Looking Back at Week 3 in the Portuguese League

Week 3 commenced on Saturday this week with Gil Vicente opening the week for the third straight time but unlike the previous two weeks the club earned a 2-0 victory, their first since being promoted and ending Academica's two win start.

Sunday saw Maritimo hand a struggling Sporting a 3-2 loss at Estadio Avalade and keeping the Lisbon side winless on the season. Beira Mar handed Guimaraes a 3-0 loss, Guimaraes was dealing with the sudden resignation of coach Manuel Machado and is sitting at the bottom of the Portuguese table.
Olhanense kept the road wins coming defeating Rio Ave 1-0, while Pacos Ferreira and Feirense played to a scoreless draw.

Monday was another road team day as both Braga 1-0 over Setubal and Benfica with a 2-0 win over Nacional ended the week. Benfica and Braga both sit atop the Portuguese League with seven points a piece.

FC Porto and U. Leiria played will play their game of the round at a later date due to the Dragons participation in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday.

Road Team of the Week: Maritimo

Home Team of the Week: Gil Vicente

Player of the Week: Nildo Petrolina (Beira Mar)

Europa League groups announced

Uefa have announced the groups for the next round of the Europa League which features two Portuguese clubs, last seasons finalists Braga and Sporting.

Group ATottenham
Rubin Kazan
PAOK
Shamrock Rovers
Group B
Copenhagen
Standard Liege
Hannover
Vorskla Poltava

Group C
PSV Eindhoven
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Rapid Bucuresti
Legia Warsaw

Group D
SPORTING
Lazio
Zurich
Vaslui

Group E
Dynamo Kiev
Besiktas
Stoke City
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Group F
Paris Saint-Germain
Athletic Club
Salzburg
Slovan Bratislava

Group G
AZ Alkmaar
Metalist Kharkiv
Austria Wien
Malmo

Group H
BRAGA
Club Brugge
Birmingham City
Maribor

Group I
Atletico Madrid
Udinese
Rennes
Sion

Group J
Schalke
Steaua Bucuresti
Maccabi Haifa
AEK Larnaca

Group K
Twente
Fulham
Odense
Wisla Krakow

Group L
Anderlecht
AEK Athens
Lokomotiv Moscow
Sturm Graz

Portugal announce squad for Euro qualifier

Paulo Bento has announced the Portugal squad for September 2nd, 2011 Euro 2012 qualifier in Cyprus. Portugal will be looking for revenge after a 4-4 draw in Portugal to open the Euro campaign.

Squad:

Goalies- Eduardo (Benfica), Rui Patricio (Sporting), Quim (Braga)

Defense- Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Pepe (Real Madrid), Silvio (Atletico Madrid), Joao Pereira (Sporting), Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid), Bruno Alves (Zenit), Rolando (FC Porto)

Midfielders- Joao Moutinho (FC Porto), Miguel Veloso (Genoa), Raul Meireles (Liverpool), Paulo Machado (Toulouse), Eliseu (Malaga), Ruben Micael (Zaragoza), Andre Santos (Sporting)

Forwards- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nani (Man United), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas), Helder Postiga (Sporting), Varela (FC Porto), Danny (Zenit)

Champions League Groups announced

UEFA have announced the groups for this seasons upcoming Champions League and their are quite a few gems this season as 32 clubs look for glory in Europe including Portugal's own FC Porto and Benfica.

Group A featuring Bayern Munich, Napoli, Mancester City and Villareal, gets this seasons nod as the Group of Death while Barcelona & AC Milan have been matched up in Group H.

Announced Groups:

Group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Napoli, Villareal
Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
Group C: Manchester United, BENFICA, Basel, Otelul Galati
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayern Leverkusen, Genk
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund
Group G: FC PORTO, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit, APOEL
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Bate Borisov, Viktoria Plzen

Looking back at Week 2 of the Portuguese League

Week 2 opened with last seasons defending Champions FC Porto continue their unbeaten run in the Portuguese League with a 3-1 drubbing of Gil Vicente.

Benfica then earned their first victory of the season defeating newly promoted Feirense by the same 3-1 score. Sporting was not so lucky playing to their second consecutive draw to start the season against Beira Mar.

