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 48 | 51 | 24 | ||||
| 1959–60 | 1 | 12 | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 24 | 39 | 20 | ||||
| 1960–61 | 1 | 13 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 41 | 62 | 19 | Relegated | |||
| 1961–62 | 2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| 1962–63 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| 1963–64 | 2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Promoted | |||
| 1964–65 | 1 | 10 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 36 | 51 | 20 | ||||
| 1965–66 | 1 | 10 | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 39 | 64 | 21 | Champion | |||
| 1966–67 | 1 | 9 | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 33 | 33 | 23 | CWC | 2nd round | ||
| 1967–68 | 1 | 9 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 29 | 48 | 21 | ||||
| 1968–69 | 1 | 12 | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 47 | 19 | ||||
| 1969–70 | 1 | 13 | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 52 | 17 | Relegated | |||
| 1970–71 | 2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| 1971–72 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| 1972–73 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| 1973–74 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||||
| 1974–75 | 2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Promoted | |||
| 1975–76 | 1 | 7 | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 35 | 43 | 28 | ||||
| 1976–77 | 1 | 8 | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 36 | 36 | 29 | Runner-up | |||
| 1977–78 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 42 | 27 | 38 | Best league finish | |||
| 1978–79 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 16 | 5 | 9 | 49 | 35 | 37 | UC | 2nd round | ||
| 1979–80 | 1 | 9 | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 34 | 40 | 26 | ||||
| 1980–81 | 1 | 6 | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 34 | 39 | 30 | ||||
| 1981–82 | 1 | 7 | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 34 | 42 | 30 | Runner-up | |||
| 1982–83 | 1 | 6 | 30 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 41 | 43 | 29 | CWC | Preliminary round | ||
| 1983–84 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 40 | 32 | 37 | ||||
| 1984–85 | 1 | 8 | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 46 | 43 | 28 | UC | 1st round | ||
| 1985–86 | 1 | 9 | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 34 | 47 | 26 | ||||
| 1986–87 | 1 | 9 | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 32 | 34 | 26 | ||||
| 1987–88 | 1 | 11 | 38 | 8 | 18 | 12 | 32 | 42 | 34 | ||||
| 1988–89 | 1 | 6 | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 42 | 37 | 40 | ||||
| 1989–90 | 1 | 12 | 34 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 32 | 41 | 28 | ||||
| 1990–91 | 1 | 7 | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 42 | 45 | 34 | ||||
| 1991–92 | 1 | 11 | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 41 | 49 | 29 | ||||
| 1992–93 | 1 | 12 | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 33 | 34 | 30 | ||||
| 1993–94 | 1 | 15 | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 33 | 43 | 28 | ||||
| 1994–95 | 1 | 10 | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 34 | 42 | 32 | ||||
| 1995–96 | 1 | 8 | 34 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 44 | 47 | 45 | ||||
| 1996–97 | 1 | 4 | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 39 | 40 | 55 | ||||
| 1997–98 | 1 | 10 | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 48 | 49 | 45 | Runner-up | UC | 3rd Round | |
| 1998–99 | 1 | 9 | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 38 | 50 | 42 | CWC | 2nd round | ||
| 1999–00 | 1 | 9 | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 44 | 45 | 43 | ||||
| 2000–01 | 1 | 4 | 34 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 58 | 48 | 57 | ||||
| 2001–02 | 1 | 10 | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 43 | 43 | 42 | Semi-final | |||
| 2002–03 | 1 | 14 | 34 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 34 | 47 | 38 | ||||
| 2003–04 | 1 | 5 | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 36 | 38 | 54 | ||||
| 2004–05 | 1 | 4 | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 45 | 28 | 58 | UC | 1st round | ||
| 2005–06 | 1 | 4 | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 38 | 22 | 58 | Round of 32 | UC | 1st round | |
| 2006–07 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 35 | 30 | 50 | Semi-final | UC | Round of 16 | |
| 2007–08 | 1 | 7 | 30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 32 | 34 | 41 | Round of 32 | UC | Round of 32 | |
| 2008–09 | Season in progress | Round of 16 | UC | Round of 16 | |||||||||
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official website (Portuguese)
- Detailed up-to-date Braga news (in English)
- Braga at footballlineups.com
- PSNL Soccer Current info on Braga in English
