The 2018–19 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. Porto were the defending champions but finished behind Benfica, who became champions for a record-extending 37th time while equalling their own scoring record of 103 goals in the 1963–64 season.
Incidents The weeks leading up to the beginning of the competition were filled with several incidents:
Contrary to previous seasons, three teams will be relegated. This is due to the fact that Gil Vicente was granted a place in the 2019–20 Primeira Liga season by court decision. Gil Vicente argued against this solution since the club claimed for an immediate integration in the first tier (possibly with an enlargement to 20 participating teams).
Académico de Viseu, which had finished third in 2017–18 LigaPro, claimed that runners-up Santa Clara should be punished for irregularities occurred in several games of the season. This would prevent Santa Clara to be promoted to the 2018–2019 Primeira Liga, hence Académico de Viseu would take its place.
Following the incidents in Sporting CP's training centre, during which players and staff were attacked by the club's ultras, nine players unilaterally revoked their contracts. Ultimately, after the president's impeachment (as he was accused of being responsible for those occurrences), the club was able to convince some of those players to return. Nevertheless, the new administration always admitted that the club would start the season in an early preparation phase.
On 30 June, following disputes over the administration of the football section, Belenenses broke the relationship with the publicly traded company who owned the football section (in Portuguese, SAD - as for sociedade anónima desportiva). Nevertheless, Codecity Sports Management, the owners of Belenenses's football Inc., decided to keep business and placed an entering in Primeira Liga under the name "Belenenses SAD", using Estádio Nacional as home stadium. In October, the intellectual property court issued an obligation for the team owned by Codecity Sports Management to rebrand, dismissing every trademark connection with Clube de Futebol "Os Belenenses" but the society did not follow and appealed the decision. The original club made a fresh start, entering a team in the bottom division of Lisbon FA (6th tier), keeping the support of a vast majority of the fans.
Teams Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity2017–18 finishBelenenses SADOeiras Estádio Nacional 37,500 12th Benfica Lisbon Estádio da Luz 65,200 2nd Boavista Porto Estádio do Bessa 28,263 8th Braga Braga Estádio Municipal de Braga 30,000 4th Chaves Chaves Estádio Municipal Eng. Manuel Branco Teixeira 8,400 6th Desportivo das Aves Aves Estádio do CD Aves 6,230 13th Feirense Santa Maria da Feira Estádio Marcolino de Castro 5,600 16th Marítimo Funchal Estádio do Marítimo 10,600 7th Moreirense Moreira de Cónegos Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas 6,150 15th Nacional Funchal Estádio da Madeira 5,200 1st (LP) Portimonense Portimão Estádio Municipal de Portimão 5,870 10th Porto Porto Estádio do Dragão 50,033 1st Rio Ave Vila do Conde Estádio dos Arcos 9,065 5th Santa Clara Ponta Delgada Estádio de São Miguel 10,000 2nd (LP) Sporting CP Lisbon Estádio José Alvalade 50,095 3rd Tondela Tondela Estádio João Cardoso 5,000 11th Vitória de Guimarães Guimarães Estádio D. Afonso Henriques 30,000 9th Vitória de Setúbal Setúbal Estádio do Bonfim 15,497 14th
Personnel and sponsors Team Manager Captain Kit Manufacturer SponsorsBelenenses SAD Silas Gonçalo Silva Lacatoni Kia Motors Benfica Bruno Lage Jardel Adidas Emirates Boavista Jorge Simão Idris LacatoniMestre da Cor Braga Vacant Marcelo Goiano LacatoniForum Braga Chaves Daniel Ramos Nuno André Coelho Lacatoni Museu do Pão Desportivo das Aves José Mota Nélson Lenho Lacatoni Meo Feirense Nuno Manta Santos Cris LegeaCastro Electrónica Marítimo Petit Edgar Costa Nike Santander Totta Moreirense Ivo Vieira ArsénioCDT — Nacional Costinha Jota Hummel Santander Totta Portimonense António Folha Ricardo Ferreira Mizuno McDonald's Porto Sérgio Conceição Héctor Herrera New Balance Altice Rio Ave Daniel Ramos Tarantini Nike Meo Santa Clara João Henriques Pedro Pacheco Nike Santander Totta Sporting CP Marcel Keizer Bruno Fernandes Macron NOS Tondela Pepa Ricardo Costa CDTLaboratórios BASI Vitória de Guimarães Luís Castro André André Macron Castro Electrónica Vitória de Setúbal Lito Vidigal Vasco Fernandes Hummel Kia Motors
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Vitória de Setúbal José Couceiro End of contract 13 May 2018 Pre-season Lito Vidigal 22 May 2018 Santa Clara Carlos Pinto 14 May 2018 João Henriques 31 May 2018 Vitória de Guimarães José Peseiro Mutual consent 15 May 2018 Luís Castro 21 May 2018 Moreirense Petit 20 May 2018 Ivo Vieira 29 May 2018 Chaves Luís Castro 21 May 2018 Daniel Ramos 8 June 2018 Portimonense Vítor Oliveira 5 June 2018 António Folha 2 July 2018 Sporting CP Jorge Jesus 6 June 2018 Siniša Mihajlović 18 June 2018 Marítimo Daniel Ramos 7 June 2018 Cláudio Braga 12 June 2018 Rio Ave Miguel CardosoResigned 13 June 2018 José Gomes 13 June 2018Sporting CP Siniša MihajlovićSacked 28 June 2018 José Peseiro 1 July 2018 José Peseiro 1 November 20185th Marcel Keizer 9 November 2018 Marítimo Cláudio BragaResigned 26 November 201813th Petit 27 November 2018 Rio Ave José Gomes Signed by Reading 22 December 2018 9th Daniel Ramos2 January 2019 Benfica Rui Vitória Mutual consent 3 January 2019 4th Bruno Lage 3 January 2019
Season summary
League table
Positions by round
Results
Statistics
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Haris SeferovicBenfica232 Bruno FernandesSporting CP203 Rafa SilvaBenfica174 Bas DostSporting CP15 João FélixBenfica Tiquinho SoaresPorto Dyego SousaBraga8 PizziBenfica139 Wilson EduardoBraga12 TomanéTondela
A former Portuguese international player at youth levels, Eduardo switched allegiances to play for Angola during the season.
