Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Benfica FC


The club was formed as a result of a merger in 1908 between Sport Lisboa, founded in 1904, and Grupo Sport Benfica. Also known to its fans by the nickname "Glorioso" (Glorious One), Benfica is, along with Sporting Clube de Portugal and F.C. Porto, one of the "big three" football clubs in Portugal.
As a club oriented to multiple sports, Benfica fields teams in basketball, rink hockey, futsal, volleyball, handball, rugby, cycling, athletics, and others. In total, Benfica has won several international titles in these sports, namely: the rink hockey CERS Cup in 1991, three Iberian Cups, one Torneio Ibérico in rugby, five athletics European Cups, one Iberian Cup in Women's Futsal (2007), one World Cup Clubs in Beach Soccer (2007), and one Iberian Cup in Beach Soccer (2003).
SL Benfica has the biggest fan base among Portuguese clubs, having also the largest number of supporters outside of Portugal for a Portuguese club, with a total of 14 million Benfica's supporters worldwide.It is also the biggest club in the world in number of associates (registered paying supporters), with a current (November 2006) number of 160,398, a fact which was attested by the Guinness Book of Records on November 10, 2006.

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