The 2021–22 Liga Portugal (also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs, and the first season under the current Liga Portugal Bwin title. This was the fifth Primeira Liga season to use video assistant referee (VAR). The start and end dates for the season were released on 21 May 2021, and the fixtures were released on 8 July 2021.
Sporting CP were the defending champions, having won their nineteenth Primeira Liga and their first title since the 2001–02 season at the previous season. Estoril, Vizela and Arouca joined as the promoted clubs from the 2020–21 Liga Portugal 2. They replaced Farense, Nacional and Rio Ave, which were relegated to Liga Portugal 2 the previous season.
This season saw the return of full capacity crowds, after the final third of the 2019–20 and the entirety of the 2020–21 seasons were held with limited or no attendance due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal.
Porto secured their 30th league title with one match remaining, following a 1–0 away victory over rivals Benfica on 7 May 2022.
Teams Eighteen teams compete in the league – the top fifteen teams from the previous season and three teams promoted from the LigaPro: Estoril, Vizela and Arouca.
Changes Estoril (promoted after a three-year absence) and Vizela (promoted after a 36-year absence) were promoted from the 2020–21 Liga Portugal 2 (finishing 1st and 2nd places), replacing Farense and Nacional (both relegated after only one year in the top flight).
Arouca (promoted after a four-year absence) was promoted after finishing in 3rd place in 2020–21 Liga Portugal 2 and winning the Promotion play-offs against Rio Ave (relegated after thirteen years in the top flight).
Stadia and locations
Personnel and sponsors Team Manager Captain KitManufacturer Main Sponsor Arouca Armando Evangelista Thales Oleques Skita ConstruçõesCarlos Pinho B-SAD Franclim Carvalho Afonso Taira Kelme Betway Benfica Nélson Veríssimo André Almeida Adidas Emirates Boavista Petit Rafael Bracali Kelme Placard Braga Carlos Carvalhal Ricardo Horta Hummel Betano Estoril Bruno Pinheiro Joãozinho Kappa Solverde Famalicão Rui Pedro Silva Gustavo Assunção Macron Placard Gil Vicente Ricardo Soares Rúben Fernandes Lacatoni Barcelos Tourism Marítimo Vasco Seabra Edgar Costa Nike Betano Moreirense Ricardo Sá Pinto Lazar Rosić CDT Placard Paços de Ferreira César Peixoto Marco Baixinho Joma Solverde Portimonense Paulo Sérgio Pedro Sá Mizuno McDonald's Porto Sérgio Conceição Pepe New Balance MEO Santa Clara Mário Silva Anderson Carvalho Kelme Solverde Sporting CP Ruben Amorim Sebastián Coates Nike Betano Tondela Nuno Campos João Pedro CDT Cabriz Vitória de Guimarães Pepa André André Macron Placard Vizela Álvaro Pacheco Marcos Paulo LacatoniVizela Tourism
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Pos in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Pacos de Ferreira PepaSigned by Vitória de Guimarães 1 July 2021Pre-season Jorge Simão 1 July 2021 Vitória de Guimarães Moreno (caretaker)End of caretaker spell 1 July 2021 Pepa 1 July 2021 Boavista Jesualdo Ferreira Mutual consent 1 July 2021 João Pedro Sousa 1 July 2021 Santa Clara Daniel Ramos 7 October 202115th Nuno Campos 12 October 2021 B-SAD Petit 19 October 202117th Filipe Cândido 19 October 2021 Marítimo Julio VelázquezSacked 11 November 202117th Vasco Seabra 14 November 2021 Boavista João Pedro SousaMutual consent 30 November 202111th Petit 30 November 2021 Moreirense João Henriques 30 November 202116th Lito Vidigal 4 December 2021 Pacos de Ferreira Jorge SimãoSacked 11 December 202113th César Peixoto 16 December 2021 Santa Clara Nuno Campos 13 December 202114th Tiago Sousa (caretaker) 13 December 2021 Famalicão Ivo Vieira 19 December 202116th Rui Pedro Silva 19 December 2021Benfica Jorge Jesus Mutual consent27 December 20213rd Nélson Veríssimo (caretaker)27 December 2021 Moreirense Lito VidigalSacked 5 January 202216th Ricardo Sá Pinto 7 January 2022 Santa Clara Tiago SousaEnd of caretaker spell 10 January 202214th Mário Silva 10 January 2022 B-SAD Filipe CândidoResigned 11 January 202218th Franclim Carvalho 11 January 2022 Tondela Pako AyestaránSacked 16 March 202216th Nuno Campos 16 March 2022
League table
Relegation play-offs The relegation play-offs took place on 21 and 29 May 2022 between Moreirense who finished 16th in the Primeira Liga and Chaves who finished 3rd in Liga Portugal 2.
