S.L. Benfica (handball)

Benfica
Full name	Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Founded	8 May 1932 (1932-05-08)
Arena	Pavilhão da Luz Nº 2
Capacity	1,800
President	Felipe Gomes
Head coach	Mariano Ortega
League	Andebol 1
2015–16	2nd
Colours
Club colours
Home Away
Website Official site

Active departments of Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Football	Football B	Football U-19
Futsal	Roller hockey	Basketball
Handball	Volleyball	Athletics
Swimming	Rugby union	Table tennis
Billiards	Canoeing

Sport Lisboa e Benfica is a professional handball team based in Lisbon, Portugal. Benfica play in the top tier domestic league, the Andebol 1. They hold home matches at the Pavilhão da Luz Nº 2.

The club also has a reserve team, Benfica B, who play in the second division.^[1]

History

Beginning

Founded on 8 May 1932, Benfica's handball section endured a troubled start, shortly after being founded. It was inactive from 1939 to 1942–43 because of a conflict between Benfica and the Portuguese Handball Federation.^[2] Until the 1960s, handball was played by eleven players, and after 1962–63, in another dispute with the federation, Benfica closed the eleven players team and opted for the current team handball.^[3] The handball section did not achieve success until 1961–62, being overshadowed by the football, cycling, basketball and roller hockey sections during that time.

Golden years

After a period of dominance by crosstown rivals Sporting CP, Benfica experienced great success in the 1980s and early 1990s, when was led by coach Eugene Troffin, and later by Ângelo Pintado,^[4] along with players such as Paulo Bunze,^[5] Swedish international Fredrik Appelgren,^[6] Dogărescu, Covaciu and Drăgăniță,^[7] goalkeeper João Santa Bárbara, wingman Mário Gentil,^[8] Vasco Vasconcelos, Luís Lopes and Rui Ferreira;^[9] Benfica won four national championships, three Portuguese Cup and two Portuguese Super Cup.

Decay

In the 1997–98 season, club president João Vale e Azevedo decided to shut down the section.^[10] It was restarted in the next season, but from the Regional Championship, four divisions away from the top division.^[11]

Rebuilding years

After years in anonymity, in 2005, Benfica hired former ABC Braga coach, Aleksander Donner, on a three-year deal.^[12] Because of a dispute between Liga and the Handball Federation, which managed the Divisão de Elite, there were two simultaneous championships. In the 2005–06 season, Benfica played in the Divisão de Elite. In 2006–07, Benfica joined the Liga Portuguesa de Andebol along with Sporting CP. During that season, Benfica won their first title since 1994, the League Cup.^[13] In the following season, Benfica finally achieved their first league title since 1990.^[14] Despite the success, Aleksander Donner did not renew his contract at the end of the season.^[15]

Recent years

To replace Donner, Benfica hired José António Silva, who won three titles in three years: the 2008–09 League Cup, 2010–11 Portuguese Cup^[16] and 2010 Super Cup.^[17] In the 2010–11 season, Benfica reached the final of the EHF Challenge Cup, but lost to Slovene side RK Cimos Koper.^[18] In 2011–12, José António Silva was replaced by another former ABC Braga coach, Jorge Rito.^[19] With him, Benfica finished fourth in league for the first time.^[20] On 2 September 2012, Jorge Rito won Benfica's fourth Super Cup trophy.^[21] The season ended with only a second place in the league.^[22] In 2013–14, Benfica's performances worsened, and the team finished the league in fourth place. Jorge Rito did not renew his contract and was replaced by Mariano Ortega.^[23][24] On 3 April 2016, Benfica, who had beaten rivals FC Porto in the semi-finals the day before,^[25] beat Lisbon rivals Sporting in the final and conquered their fifth Portuguese Cup, ending a trophy drought.^[26][27]

Results in European competitions

^[28]

