The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (
English: Women's National Championship), also known as Liga BPI for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier
women's association football
Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national t ...
league in Portugal. It is run by the
Portuguese Football Federation
The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol; ) is the governing body of football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (UPF) by the three existing regional associations ...
and began in 1993. An initial ten teams compete in the league, which replaced the Taça Nacional as the highest level of women's football in Portugal. The current champions are
Benfica, who won their second consecutive title in 2022. The most successful team is
S.U. 1º de Dezembro, with 12 titles.
History
One of the first women's football national championship in Portugal began in 1985, under the title Taça Nacional. It included all clubs interested in participating and comprised two stages, in the first stage clubs were divided in different zone groups with the top clubs from each zone advancing to the second stage to decide the champion.
Boavista dominated this competition, winning all its eight editions. The competition was renamed Campeonato Nacional for the 1993–94 season though keeping the same format. On the 1998–99 season, more matches were added to the competition as clubs not advancing to the championship stage played would play again between them. In 2001, the
UEFA Women's Cup
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
T ...
was created with the previous season winners of this competition qualifying to play on it. The
Portuguese cup
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
started on the 2003–04 season with all clubs competing on it.
In 2005, the
Campeonato Nacional II Divisão was created, leaving only the top 6 teams on the first tier, each one playing the others 4 times with the bottom team being relegated. The competition was expanded for the 2009–10 season to 10 teams, playing each other twice, with top clubs advancing to a championship group and bottom teams to a relegation group. A
supercup, played between the championship winners and cup winners, started in 2015.
For the 2016–17, the
Portuguese Football Federation
The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol; ) is the governing body of football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (UPF) by the three existing regional associations ...
granted direct entrance to the first tier to four
Primeira Liga teams, with
Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...
,
Braga
Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
,
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has h ...
and
CF Os Belenenses
Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...
taking the spots. This teams had to keep the women's team for at least three seasons and introduce Under-19 sides to promote youth football. This way,
Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...
and
Braga
Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
became the first professional women's football teams in Portugal. That same season, the format was reverted to a single stage, where the 14 teams (reduced to 12 on the following season) play each other twice. The
league cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
was introduced for the
2019–20 season with teams qualifying through mid-season standings on the championship. That season was interrupted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal
The COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal is part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 2 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have reached the country when it was report ...
with no title awarded and no teams relegated. This was the first time no title was awarded since the creation of the competition. This led to a total of 20 teams on the first tier on the following season, requiring a format change for that season, with a first stage where teams are divided in two groups playing each other once with top teams advancing to a championship group and bottom teams to relegation groups.
Competition format
Competition
As of 2016–17, there are 12 clubs in the Campeonato Nacional. During the course of a season (from September to May) each club plays the others twice (a double
round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents', for 22 games. Teams receive
three points for a win
Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is ...
and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are
ranked
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...
by total points, then head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference,
goal difference, matches won, and goals scored. If still equal, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank. The two lowest placed teams are relegated into the
Campeonato Nacional II Divisão, and the top two teams from the Campeonato Nacional de Promoção are promoted in their place.
Qualification for European competitions
The winner of Campeonato Nacional qualifies for the
UEFA Women's Champions League
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
The ...
qualifying round.
Clubs
For the 2021–22 season:
List of champions
The following teams won the league:
Taça Nacional
Campeonato Nacional
Teams by titles
Performance by club
Notes
References
External links
Women's League at fpf.ptat UEFA
Portuguese leagueat women.soccerway.com
{{National championships in Portugal
Port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
1
Recurring sporting events established in 1986
1993 establishments in Portugal
Women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
Women's sports leagues in Portugal
Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino
Professional sports leagues in Portugal