Academica joined Porto atop the Portuguese League in this early season defeating Rio Ave 1-0 for their second win to start the season. Braga handed Maritimo a 2-0 loss, while Pacos Ferreira hung on to defeat Leiria in a card filled game.

Setubal and Olhanense played to a spirited 2-2 draw with Olhanense coming back from being down 2-0 after the first half. Nacional and Guimaraes will play their game of the round at a later date.

Road Team of the Week: Setubal

Home Team of the Week: FC Porto

Player of the Week: Hulk (FC Porto)

FC Porto kickoff Week 2 with win over Gil Vicente

FC Porto kicked off the start of Week 2 in Portugal with a 3-1 victory over newly promoted Gil Vicente as they start the season with their second straight victory and have not suffered a loss in the Portuguese league since February 28, 2010.

Gil Vicente opened the scoring when they were awarded a penalty kick just three minutes into the encounter and Joao Vilela barely got the ball by Helton.

Porto then took exactly seven minutes to bring the game back to square as Hulk converted easily on their own awarded penalty kick and then six minutes later Sapunaru gave Porto the lead with a beautiful header from a Hulk corner kick.

Porto then extended their lead to two goals at the 51st minute of the game as Hulk converted a free kick from just outside the box into the top left corner leaving Vicente's Adriano motionless.

This was the first game for the Dragons after the sale of Falcao and Ruben Micael the day before to Atletico Madrid ad they did not miss a beat.

Portuguese clubs disappoint in European action

Portuguese clubs did not fair well this week in European competitions with none of the five clubs in action coming away with a victory.

Benfica opened the week of drawing 2-2 with Dutch club Twente and will be looking to advance to the Champions League group stage at home this coming week.

In Europe League action, Sporting, Braga and Nacional all played to scoreless draws against Nordsjaelland from Denmark, Young Boys from Switzerland and Birmingham City from England respectively. Guimaraes was the only Portuguese side to lose, 2-0 to Atletico Madrid from Spain.

Sporting and Guimaraes head home for the second leg on August 25 while Braga and Nacional look to advance to the Europa League group stage on the road.

Braga upstage Benfica & Porto in European earnings

Braga did not win any trophy last season but they did get the better of any club in Portugal when it came to earnings in European competitions last season.

Braga earned a total of $16,370,191 euros last season from participating in the Champions League and reaching the final of the Europa League. Braga earned $11,842,000 from the Champions League and another $4,528,191 from the Europa League.

Benfica finished second in earnings with a total of $13,762,191, with $11,834,000 coming from the Champions League and the other $1,928,191 from the Europa League.

FC Porto last seasons Europa League title winners earned a total of $7,837,046 while Sporting collected $2,142,962 from the Europa League campaign.

The funds are based on participation, match bonuses, performance bonuses based on wins and draws in the group stages and advancement through the tournament. There is also a television market pool thats divided between clubs based on a variety of factors which include an individual clubs national tv market.
The top earning clubs last season in Europe where:

1- Manchester United (England) $ 53,197,000
2- Barcelona (Spain) $ 51,025,000
3- Chelsea (England) $ 44,523,000
4- Schalke (Germany) $ 39,750,000
5- Real Madrid (Spain) $ 39,288,000
6- Inter Milan (Italy) $37, 982,000
7- Bayern Munich (Germany) $32,562,000
8- Tottenham (England) $ 31,133,000
9- Roma (Italy) $ 30,087,000
10- Arsenal (England) $ 29,983,000
11- AC Milan (Italy) $ 25,790,000
12- Marseille (France) $ 25,085,000
13- Valencia (Spain) $ 24,056,000
14- Lyon (France) $ 22,656,000
15- Panathinakos (Greece) $ 22,370,000
16- Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) $ 21,288,000
17- Copenhagen (Denmark) $ 21,248,000
18- Buraspor (Turkey) $ 20,048,000
19- Rangers (Scotland) $ 19,250,972
20- CFR Cluj (Romania) $ 18,412,000

Looking back at Week 1 in the Portuguese League

We are adding a new feature to our site for the upcoming 2011/12 season and recapping the Portuguese League after their rounds of games are done for the week. We hope you enjoy this added feature.