All times are WEST (UTC+1).
Chaves won 2–1 on aggregate and were promoted to 2022–23 Primeira Liga; Moreirense were relegated to 2022–23 Liga Portugal 2.
Results
Statistics Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Darwin Núñez Benfica262 Mehdi Taremi Porto203 Ricardo Horta Braga194 Fran NavarroGil Vicente165 Pablo Sarabia Sporting15 Óscar EstupiñánVitória de Guimarães7 Luis DíazPorto14 EvanilsonPorto Simon BanzaFamalicão10 Samuel Lino Gil Vicente12
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Mehdi TaremiPortoTondela3–1 (A)23 October 2021 João PedroTondelaMarítimo4–2 (H)7 November 2021 Darwin Núñez BenficaB SAD7–0 (A)27 November 2021 Darwin Núñez BenficaFamalicão4–1 (A)13 December 2021 PaulinhoSportingPortimonense3–2 (H)29 December 2021 VitinhaBragaArouca6–0 (A)30 December 2021 EvanilsonPortoB SAD4–1 (A)16 January 2022 Darwin Núñez BenficaB SAD3–1 (H)9 April 2022 Joel Tagueu MarítimoBoavista4–0 (H)16 April 2022 Mehdi TaremiPortoPortimonense 7–0 (H)16 April 2022 Notes (H) – Home team(A) – Away team
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Antonio AdánSporting CP172 Diogo CostaPorto15 MatheusBraga4 André FerreiraPaços de Ferreira10 Odysseas VlachodimosBenfica Dani Figueira Estoril Samuel PortugalPortimonense8 Paulo Victor Marítimo9 Marco Pereira Santa Clara10 Luiz Júnior Famalicão8 Luiz FelipeB SAD
Discipline Player Most yellow cards: 13 Lucas Possignolo (Portimonense) Most red cards: 3 Alfa Semedo (Vitória de Guimarães)
Club Most yellow cards: 118 Vitória de Guimarães Most red cards: 11 Belenenses SAD
Awards Monthly awards MonthPlayer of the MonthGoalkeeper of the MonthDefender of the MonthMidfielder of the MonthForward of the MonthManager of the MonthGoal of the MonthPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Lucas VeríssimoBenfica Antonio AdánSporting CP Lucas VeríssimoBenfica Pedro GonçalvesSporting CP Toni MartínezPorto Bruno PinheiroEstoril Álex GrimaldoBenficaSeptember Darwin Núñez Diogo CostaPorto Pedro PorroSporting CP João MárioBenfica Darwin Núñez Benfica Jorge JesusBenfica Gustavo Sauer BoavistaOctober/November Luis DíazPorto Antonio AdánSporting CP Sebastián Coates Matheus NunesSporting CP Luis DíazPorto Ruben AmorimSporting CP Luis DíazPortoDecember Vitinha Diogo CostaPorto Gonçalo Inácio VitinhaPorto Sérgio ConceiçãoPorto ArsénioAroucaJanuary Chancel MbembaPorto Evanilson Ricardo Soares Gil Vicente EvanilsonPortoFebruary PedrinhoGil Vicente Matheus ReisSporting PedrinhoGil Vicente Ricardo HortaBraga Ricardo HortaBragaMarch VitinhaPorto VitinhaPorto Islam SlimaniSporting Sérgio ConceiçãoPorto Rafa SilvaBenficaApril Ricardo HortaBraga MatheusBraga David CarmoBraga Fábio VieiraPorto Ricardo HortaBraga Carlos CarvalhalBraga André SilvaArouca
Annual awards AwardWinner Club Player of the Season Darwin NúñezBenfica Manager of the Season Sérgio ConceiçãoPorto Goal of the Season André SilvaArouca Young Player of the Season VitinhaPortoTop scorer Darwin NúñezBenfica Neno Club Fair-Play PrizeBenfica
Team of the Year Team of the Year Goalkeeper Diogo Costa (Porto) Defence Pedro Porro (Sporting CP) Pepe (Porto) Chancel Mbemba (Porto) Matheus Reis (Sporting CP) Midfield Ricardo Horta (Braga) Matheus Nunes (Sporting CP) Otávio (Porto) Vitinha (Porto) Darwin Núñez (Benfica) Attack Mehdi Taremi (Porto)
Number of teams by district RankDistrict Football AssociationsNumber Teams1 Braga6Braga, Famalicão, Gil Vicente, Moreirense, Vitória de Guimarães and Vizela2 Lisbon4Belenenses SAD, Benfica, Estoril and Sporting CP3 Porto3Boavista, Paços de Ferreira and Porto4 Aveiro1Arouca FaroPortimonense FunchalMarítimo Ponta DelgadaSanta Clara Viseu Tondela
Notes
References