Only five rounds of the Liga NOS season remain as a busy week of football concluded with Farense and Portimonense sharing the spoils in the Algarve derby.

Nacional finally ended their dreadful run of form with a much-needed win over Vitória Guimarães, while fellow islanders Marítimo also boosted their relegation survival hopes by beating Boavista. Sporting extended their lead at the top after a gutsy win against Braga.

One side flying under the radar is Belenenses SAD, who made it four games unbeaten to creep up to 10th in the table. Their manager Petit is the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week, perfecting his defensive formula once more in overcoming Gil Vicente.

The home of Luis Figo, Eusébio, and the immaculate, trophy magnet global superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s easy to see why Portugal is mad for football. As is the case in similarly gifted nations, the love of football has also created a thriving futsal scene, with there now being two incredibly popular forms of the sport in full flow across the country.

Several other sports have made their way into the Portuguese mainstream, but none of them can stand the popularity of the forms of football. Even so, the bustling obsession with sports made the country prime real-estate for sports betting operators. After all, the country is known for its coastal casinos and is indirectly tied to gambling through its former colony, Macau, becoming the world’s gambling mecca.

There have been some recent disruptions to what an incredibly free-flowing Portuguese online betting market would usually be, so this page aims to clear up any doubts and help you out should you wish to bet. 

• Benfica
• Moreirense
• FC Porto,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Santa Clara
• Matheus Nunes

Sporting have increased their lead at the top of the Primeira Liga table after defeating Sporting de Braga 1-0 late on with just ten men as FC Porto dropped points away from home.

The Lions, down to ten men from the 18th minute after Gonçalo Inácio’s early red card, required a late helping hand from Matheus Nunes to turn the result into a much-needed victory against competitive rivals Braga.

Porto, on the other hand, failed to go beyond a 1-1 draw away to Moreirense, opening up a six-point gap between them and first place. Also in action were Benfica, who managed to close in on FC Porto with a victory at home to Santa Clara, moving  to within four points of second place.

A midweek Liga NOS round of action saw an entertaining bout of matches take place across the last three days. Marítimo and Farense were significant winners in the relegation battle, overcoming Rio Ave and Paços Ferreira respectively. Tondela also continued their recent form with a win over a hapless Nacional.

The title race took another twist as Sporting rallied back against Belenenses SAD but still dropped points, allowing Porto, Benfica and Braga all to close the gap at the top.

One of the individual performances of the round though came from a substitute, a sparkling cameo from Famalicão midfielder and PortuGOAL Figure of the Week Iván Jaime providing solace in his side’s own battle for permanence.