Week 1 opened with more of a whimper then a roar as three out of the eight games played ended in a scoreless draw while only three clubs where able to manage a victory opening weekend.

Benfica and Gil Vicente got the season started with a spirited 2-2 draw with the visiting Eagles squandering a two goal lead in the game. Braga played Rio Ave to a scoreless tilt and Sporting scored a late marker to secure a home point against visiting Olhanense.

Then both Madeira clubs, Maritimo and Nacional played to scoreless encounters against Beira Mar and Feirense respectively. Setubal earned the first victory of the season getting the best of Pacos Ferreira 2-1 in a game that saw three red cards handed out. FC Porto last seasons defending Champions edged Guimaraes 1-0 in a rematch of the previous weeks Super Cup.

Academica rounded out the week coming back from one goal down to defeat a totally revamped U. Leiria 2-1.

Road Team of the Week: Academica

Home Team of the Week: Setubal

Player of the Week: Nolito (Benfica)

Benfica open the season with draw to Gil Vicente

Benfica open their 2011/12 campaign in disappointing fashion as last seasons runners-up draw with recently promoted Gil Vicente on the road and blowing a two goal lead in the process.

Benfica opened the scoring just seven minutes into the game when newly acquired Nolito took a  low shot past the keeper. Javier Saviola doubled the score from a nifty give and go with Franco Jara before the game was even twenty minutes old.

Gil Vicente got one back seven minutes before the end of the half when Hugo Vieira got one past Artur after a miss play on the ball from Ruben Amorim. Gil Vicente then brought the game even at the 73rd minute mark as Laionel's rocket from about 25 yards out made its way past the Benfica keeper.

Benfica fought late in the game for the winner but it was to no avail as the game ended in disappointment 2-2 as Benfica's sloppy play in their backend looks to have continued from last season.

Porto and Guimaraes announce rosters for Portuguese Super Cup

Porto and Guimaraes have announced their rosters for tomorrows Super Cup. The season kick off game will have both clubs looking to start their campaign on a positive note.

Rosters:

FC Porto

Goalies- Helton, Bracali

Defense- Maicon, Fucile, Otamendi, Rolando, Sereno, Sapunaru

Midfield- Guarin, Joao Moutinho, Ruben Micael, Souza, Belluschi

Forwards- Hulk, Varela, Falcao, Kleber, Djalma

Guimaraes

Goalies- Douglas, Nilson

Defense- Tony, Alex, Joao Paulo, Anderson, Defendi, N'Diaye

Midfield- Pedro Mendes, Dinis, Joao Alves, Olimpio, Barrientos, El Adoua

Forwards- Targino, Edgar, Maranhao, Faouzi, Toscano

Portuguese Clubs set for next step in Europe

Portuguese clubs have been handed their next round of games in Europe by the draw in Nyon today.

Benfica will look to advance to the Group Stage of the Champions League as they take on Dutch side Twente, the games will be played Aug 16/11 and August 24/11.

While in the Europa League, four Portuguese clubs look to make the Group Stage with Sporting facing Danish side Nordsjaelland. Last seasons Europa League finalists play Swiss club BSC Young Boys. Guimaraes with the toughest draw face Spanish side Atletico Madrid. Nacional look to get past English club Birmingham City. The games will be played April 18/11 and April 25/11.

Portugal squad for friendly against Luxembourg

Paulo Bento has announced his squad for the upcoming friendly against Luxembourg in Faro on August 10/11 as the squad gets set to resume Euro Qualifying action in September. Nuno Gomes has been called up by Portugal for the first time in two years as the 35 year old striker winds down his career. This should be Gomes' swan song for the National side.

Portugal 21 man squad:

Goalies: Eduardo (Benfica), Quim (Braga), Rui Patricio (Sporting)

Defense: Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Bruno Alves (Zenit), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid), Joao Pereira (Sporting), Silvio (Atletico Madrid)

Midfield: Raul Meireles (Liverpool), Ruben Micael (FC Porto), Andre Castro (FC Porto), Andre Santos (Sporting), Joao Moutinho (FC Porto)

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nuno Gomes (Braga), Nani (Man United), Varela (FC Porto), Danny (Zenit), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas), Helder Postiga (Sporting)