The 2015–16 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 82nd season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. The fixtures were determined by draw on 4 July 2015. The season began on 14 August 2015 and concluded on 15 May 2016.
Benfica won their third consecutive and record-extending 35th overall title, after beating Nacional 4–1 in their last match. They finished the league with a record 88 points in 34 matches (from 29 wins and one draw), two points more than runners-up Sporting CP.
Tondela and União da Madeira entered the season as the two promoted teams from the 2014–15 Segunda Liga. On the last matchday, both teams were at risk of returning to the second division, but the combination of their results dictated União da Madeira's relegation alongside Académica.
Teams For the second consecutive season, the league was contested by a total of 18 teams, which included the best 16 sides from the 2014–15 season and two promoted from the 2014–15 Segunda Liga.
Tondela made their debut in the top flight of Portuguese football, after winning the 2014–15 Segunda Liga title. while runners-up União da Madeira returned for the first time since the 1994–95 season. These two clubs replaced Gil Vicente, relegated after four seasons in the Primeira Liga, and Penafiel, who returned to the second division one season after being promoted.
For the first time since the 1990–91 season, the autonomous region of Madeira was again represented at the highest level of Portuguese football with three teams: União da Madeira, Marítimo and Nacional, all set in Funchal making the madeirense capital the second town having three teams in Primeira Liga after Lisbon.
Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity2014–15 finish Académica Coimbra Estádio Cidade de Coimbra 29,744 14th Arouca Arouca Estádio Municipal de Arouca 5,000 16th Belenenses Lisbon Estádio do Restelo 19,856 6th Benfica Lisbon Estádio da Luz 64,642 1st Boavista Porto Estádio do Bessa 30,000 13th Braga Braga Estádio Municipal de Braga 30,286 4th Estoril Estoril Estádio António Coimbra da Mota 8,000 12th Marítimo Funchal Estádio dos Barreiros 7,200 9th Moreirense Moreira de Cónegos Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas 6,153 11th Nacional Funchal Estádio da Madeira 5,586 7th Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira Estádio Capital do Móvel 6,404 8th Porto Porto Estádio do Dragão 50,035 2nd Rio Ave Vila do Conde Estádio dos Arcos 9,065 10th Sporting CP Lisbon Estádio José Alvalade 50,044 3rd Tondela Tondela Estádio João Cardoso 5,000 1st (SL) União da Madeira Funchal Centro Desportivo da Madeira 2,500 2nd (SL) Vitória de Guimarães Guimarães Estádio D. Afonso Henriques 30,008 5th Vitória de Setúbal Setúbal Estádio do Bonfim 13,468 15th
Personnel and sponsors Team Head manager Manufacturer Sponsors Académica Filipe Gouveia Nike EFAPEL Arouca Lito Vidigal Joma Banco BIC Belenenses Julio Velázquez Lacatoni Kia Motors Benfica Rui Vitória Adidas Emirates Boavista Erwin Sánchez Erreà Mestre da Cor Braga Paulo Fonseca Lacatoni — Estoril Fabiano Nike Banco BIC Marítimo Nelo Vingada Nike Santander Totta Moreirense Miguel Leal cdt — Nacional Manuel Machado Hummel Santander Totta Paços de Ferreira Jorge Simão Lacatoni Banco BIC Porto José Peseiro New Balance MEO Rio Ave Pedro Martins Lacatoni MEO Sporting CP Jorge Jesus Macron NOS Tondela Petit cdt Laboratórios BASI União da Madeira Luís Norton de Matos Lacatoni Museu CR7 Vitória de Guimarães Sérgio Conceição Nike Banco BIC Vitória de Setúbal Quim Machado Hummel KIA
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment União da Madeira Vítor OliveiraMutual consent 24 May 2015 Pre-season Luís Norton de Matos 9 June 2015 Arouca Pedro Emanuel Contract expired 25 May 2015 Lito Vidigal 1 June 2015 Vitória de Setúbal Bruno Ribeiro 26 May 2015 Quim Machado 29 May 2015 Tondela Quim Machado Resigned 27 May 2015 Vítor Paneira 30 May 2015 Belenenses Jorge Simão Contract expired 3 June 2015 Ricardo Sá Pinto 9 June 2015 Sporting CP Marco Silva Sacked 4 June 2015 Jorge Jesus 5 June 2015Benfica Jorge Jesus Contract expired 4 June 2015 Rui Vitória 15 June 2015Braga Sérgio Conceição Sacked 5 June 2015 Paulo Fonseca 11 June 2015Paços de Ferreira Paulo Fonseca Signed by Braga 11 June 2015 Jorge Simão 15 June 2015Vitória de Guimarães Rui Vitória Signed by Benfica 15 June 2015 Armando Evangelista 20 June 2015 Académica José Viterbo Resigned 20 September 2015 18th Filipe Gouveia 24 September 2015 Vitória de Guimarães Armando Evangelista Resigned 21 September 2015 13th Sérgio Conceição 23 September 2015 Tondela Vítor Paneira Resigned 6 October 2015 16th Rui Bento 6 October 2015 Boavista Petit Resigned 28 November 2015 14th Erwin Sánchez 1 December 2015 Tondela Rui Bento Resigned 8 December 2015 18th Petit 9 December 2015 Belenenses Ricardo Sá Pinto Resigned 15 December 2015 13th Julio Velázquez 16 December 2015 Porto Julen Lopetegui Sacked 8 January 2016 3rd Rui Barros 8 January 2016 Marítimo Ivo Vieira Resigned 18 January 2016 10th Nelo Vingada 19 January 2016 Porto Rui Barros Ended caretaking role 21 January 2016 3rd José Peseiro 21 January 2016
