In the last 10 years only once has a club won the Primeira Liga back-to-back. At the starting gun of a new campaign, once again it appears a wide-open title race. Porto, Sporting and Benfica all have points in their favour, but all have issues.
Let’s briefly break it down with two positives and two negatives each, in order of how they finished last season:
FC Porto (2025/26 champions)
+ Francesco Fariolo had an immediate positive impact. He appears a perfect fit for Porto’s DNA, with the Italian favouring grit, determination, physicality and an “us against the world” attitude.
+ Continuity. Porto have been quiet in the transfer market. No big-name signings, but none of their important players have left, the retention of last season’s MVP in Portugal, Victor Froholdt, a huge boon. Familiarity with the system and with each other can be a big positive in Portugal where teams generally change radically from one season to the next.
- Star striker Samu Aghehowa remains out injured. The Dragons were not prolific scorers last season, their success based more on a rock-solid defence. Unless returning centre-forward André Silva hits the ground running, scoring may be a problem.
- Predictability. Porto’s first half of last season was far stronger than their second half. Farioli would do well to introduce more creativity and different routes to goal.
Sporting CP (2025/26 runners-up)
+ Exciting new signings. The Lions have completely overhauled their squad, definitively moving on from the Amorim era. Initial indications suggest they have bought well. Rodrigo Zalazar has shown he can be a dominant force in this league, while Issa Doumbia and Sergi Altimira have been outstanding in pre-season.
+ Renewed hunger. Sporting’s trophy-less season last year ended a 5-year run of success the likes of which had not been seen at Alvalade for 70 years. Superb servants as they were, president Frederico Varandas hinted that the desire for silverware had dimmed in players such as Morten Hjulmand, Francisco Trincão and Pedro Gonçalves. Barring Zalazar, all the newcomers are young players eager to make a name for themselves in the game.
- Too much change? Francisco Trincao, Pedro Goncalves, Ousmane Diomande, Hidemasa Morita, Geovany Quenda and Daniel Braganca had over 1000 first-team appearances between them. That capital of experience – and for the most part success – could be too much to lose.
- Pressure on Rui Borges. Despite steering Sporting to the double in his first half-season and overseeing Sporting’s deepest ever run in the Champions League last year, coach Rui Borges is still not 100% consensual among Sportinguistas. The embarrassing defeat to second-tier Torreense in the Portuguese Cup final and the huge investments made leave him with little wiggle room should things start badly.
SL Benfica (third in 2025/26)
+ Marco Silva has been associated with a return to Portugal for years, and the highly-rated coach has started well back in Lisbon, his home city. His calm, somewhat low-key demeanour, could be just the ticket after the fireworks of José Mourinho and the never-ending intense media spotlight surrounding Portugal’s biggest club.
+ Youngsters ready to step up. Benfica insist they will not sell Andreas Schjelderup and along with Gianluca Prestianni, the Eagles have two of the most exciting and potentially devastating wingers in Portugal on their books. Outstanding Seixal academy products such as José Neto, Daniel Banjaqui, Gonçalo Moreira and Anísio Cabral could get their chance under Silva.
- Instability at administrative level and in terms of its coaching staff has been a perpetual problem for Benfica in its modern history. As Portugal’s biggest club, everybody has an opinion on what is going wrong and how to fix it. Rui Costa’s chaotic approach to the transfer market and the non-stop turnaround in the dugout has done nothing to bring about much-needed stable environment. The minute Benfica hit a poor spell, the president’s position will again come under intense scrutiny.
- Nicolás Otamendi’s and António Silva’s departures have left the Eagles alarmingly threadbare in the heart of defence. No-one doubts Tomás Araújo’s quality and Clément Lenglet is a solid signing, but both these first-choice centre-backs have a history of injury problems and the backup options are few and untested.
I’ve always contended that while the Primeira Liga is a wildly lopsided league – the best are so much better than the rest – the championship is super competitive at the very top, far more so than many of Europe’s more prestigious leagues.
It would not be a surprise to see any of the traditional Big Three crowned champions come May 2027. Let the action begin!
Related: Join the PortuGOAL Fantasty Football league for the 2026/27 season
