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S.C. Braga

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Sporting Braga
File:Sporting Clube Braga.png
Full nameSporting Clube de Braga
Nickname(s)Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists)
Minhotos (Those from Minho)
Founded1921
GroundEstádio AXA,
Braga
(AXA Stadium)
Capacity30,154
ChairmanPortugal António Salvador
ManagerPortugal Jorge Jesus
LeagueBWINLIGA
2007-08BWINLIGA, 7th

Sporting Clube de Braga (pron. IPA: ['spɔɾtĩg 'klub(ɨ) dɨ 'bɾagɐ]), also known as Sporting Braga, is a Portuguese sports club, from the city of Braga, that was founded in 1921.

Its football team plays at the Braga Municipal Stadium, which was built for Euro 2004. In the 2000's, 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.

History

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.

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 FC, 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 Benfica, although Feher's dream would be short as he died from a heart-attack on the field, in January 2004.

João Vieira Pinto

The arrival of João Vieira Pinto marked a turning point for Braga. He had previously played for rivals Boavista, where he played a major part in his second stint there. He also played for SL Benfica when he was at his best. Upon his arrival at Braga, fans of the club throughout the world were in amazed when Pinto signed, proving that Braga would be a force to be reckoned with.

The new stadium

Estádio AXA, entrance

Braga currently plays at the Estádio AXA. Many fans were hoping it would bring the team good luck and that it did, as Braga has been finishing in the top-half of the table in recent years.

It has one of the most spectacular settings of any stadium in the world, as it is carved out of the Monte Castro hillside overlooking the city of Braga. The enormous earthmoving process contributed heavily to its €83.1 million cost, more than any other EURO 2004 venue except for the new Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, which has more than twice the capacity of the new Braga stadium. The architect for the project was Eduardo Souto de Moura.

Unlike most major stadiums, AXA has stands only on the two sides of the field; the two end zones are backed with rock walls left behind from the construction process. The two stands are covered with a canopy-style roof which are connected by multiple steel strings over the pitch, inspired by ancient Inca bridges.

The stadium was inaugurated on 30 December 2003, with Braga beating Celta de Vigo 1-0.

Fans of Braga

The fans of SC Braga are known as Arsenalistas or Braguistas due to their never-say-die attitude. Many of Braga fans are known for their crazy antics such as throwing flares in the field to get their players pumped up. The club's attendance record was broken in May 2007 against Belenenses, in a game that gave Braga a final fourth place in the league.

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 SC 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 Estrela da 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 - 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).

European ambitions

In 2006/07, Portuguese up-and-coming manager Carlos Carvalhal became manager of the club and a poor start to the season, where Braga lost to AZ Alkmaar 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 Marítimo, proved to be the end of his season, despite success in European competitions, with an overall score of 3-2 against Italian club Chievo Verona 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 SL 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 de Leiria in a league match on the 18th February 2007, Gonçalves resigned, one day afterwards. Braga president António Salvador announced on the same day that assistant manager Costa would be in charge until the end of the 2006/2007 season. In his first game, Braga beat Parma FC 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 pipping 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 2006/2007 season Braga qualified for the UEFA Cup where they faced Hammarby; despite losing the first leg in Sweden 2-1, Braga won at home 4-0 to qualify to the groupstages for the third consecutive time.

There, their first game was against Bolton Wanderers FC where the game finished 1-1, Braga then played against 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 FC with another 1-1, 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.

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 de Guimarães is a match that both sets or fans are always waiting for. 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 derby 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. It was said that Galician soldiers from Braga, who were not yet part of the Kingdom of Portugal invaded Guimarães, killing and slaughtering the entire city.

Current squad

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Portugal POR Paulo Santos
2 DF Peru PER Alberto Rodriguez
3 DF Portugal POR Paulo Jorge
6 MF Portugal POR Bruno Tiago
7 FW Brazil BRA Jorginho
12 GK Spain ESP Dani Mallo
15 FW Brazil BRA Wender
17 DF Portugal POR Nuno Frechaut
19 MF Peru PER Jair Baylón
21 DF Portugal POR César Peixoto
23 MF Argentina ARG Andrés Madrid
29 FW Austria AUT Roland Linz
31 GK Poland POL Paweł Kieszek
37 GK Portugal POR Mário Felgueiras
No. Pos. Nation Player
47 DF Portugal POR João Pereira
88 MF Brazil BRA Vandinho
89 MF Portugal POR Stélvio
- FW Zambia ZAM Rainford Kalaba
- DF Brazil BRA Moisés
- DF Brazil BRA Evaldo
- FW Portugal POR Filipe Oliveira
- MF Brazil BRA Paulo César
- MF Uruguay URU Luis Aguiar
- DF Brazil BRA Edimar
- DF Brazil BRA André Leone
- GK Portugal POR Eduardo
- FW Uruguay URU Elías Figueroa