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists1 PizziBenfica192 Bruno FernandesSporting CP133 André AlmeidaBenfica12 Álex GrimaldoBenfica5 Jesús Corona Porto9 Marcos AcuñaSporting CP7 Alex TellesPorto88 Otávio Porto7 João FélixBenfica António XavierTondela Nuno SequeiraBraga ChiquinhoMoreirense
Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstResultDate PizziBenficaVitória de Guimarães3–2 (H)10 August 2018 Vítor GomesAvesPortimonense3–0 (H)1 October 2018 Hildeberto PereiraVitória de SetúbalMoreirense3–0 (H)6 October 2018 Dyego SousaBragaFeirense4–0 (H)14 December 2018 Tiquinho SoaresPortoChaves1–4 (A)18 January 2019 Sardor Rashidov NacionalFeirense4–0 (H)16 February 2019 William ChavesNacional4–1 (H)28 April 2019 Bruno FernandesSporting CPBelenenses SAD1–8 (A)5 May 2019 Guilherme SchettineSanta ClaraFeirense4–4 (H)11 May 2019
Awards Monthly awards MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthGoal of the MonthManagerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubAgainst/DateAugust Nuno Manta SantosFeirense PizziBenfica Éber BessaVitória de SetúbalNacional26 AugustSeptember Abel FerreiraBraga Shoya NakajimaPortimonense Osama RashidSanta ClaraNacional30 SeptemberOctober/November Sérgio ConceiçãoPorto Bas DostSporting CP NiltinhoChavesSporting CP11 NovemberDecember Bruno FernandesSporting CP Jovane CabralSporting CPRio Ave3 DecemberJanuary Ivo VieiraMoreirense João FélixBenfica Álex GrimaldoBenficaBoavista29 JanuaryFebruary Bruno LageBenfica Bruno FernandesSporting CP Steven PetkovFeirenseSporting CP10 FebruaryMarch Edgar CostaMarítimoNacional31 MarchApril Rafa SilvaBenfica
MonthGoalkeeper of the MonthDefender of the MonthMidfielder of the MonthForward of the MonthPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubAugust Caio SeccoFeirense Diogo LeitePorto PizziBenfica EdinhoFeirenseSeptember Éder MilitãoPorto Stephen EustáquioChaves Dyego SousaBragaOctober/November Iker CasillasPorto Bruno FernandesSporting CP Bas DostSporting CPDecember MurielBelenenses SADJanuary JhonatanMoreirense Dyego SousaBragaFebruary Odisseas VlachodimosBenfica Álex GrimaldoBenfica Haris SeferovicBenficaMarch CharlesMarítimo FerroBenfica Tiquinho SoaresPortoApril Rodrigo SoaresDesportivo das Aves Luiz PhellypeSporting CP
Annual awards Annual awards were announced on 5 July 2019. AwardWinner Club Player of the Season Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP Manager of the Season Bruno Lage Benfica Goal of the Season Jovane Cabral Sporting CP Young Player of the Season João Félix Benfica Top scorer Haris Seferovic Benfica Player Fair-Play Prize Éder Militão Porto Club Fair-Play Prize Belenenses SAD Turf of the Season Portimonense Team of the Year Team of the Year Goalkeeper Iker Casillas (Porto) Defenders Alex Telles (Porto) Éder Militão (Porto) Jérémy Mathieu (Sporting CP) Álex Grimaldo (Benfica) Midfielders João Félix (Benfica) Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP) Héctor Herrera (Porto) Attackers Haris Seferovic (Benfica) Moussa Marega (Porto) Rafa Silva (Benfica)
Attendances
Source:
No. Club Average attendance Change Highest 1 Benfica 53,824 1,2% 64,064 2 Porto 41,626 -2,5% 49,220 3 Sporting 33,691 -22,8% 45,503 4 Vitória 18,249 14,0% 27,435 5 Braga 12,035 2,8% 24,046 6 Boavista 8,155 45,0% 19,592 7 Marítimo 6,622 -6,4% 9,830 8 Vitória Setúbal 4,784 16,4% 10,628 9 Chaves 4,550 25,4% 7,783 10 Santa Clara 4,010 97,4% 10,000 11 Rio Ave 3,630 -6,7% 8,836 12 Portimonense 3,313 4,9% 5,989 13 Feirense 3,049 -22,0% 5,449 14 Belenenses 2,889 -13,6% 10,901 15 Tondela 2,702 13,8% 4,985 16 Nacional 2,595 34,9% 4,793 17 Aves 2,454 -6,9% 5,338 18 Moreirense 2,275 0,5% 5,510
References