S.C. Braga

History

Existing records say that in 1919, two years before the formal foundation, a group of Braga residents who were sympathisers of the Lisbon-based Sporting 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 classic Sporting CP Stromp kit, with a green and white shirt split down the middle. Influenced by sympathisers of Sport 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.

Until 1945, SC Braga imitated Benfica's kit. Red shirt, shorts and white socks. That year, at the end of World War II, the club adopted the Arsenal version for their second team, with white sleeves. 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 in London and was an Arsenal fan; according to an alternate version, it was József 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 new kit, reaching the First division for the first time. Braga even renamed their youth team Arsenal de Braga. [[File:BragavsCelta.jpg|thumb|left|One of the first matches played in Arsenal-style kits against R C Celta Vigo]]

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.

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. In the 2006–07 UEFA Cup, the side reached the last 16 before a 6–4 aggregate loss to Tottenham Hotspur. That summer, the club signed a three-year sponsorship deal with French insurance company Axa, who took over the naming rights for the stadium for €4.5 million; this was renewed for a further three years in 2010.

Braga won the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup and again reached the UEFA Cup last 16 in the 2008–09 season, where they lost by a single goal to Paris Saint-Germain.

Braga was runners-up in the league for the only time in its history in the 2009–10 season under Domingos Paciência. Entering the UEFA Champions League for the first time, in the fourth qualifying round Braga beat Sevilla 1–0 at home and 4–3 away, thus making the group stage. On 15 September 2010, Braga were heavily defeated 6–0 by Arsenal in its first group stage match. Eliminated in third place, they dropped into the Europa League and reached the final in Dublin, where they lost to a goal by FC Porto's Radamel Falcao.

Braga won the Taça da Liga for the first time in 2013 under José Peseiro, with one goal from Alan against Porto. Two years later, Sérgio Conceição's side lost on penalties to Sporting CP in the Taça de Portugal final, but Paulo Fonseca's triumphed over Porto on the same method in 2016 to win their first such cup in 50 years.

In 2019–20, Braga went through four managers over the course of the season. The second of these, Ruben Amorim, led them to a league cup victory over Porto, with Ricardo Horta scoring in added time to secure the trophy on home soil.

On 28 July 2020, Carlos Carvalhal was announced as the new head coach, after 14 years away from the club. He led the club to the league cup final again, where they lost to Amorim's new team Sporting, but won the 2021 Taça de Portugal Final 2–0 against Benfica. He would leave the club and be replaced by Artur Jorge after the 2021–22 season ended.

On 10 October 2022, 21.67% of the club shares were bought for €80 million by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the state-run sovereign-wealth fund in Qatar owned by Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, who is also the owner of Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain through the QSI. 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).

SC Braga's considerable success in the first quarter of the 21st century, including participations in the UEFA Champions League, winning the Taça de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) for the second time in 2016 and the third in 2021, reaching the UEFA Europa League final in 2011, which they lost to fellow Portuguese side FC Porto and the inauguration of the Cidade Desportiva, newly built SC Braga's state-of-the-art facilities, improved it on the UEFA 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 classic Big Three.

Finances and ownership

Results

In 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga - Futebol, SAD's net profit was 20.377 million euros and the EBITDA was 29.779 million euros.

Ownership

Sporting Clube de Braga – Futebol, SAD is listed on Euronext Lisbon. By 2023, Sporting Clube de Braga, the sports club as a whole, retained 36.99% of the football SAD (Sporting Clube de Braga – Futebol, SAD) stock, followed by Qatar Sports Investments with 29.60%, and then Sundown Investments Limited with 17.04%. Other investors held the remaining 16.37%.

Rivalries

Rivalry with Vitória SC

The Derby do Minho is the football rivalry between Sporting Clube de Braga and Vitória Sport Clube, two of the biggest clubs in the Minho 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 of Braga and Guimarães that began even before the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal. 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.

Other rivalries

There is also a certain rivalry between Braga, Boavista, Belenenses and Vitória 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 the Big Three is considerable enough in any sport to be given such a designation.

