The Big Three ( pt, Os Três Grandes) is the nickname of the three most successful and biggest football clubs in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The teams of

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

and

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 ...

, both from Lisbon, and of FC Porto, from

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, have a great rivalry and are usually the main contenders for the Primeira Liga title. They share all but two of the Portuguese Football Championships ever played, and generally end up sharing the top three positions. None of them have been relegated from the Primeira Liga either, having been participants in all editions since its first season in 1934–35. Benfica's lowest position was 6th in 2000–01, while Porto's 9th place finish in 1969–70 makes the closest any side has come to relegation. Sporting's worst finish was a 7th place finish in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. Benfica and Porto are the only Portuguese teams to have won the European Cup/

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, which they have both won on two occasions. The closest Sporting came was in 1983, when they reached the quarter-finals. The only two clubs outside the Big Three to have won the Portuguese league are Belenenses, in the 1945–46 season, and Boavista, in the 2000–01 campaign. Belenenses has been relegated four times to the second tier, while Boavista has been in the third tier twice.

The three-way rivalry

Benfica vs. Sporting: Benfica vs. Porto: Porto vs. Sporting:

Statistics

League placements

Honours comparison

Footballers who have played for the three clubs

Eight footballers have played for Benfica, Porto, and Sporting. Of those, only

Eurico Gomes Eurico Monteiro Gomes (born 29 September 1955), known simply as Eurico in his playing days, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender, and is a manager. He started out at Benfica and later played for Sp ...

won the domestic league for all three (twice with each club). Additionally, Eurico is also the only player to enter the following list without having played for another club in-between his Big Three career. * Carlos Alhinho: Sporting 1972–75; Porto 1976; Benfica 1976–77, 1978–81 *

: Benfica 1975–79; Sporting 1979–82; Porto 1982–87 * Romeu Silva: Benfica 1975–77; Porto 1979–83; Sporting 1983–86 *

Paulo Futre Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre (; born 28 February 1966) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mostly as a left winger. He is one of the greatest natural talents of the Portugal. After starting playing for Sporting, he moved to Porto – ...

: Sporting 1983–84; Porto 1984–87; Benfica 1993 * Fernando Mendes: Sporting 1985–89; Benfica 1989–91, 1992–93; Porto 1996–99 *

Emílio Peixe Emílio Manuel Delgado Peixe (born 16 January 1973) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a defensive midfielder, currently manager of the Kuwait under-23 team. A member of the dubbed Golden Generation who hailed from the Por ...

: Sporting 1991–95, 1996–97; Porto 1997–2002; Benfica 2002–03 *

Derlei Vanderlei Fernandes Silva (born 14 July 1975), known as Derlei, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his 16-year professional career in Portugal (one full decade), having represented all three most impor ...

: Porto 2002–05; Benfica 2007 (loan); Sporting 2007–09 *

Maniche Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Ribeiro (born 11 November 1977), known as Maniche (), is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He played top flight football in Portugal, Russia, England, Spain, Italy and Ge ...

: Benfica 1995–96, 1999–2002; Porto 2002–05; Sporting 2010–11 *

Miguel Lopes Hugo Miguel Almeida Costa Lopes (born 19 December 1986) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Estrela Amadora. During his career, he played for each of the Big Three of Portuguese football – Benfica, Porto ...

: Benfica 2005–06; Porto 2009–10, 2012–13; Sporting 2013, 2014–15

Managers who managed all three clubs

Otto Glória Otto Martins Glória (9 January 1917 – 4 September 1986) was a Brazilian football coach. Career Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. ...

: Benfica 1954–59, 1968–70; Sporting 1961, 1965–66; Porto 1964–65 * Fernando Riera: Benfica 1962–63, 1966–68; Porto 1972–73; Sporting 1974–75 * Fernando Santos: Porto 1998–2001; Sporting 2003–04; Benfica 2006–07 *

Jesualdo Ferreira Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira (born 24 May 1946) is a Portuguese football manager. He is currently the manager of Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League. In a managerial career of over forty years, he was in charge of all of his country's Big Thre ...

: Benfica 2001–03; Porto 2006–10, Sporting 2013

References

{{Football in Portugal Football rivalries in Portugal S.L. Benfica FC Porto Sporting CP