Season summary
League table
Positions by round
Results
Statistics
Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals 1 JonasBenfica 32 2 Islam SlimaniSporting CP 27 3 Kostas MitroglouBenfica 20 4 Léo BonatiniEstoril 17 5 Rafael MartinsMoreirense 16 6 Bruno MoreiraPaços de Ferreira 147 Vincent AboubakarPorto13 Nathan JúniorTondela9 Dyego SousaMarítimo12 Henrique DouradoVitória de Guimarães Diogo JotaPaços de Ferreira André ClaroVitória de Setúbal
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Sporting CP Vitória de Guimarães 5–1 Jonas Benfica Nacional 1–4 Benfica Belenenses 0–5 Estoril Vitória de Setubal 3–0
Top assists
Rank Player Club Assists1 Nicolás GaitánBenfica15 Miguel LayúnPorto 3 JonasBenfica 12 4 Bryan RuizSporting CP 115 Iuri MedeirosMoreirense10 João MárioSporting CP7 Carlos MartinsBelenenses9 Salvador AgraNacional Maxi PereiraPorto 10 OtávioVitória de Guimarães 8
Scoring
First goal: João Mário, for Sporting CP vs Tondela (14 August 2015) Last goal: Salvador Agra, for Nacional vs Benfica (15 May 2016) Biggest home win: Benfica 6–0 Belenenses (11 September 2015) Paços de Ferreira 6–0 União da Madeira (12 December 2015) Benfica 6–0 Marítimo (6 January 2016) Biggest away win: Vitória de Setúbal 0–6 Sporting CP (6 January 2016) Highest scoring match: 7 goals Marítimo 5–2 Vitória de Setúbal (13 September 2015) Vitória de Guimarães 3–4 Marítimo (12 December 2015) Académica 4–3 Belenenses (14 December 2015) Moreirense 3–4 Vitória de Guimarães (6 January 2016) Tondela 3–4 Marítimo (21 February 2016) Belenenses 2–5 Sporting CP (4 April 2016) União da Madeira 3–4 Paços de Ferreira (17 April 2016) Biggest winning margin: 6 goals Benfica 6–0 Belenenses (11 September 2015) Paços de Ferreira 6–0 União da Madeira (12 December 2015) Benfica 6–0 Marítimo (6 January 2016) Vitória de Setúbal 0–6 Sporting CP (6 January 2016) Most goals scored in a match by a team: 6 goals Benfica 6–0 Belenenses (11 September 2015) Paços de Ferreira 6–0 União da Madeira (12 December 2015) Benfica 6–0 Marítimo (6 January 2016) Vitória de Setúbal 0–6 Sporting CP (6 January 2016)
Match streaks
Longest winning run: 12 matches Benfica, from matchday 23 (20 February 2016) to matchday 34 (15 May 2016) Longest unbeaten run: 14 matches Benfica, from matchday 9 (30 October 2015) to matchday 21 (5 February 2016) Porto, from matchday 1 (15 August 2015) to matchday 14 (20 December 2015) Longest winless run: 15 matches Vitória de Setúbal, from matchday 20 (31 January 2016) to matchday 34 (14 May 2016) Longest losing run: 6 matches Académica, from matchday 1 (17 August 2015) to matchday 6 (28 September 2015) Tondela, from matchday 9 (30 October 2015) to matchday 14 (20 December 2015) Most consecutive draws: 5 matches Arouca, from matchday 5 (20 September 2015) to matchday 9 (1 November 2015)
Discipline
Club Most yellow cards: 113 Marítimo Most red cards: 19 Marítimo
Player Most yellow cards: 14 Alhassan Wakaso (Rio Ave) Lucas Souza (Tondela) Most red cards: 3 Diego Carlos (Estoril) Edgar Costa (Marítimo) Rúben Ferreira (Marítimo) Raul Silva (Marítimo)
Awards
Monthly awards
LPFP Player of the Month MonthPlayerClubAugust/September André André PortoOctober/November André André PortoDecember Islam Slimani Sporting CPJanuary Jonas BenficaFebruary Jonas BenficaMarch Jonas BenficaApril João Mário Sporting CP
SJPF Young Player of the Month
MonthPlayerClubAugust/September Danilo Pereira PortoOctober/November Diogo Jota Paços de FerreiraDecember Renato Sanches BenficaJanuary João Mário Sporting CPFebruary João Mário Sporting CPMarch Diogo Jota Paços de FerreiraApril João Mário Sporting CP
Goal of the month
MonthScorerForAgainstStadiumDateAugust/SeptemberVitória de SetúbalAcadémica Estádio Cidade de Coimbra 24 August 2015October/November Porto TondelaEstádio Municipal de Aveiro 28 November 2015DecemberBenficaAcadémica Estádio da Luz4 December 2015JanuaryAcadémica TondelaEstádio Cidade de Coimbra10 January 2016FebruaryPaços de FerreiraBenfica Estádio Capital do Móvel20 February 2016March Belenenses BragaEstádio do Restelo13 March 2016AprilMarítimo NacionalEstádio dos Barreiros2 April 2016 Team of the Year SJPF Primeira Liga Team of the Year 2016
Team of the Year Goalkeeper Ederson (Benfica) Defenders Nélson Semedo (Benfica) Victor Lindelöf (Benfica) Sebastián Coates (Sporting CP) Alex Telles (Porto) Midfielders Danilo Pereira (Porto) Adrien Silva (Sporting CP) Pizzi (Benfica) Forwards Gelson Martins (Sporting CP) Jonas (Benfica) Kostas Mitroglou (Benfica)
Attendances
References
External links Primeira Liga at UEFA.com