S.L. Benfica Juniors

Benfica Juniors

Full name	Sport Lisboa e Benfica "Juniors"
Nickname(s)	As Águias (The Eagles) Os Encarnados (The Reds)
Ground	Benfica Campus
Capacity	2,720
President	Rui Costa
Head coach	Luís Araújo
League	Campeonato Nacional de Juniores
2019–20	CNJ South, 1st
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Active departments of S.L. Benfica
Football (men's) Football B (men's) Football U19 (men's) Football (women's) Futsal Roller hockey Basketball Handball Volleyball Athletics Swimming Rugby union Table tennis Billiards Canoeing

Sport Lisboa e Benfica "Juniors", commonly known as Benfica Juniors (Juniores do Benfica), is the under-19 football team belonging to the youth department of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. Based in Seixal, they hold home matches at the club's training centre and youth academy, Benfica Campus.

Domestically, Benfica have won a record 24 Campeonato Nacional de Juniores. Internationally, they won the Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup in 1996 and have reached three UEFA Youth League finals, in the 2013–14, 2016–17 and 2019–20 seasons.^[1] They were distinguished for "Best implementation of the UEFA Youth League values" in the former campaign.^[2]

Internationally, Benfica hold UEFA Youth League records for the biggest win, 1–11 at Galatasaray, the biggest home win, 8–0 against Astana,^[3] and, as of the end of the 2016–17 campaign, the record for most games played (37) and most goals scored (89).^[1]

There are other main development teams below under-19, completing Benfica's youth academy: Juvenis "A" and "B"; Iniciados "A" and "B"; Infantis "A", "B", "C" and "D"; Benjamins "A" and "B"; and Traquinas "A". In 2015, Benfica received the Globe Soccer award for Best Academy of the year.^[4]

Starting from the 2018–19 season, Benfica have an under-23 team playing in the newly created Liga Revelação (Revelation League).

Players[]

Current players[]

As of 2 August 2021^[5][6][7]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  POR Pedro Souza (U23) — GK  POR Samuel Soares (B) — DF   SUI Adrian Bajrami (B) — DF  POR Fábio Baptista (B) — DF  POR Filipe Cruz (B) — DF  POR Gabriel Araújo (U23) — DF  POR Gonçalo Loureiro (B) — DF  POR Guilherme Montóia — DF  POR Rafael Rodrigues (B) — DF  POR Renato Matos (U23) — DF  POR Tomás Araújo (B)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Diogo Nascimento (B) — MF  POR Famana Quizera — MF  POR Martim Neto (B) — MF  POR Paulo Bernardo (B) — MF  POR Rafael Brito (B) — MF  POR Ronaldo Camará (B) — FW  POR Francisco Domingues (U23) — FW  POR Gerson Sousa (B) — FW  POR Henrique Araújo (B) — FW  POR Henrique Pereira (B)

Key

B = player for Benfica B; U23 = player for the under-23s

Notable players[]

The following is a list of players who have represented Benfica's first-team in a minimum of 25 matches or have become full internationals while at Benfica. Over 1,000 players have come through the youth ranks, but only a small part of them played for the main team. Those who meet the aforementioned criteria are listed below.^[8] In rare exceptions, some graduates debuted for the first-team but left the club before reaching 25 matches and went on to achieve recognition elsewhere while representing their country at full international level; those players are also included. Additionally, outstanding performances (Player of the Year) without ever playing for Benfica are also noteworthy of inclusion.

Coaching staff[]

Position	Staff
Head coach	Luís Araújo
Assistant coaches	André Matos Vítor Couto
Goalkeeping coach	Paulo Marques
Observation coach	Rodolfo Fernandes
Fitness coach	Hugo Zagalo

Competitive record[]

UEFA Youth League[]

As of match played 8 December 2021

Note: Benfica score is always listed first.

Season	Round	Opponent	Home	Away
2013–14	GS	Anderlecht	3–0	6–3
		Paris Saint-Germain	1–1	4–1
		Olympiacos	0–0	0–1
	R16	Austria Wien	4–1	N/A
	QF	Manchester City	N/A	2–1
	SF	Real Madrid	4–0
	F	Barcelona	0–3
2014–15	GS	Zenit Saint Petersburg	0–0	1–5
		Bayer Leverkusen	4–1	3–2
		Monaco	3–0	1–0
	R16	Liverpool	2–1	N/A
	QF	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–1 (aet) (4–5 p)	N/A
2015–16	GS	Astana	8–0	5–0
		Atlético Madrid	1–1	2–1
		Galatasaray	2–0	11–1
	R16	Příbram	N/A	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)
	QF	Real Madrid	N/A	0–2
2016–17	GS	Beşiktaş	0–0	3–0
		Napoli	2–0	3–2
		Dynamo Kyiv	1–2	1–2
	PO	Midtjylland	N/A	1–1 (aet) (6–5 p)
	R16	PSV Eindhoven	N/A	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)
	QF	CSKA Moscow	N/A	2–0
	SF	Real Madrid	4–2
	F	Red Bull Salzburg	1–2
2017–18	GS	CSKA Moscow	5–1	0–2
		Basel	0–0	2–2
		Manchester United	2–2	1–1
2018–19	GS	Bayern Munich	3–0	2–2
		AEK Athens	3–0	3–1
		Ajax	3–3	0–3
	PO	Montpellier	N/A	1–2
2019–20	GS	RB Leipzig	2–1	3–0
		Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–0	7–1
		Lyon	1–2	3–2
	R16	Liverpool	4–1	N/A
	QF	Dinamo Zagreb	3–1
	SF	Ajax	3–0
	F	Real Madrid	2–3
2020–21	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
2021–22	GS	Dynamo Kyiv	1–0	0–4
		Barcelona	4–0	3–0
		Bayern Munich	4–0	2–0
	R16	TBD

Honours[]

• Portuguese Championship^[72]

Winners (24) – record: 1943–44, 1944–45, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2012–13, 2017–18

• Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup^[73][74]

Winners: 1996

Runners-up: 1997, 2014

• UEFA Youth League

Runners-up: 2014, 2017, 2020

Other youth honours[]

Juvenis (under-17)

• Portuguese Championship^[72]

Winners (19): 1963–64, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1982–83, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2018–19

Iniciados (under-15)

• Portuguese Championship^[72]

Winners (10): 1978–79, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1988–89, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17

Infantis (under-13)

• Portuguese Championship^[72]

Winners (3): 1988–89, 1989–90, 1995–96

References[]

External links[]

• Departamento de Formação (in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and French)
• How Benfica became a global figurehead in player development – These Football Times (2017)