Transfers 2008/09

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Notable players

Notable coaches

Honors

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 Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Cup Europe Notes
1947-1948 1D 13 26 6 4 16 47 69 16
1948-1949 1D 8 26 11 2 13 39 54 24
1949-1950 1D 8 26 11 2 13 52 53 24 not held
1950-1951 1D 7 26 10 5 11 42 57 25
1951-1952 1D 8 26 8 5 13 32 49 21
1952-1953 1D 13 26 8 2 16 37 58 18
1953-1954 1D 5 26 12 4 10 54 36 28
1954-1955 1D 5 26 12 5 9 52 42 29
1955-1956 1D 14 26 5 3 18 36 84 13 relegated
1956-1957 2D ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? promoted
1957-1958 1D 5 26 9 7 10 51 52 25
1958-1959 1D 7 26 9 6 11 48 51 24
1959-1960 1D 12 26 6 8 12 24 39 20
1960-1961 1D 13 26 8 3 15 41 62 19 relegated
1961-1962 2D ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1962-1963 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1963-1964 2D ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? promoted
1964-1965 1D 10 26 8 4 14 36 51 20
1965-1966 1D 10 26 7 7 12 39 64 21 winner
1966-1967 1D 9 26 9 5 12 33 33 23 CWC 2nd round
1967-1968 1D 9 26 9 3 14 29 48 21
1968-1969 1D 12 26 6 7 13 20 47 19
1969-1970 1D 13 26 6 5 15 25 52 17 relegated
1970-1971 2D ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1971-1972 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1972-1973 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1973-1974 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
1974-1975 2D ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? promoted
1975-1976 1D 7 30 9 10 11 35 43 28
1976-1977 1D 8 30 10 9 11 36 36 29 final
1977-1978 1D 4 30 16 6 8 42 27 38 best classification ever
1978-1979 1D 4 30 16 5 9 49 35 37 UC 2nd round
1979-1980 1D 9 30 10 6 14 34 40 26
1980-1981 1D 6 30 10 10 10 34 39 30
1981-1982 1D 7 30 11 8 11 34 42 30 final
1982-1983 1D 6 30 13 3 14 41 43 29 CWC preliminary round
1983-1984 1D 4 30 15 7 8 40 32 37
1984-1985 1D 8 30 9 10 11 46 43 28 UC 1st round
1985-1986 1D 9 30 9 8 13 34 47 26
1986-1987 1D 9 30 10 6 14 32 34 26
1987-1988 1D 11 38 8 18 12 32 42 34
1988-1989 1D 6 38 14 12 12 42 37 40
1989-1990 1D 12 34 8 12 14 32 41 28
1990-1991 1D 7 38 13 8 17 42 45 34
1991-1992 1D 11 34 12 5 17 41 49 29
1992-1993 1D 12 34 12 6 16 33 34 30
1993-1994 1D 15 34 9 10 15 33 43 28
1994-1995 1D 10 34 11 10 13 34 42 32
1995-1996 1D 8 34 12 9 3 44 47 45
1996-1997 1D 4 34 15 10 9 39 40 55
1997-1998 1D 10 34 11 12 11 48 49 45 final UC 3rd round
1998-1999 1D 9 34 10 12 12 38 50 42 CWC 2nd round
1999-2000 1D 9 34 12 7 15 44 45 43
2000-2001 1D 4 34 16 9 9 58 48 57
2001-2002 1D 10 34 10 12 12 43 43 42 semi-final
2002-2003 1D 14 34 8 14 12 34 47 38
2003-2004 1D 5 34 15 9 10 36 38 54
2004-2005 1D 4 34 16 10 8 45 28 58 UC 1st round
2005-2006 1D 4 34 17 7 10 38 22 58 last 32 UC 1st round
2006-2007 1D 4 30 14 8 8 35 30 50 semi-final UC 4th round
2007-2008 1D 7 30 10 11 9 32 34 41 4th round UC 3rd round

References

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