League and cup history

Recent seasons

Honours

Source:

National

League

• Segunda Divisão
  • Winners (2): 1946–47, 1963–64

Cup

• Taça de Portugal
  • Winners (3): 1965–66, 2015–16, 2020–21
• Taça da Liga
  • Winners (3): 2012–13, 2019–20, 2023–24
• Taça Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
  • Winners (1): 1976–77 (First Division)

International

• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Winners (1): 2008 (Outright Winners)

European record

Main article: S.C. Braga in European football

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Former players

Main article: S.C. Braga players

S.C. Braga B

Main article: S.C. Braga B

Club staff

Managerial history

• Hungary József Szabó (1935–37), (1945), (1953–54)
• Argentina Mário Imbelloni (1955–56)
• Portugal Eduardo Viso (1955–56)
• Hungary József Szabó (1956–57), (1960–61)
• Portugal António Teixeira (1964–65)
• Argentina José Valle (1965–66)
• Portugal Manuel Palmeira (1966)
• Portugal Rui Sim-Sim (1966)
• Portugal Fernando Caiado (1966–67)
• Argentina José Valle (1967)
• Portugal José Maria Vieira (1967–68)
• Portugal Artur Quaresma (1968–69)
• Portugal Federico Passos (1969)
• Portugal Alberto Pereira (1969–70)
• Portugal Joaquim Coimbra (1970)
• Portugal José Carlos (1975–76)
• Portugal Mário Lino (1976–77)
• Portugal Hilário Conceição (1977)
• Argentina Mário Imbelloni (1977–78)
• Portugal Fernando Caiado (1978–79)
• Portugal Hilário Conceição (1979–80)
• Portugal Mário Lino (1980–81)
• Portugal Quinito (1981–82)
• Portugal Juca (1 July 1982 – 30 June 1983)
• Portugal Quinito (1983–85)
• Portugal Henrique Calisto (1985)
• Portugal Humberto Coelho (1 July 1985–87)
• Portugal Manuel José (1987–89)
• Portugal Raul Águas (1990)
• Portugal Carlos Garcia (1990–92)
• Portugal Vitor Manuel (1992)
• Portugal António Oliveira (1992–94)
• Portugal Neca (1994)
• Portugal Manuel Cajuda (1 July 1994 – 30 June 1997)
• Spain Fernando Castro Santos (1997–98)
• Spain Alberto Argibay Pazos (1998)
• Portugal Vítor Oliveira (1 July 1998–98)
• Portugal Carlos Manuel (1998)
• Portugal Manuel Cajuda (1 April 1999 – 30 June 2002)
• Spain Fernando Castro Santos (2002–03)
• Portugal Jesualdo Ferreira (19 April 2003 – 8 May 2006)
• Portugal Carlos Carvalhal (10 May 2006 – 8 November 2006)
• Portugal Rogério Gonçalves (13 November 2006 – 19 February 2007)
• Portugal Jorge Costa (19 February 2007 – 30 October 2007)
• Portugal António Caldas (interim) (31 October 2007 – 11 November 2007)
• Portugal Manuel Machado (12 November 2007 – 21 April 2008)
• Portugal Jorge Jesus (20 May 2008 – 15 June 2009)
• Portugal Domingos (20 June 2009 – 30 June 2011)
• Portugal Leonardo Jardim (1 July 2011 – 30 June 2012)
• Portugal José Peseiro (1 July 2012 – 30 June 2013)
• Portugal Jesualdo Ferreira (1 July 2013 – 23 February 2014)
• Portugal Jorge Paixão (23 February 2014 – 23 May 2014)
• Portugal Sérgio Conceição (2014–15)
• Portugal Paulo Fonseca (2015–16)
• Portugal José Peseiro (1 July 2016 – 15 December 2016)
• Portugal Jorge Simão (17 December 2016 – 26 April 2017)
• Portugal Abel Ferreira (27 April 2017 – 30 June 2019)
• Portugal Ricardo Sá Pinto (3 July 2019 – 23 December 2019)
• Portugal Ruben Amorim (27 December 2019 – 3 March 2020)
• Portugal Custódio (3 March 2020 – 1 July 2020)
• Portugal Artur Jorge (1 July 2020 – 28 July 2020)
• Portugal Carlos Carvalhal (28 July 2020 – 15 May 2022)
• Portugal Artur Jorge (15 May 2022 – 3 April 2024)
• Portugal Rui Duarte (3 April 2024 – 18 May 2024)
• Portugal Daniel Sousa (24 May 2024 – 12 August 2024)
• Portugal Carlos Carvalhal (12 August 2024 – 28 May 2025)
• Spain Carlos Vicens (28 May 2025 – present)

References

References

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