SL Benfica - The Challenge

[center]The First Tour of the Susie On Tour Challenge takes us to Portugal.





S.L. Benfica are one the biggest sides in Portugal, and they will be your club to manage for this first stage of the tour. As you are one the biggest sides in the country you will have some of the best players, the best facilities, the best youth, and some money to spend to help you dominate your rivals and qualify for European competition. Despite the fact you are a colossus in Portugal, you will need to strengthen in Europe and can expect to have it tough at times against the major European sides. Do you have what it takes to keep up the domestic expectations saddled upon the Encarnados and get results in Europe?




S.L. Benfica


Founded on 28 February 1904, Benfica is one of the "Três Grandes" (Big Three) football clubs in Portugal. Benfica is the most widely supported football club and the twenty-sixth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €109.2 million. The motto of the club is "E pluribus unum" and the official anthem is "Ser Benfiquista". Benfica team is referred to as "Águias" (Eagles) or "Encarnados" (Reds), while the supporters are called "Benfiquistas".
Domestically, Benfica has won a record of 32 Primeira Liga titles, a record of 24 Taça de Portugal (and 4 consecutively), a record of 9 Doubles, a record of 4 Taça da Liga (consecutively), 3 Campeonato de Portugal and 4 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Benfica was the first club in the history of the Primeira Liga to have completed an entire 30 game season unbeaten, in 1972–73.




Primeira Liga


The Liga ZON Sagres is contested by 16 clubs each season, but only five of them have won the title. Founded in 1934, the league is in its 80th edition (counting four provisional championships in the 1930s) and is dominated by the nicknamed "Big Three": SL Benfica, FC Porto, and Sporting CP, who have a total of 77 titles, with Belenenses and Boavista winning the other two.
The league has been increasing in reputation in the last few years, having achieved 5th place in UEFA's European ranking of 2012, breaking into the top five and passing the French Ligue 1, one of the historical "big five" leagues, for the first time since 1990.