Season	Competition	Round	Opposition	Score
1962–63	European Cup	Round 1	Atlético Madrid BM	13–6 (N)
1975–76	European Cup	Round 1	CB Alicante	Withdrew
1982–83	European Cup	Round 1	FC Barcelona	25–32 (N) 18–32 (N)
1983–84	European Cup	Round 1	ATSE Graz	25–25 (H) 20–29 (A)
1987–88	EHF Cup Winners' Cup	Round 1	Atlético Madrid BM	21–20 (H) 11–29 (A)
1989–90	European Cup	Round 1	FC Barcelona	20–18 (H) 17–28 (A)
1990–91	European Cup	Round 1	Red Boys Differdange	28–18 (H) 26–28 (A)
		Round 2	USAM Nîmes	23–21 (H) 23–31 (A)
1993–94	EHF City Cup	1/16 Finals	Pallamano Rubiera	27–19 (H) 20–22 (A)
		1/8 Finals	ETO Győri	24–21 (A) 19–17 (H)
		1/4 Finals	PSG Asnieres Hand-Ball	27–32 (A) 25–28 (H)
1995–96	EHF City Cup	1/16 Finals	ZMC Amicitia Zürich	19–30 (A) 30–27 (H)
1996–97	EHF City Cup	1/16 Finals	Borec Titov Veles	18–15 (A) 32–14 (H)
		1/8 Finals	Horn Sittardia	21–14 (H) 15–29 (A)
1997–98	EHF City Cup	1/16 Finals	ESN Vrilissia	26–21 (A) 30–12 (H)
		1/8 Finals	Trabzon Belediyespor	27–20 (H) 30–30 (A)
		1/4 Finals	Academia Octavio Vigo	22–32 (A) 25–23 (H)
1998–99	EHF City Cup	1/16 Finals	BSV Wacker Thun	0–10 (A) 0–10 (H)
2002–03	EHF Cup Winners' Cup	Round 3	Dennis Turku	14–26 (A) 17–25 (H)
2007–08	EHF Challenge Cup	Round 3	HC "Mojkovac"	46–22 (A) 46–26 (H)
		1/8 Final	Shakhtar-Academiya	33–26 (A) 21–25 (H)
		1/4 Final	CSU Poli-Izometal Timişoara	32–22 (H) 22–21 (A)
		1/2 Final	UCM Sport Reșița	31–26 (H) 25–32 (A)
2008–09	EHF Champions League	Qualification Round 1	A1 Bregenz	38–34 (H) 28–35 (A)
2008–09	EHF Cup	Round 2	RK Lovćen	26–28 (A) 24–23 (H)
2009–10	EHF Cup	Round 2	H/C "Tbilisi"	34–21 (H) 29–25 (A)
		Round 3	SKIF Krasnodar	29–28 (A) 35–30 (H)
		Round 4	TBV Lemgo	30–27 (A) 18–31 (H)
2010–11	EHF Challenge Cup	Round 3	CSA Steaua București	43–29 (H) 23–29 (A)
		Last 16	HC "Motor-ZNTU-ZAS"	33–28 (A) 30–23 (H)
		Quarter-final	Radnički Kragujevac	28–29 (A) 29–21 (H)
		Semi-finals	Partizan Dunav Osiguranje	30–36 (A) 33–25 (H)
		Finals	RK Cimos Koper	27–27 (H) 27–31 (A)
2011–12	EHF Cup Winners' Cup	Round 3	HC Lovćen-Cetinje	25–21 (A) 26–14 (H)
		Last 16	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	33–27 (A) 41–24 (H)
		Quarter-final	HC Celje Pivovarna Lasko	23–29 (A) 31–30 (H)
2012–13	EHF Cup	Round 1	Pfadi Winterthur	28–21 (A) 27–27 (H)
		Round 2	Loacker Südtirol Team	32–20 (A) 40–25 (H)
		Round 3	HBC Nantes	21–29 (A) 28–21 (H)
2013–14	EHF Cup	Round 2	Haukar	34–22 (A) 34–19 (H)
		Round 3	Pick Szeged	25–31 (A) 24–25 (H)
2014–15	EHF Challenge Cup	Round 3	FyllingenBergen	33–32 (H) 28–25 (A)
		Last 16	HB Dudelange	36–30 (H) 28–24 (A)
		Quarter-final	KS Azoty-Puławy	37–29 (A) 32–31 (H)
		Semi-final	Odorheiu Secuiesc	29–31 (A) 27–25 (H)
2015–16	EHF Challenge Cup	Round 3	ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar	28–26 (A) 34–26 (H)
		Last 16	A.C. Filippos Verias	34–14 (H) 23–26 (A)
		Quarter-final	St. Petersburg HC	24–20 (H) 25–27 (A)
		Semi-finals	FyllingenBergen	35–22 (H) 29–27 (A)
		Finals	ABC/UMinho	22–28 (H) 29–25 (A)
2016–17	EHF Cup	Qualification Round 2	Käerjeng	31–26 (H) 33–30 (A)
		Qualification Round 3	Azoty-Puławy	34–29 (A) 24–18 (H)
		Group Stage

Honours

According to Benfica's official website^[29]

Domestic competitions

• Portuguese League: 7
  • 1961–62, 1974–75, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1988–89, 1989–90, 2007–08
• Portuguese Cup: 5
  • 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 2010–11, 2015–16
• Portuguese League Cup: 2
  • 2006–07, 2008–09
• Portuguese Super Cup: 5
  • 1989, 1993, 2010, 2012, 2016

European competitions

• Limburgse Handbal Dagen: 1
  • 2010
• EHF Challenge Cup: Runners-up (2)
  • 2010–11, 2015–16

Current squad

Women's honours

Domestic competitions

• Portuguese League: 7
  • 1983–84, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1992–93
• Portuguese Cup: 6
  • 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92
• Portuguese Super Cup: 2
  • 1990, 1992

References

External links

• Official website (Portuguese)

2016–17 Andebol 1 clubs
Current	Avanca A.A. São Mamede ABC/UMinho A.C. Fafe Arsenal/LXS Group Águas Santas Milaneza Belenenses Benfica Boa Hora/Roof Madeira SAD Maia/ISMAI Porto Sporting Sporting da Horta
Former clubs	ISAVE Ginasio do Sul Passos Manuel Sporting Espinho São Bernardo Xico Andebol