The 2006-07 season marked a pivotal moment in the history of Portuguese football. The national team experienced a transition, marking the departure of the so-called 'golden generation' that was spearheaded by Luis Figo. This shift in personnel coincided with the emergence of a new era, centred around the core of the

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

. Concurrently, several prominent domestic clubs were grappling with financial constraints and the outflow of talent, leading to a decline in the overall influence of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

. However, the fundamental structure of the Big Three remained largely intact. This period laid the foundation for the revival of Portuguese football in the 2010s.

Events

*August 9, 2006 -

Co Adriaanse Jacobus "Co" Adriaanse (born 21 July 1947) is a Dutch association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career As a professional player, Adriaanse played for six seasons ...

resigns as manager of

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

*August 16, 2006 - Jesualdo Ferreira is announced as the new manager of the champions Porto *August 19, 2006 - Porto defeats Vitória de Setúbal 3–0 in

Leiria Leiria () is a city and municipality in the Central Region, Portugal, Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, after Coimbra, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat o ...

to win the SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira with Rui Barros commanding the team *August 23, 2006 - Courts confirm that Belenenses will play instead of

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

due to the Mateus affair. The following days met much controversy: the day the league started, it was still not known which teams would play in the major league. *August 25-August 28, 2006 - The

and

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

seasons begin. *September 1, 2006 - The Portugal national team plays its first game since the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

*September 3, 2006 - The

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

and the Second Division seasons begin. *September 10, 2006 - The

Terceira Divisão : The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Third Division'') was a football league in Portugal, situated at the fourth level of the Portuguese football league system. The Third Division was initially the third level of the Por ...

season begins *September 17, 2006 - The Serie Azores of the Third Division begins in the archipelago of the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Transfer deals

Major summer transfers

The summer

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

runs from the end of the previous season until 31 August. ;May 13, 2006 * Adriano from Cruzeiro to

, €1.2M fee ;May 17, 2006 * Hilário from

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

to Chelsea, free transfer ;May 21, 2006 * Diego from

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

, €6M ;May 25, 2006 * Rui Costa from

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

to Benfica, free transfer ;May 27, 2006 * Zé Castro from Académica to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, undisclosed fee ;June 2, 2006 * João Pinto from Boavista to

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, free transfer ;June 6, 2006 *

Geovanni Geovanni Deiberson Maurício Gómez (born 11 January 1980), known simply as Geovanni, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. He was mostly used as an attacking midfielder but was also able to play on both wings and up front. Club ca ...

from Benfica to Cruzeiro, €1.5M ;June 7, 2006 * Przemysław Kaźmierczak from Pogoń Szczecin to Boavista, on loan ;June 13, 2006 * Roland Linz from

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

to Boavista, undisclosed fee ;June 22, 2006 * Pontus Farnerud from

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, free transfer *

Kostas Katsouranis Kostas Katsouranis (; born 21 June 1979) is a Greek former professional footballer. A versatile midfielder, who won the Super League Greek Footballer of the Year Award in 2005 and 2013, as well as the Cosme Damião Award for Footballer of the Y ...

from

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

to Benfica, €2M ;July 4, 2006 * Carlos Paredes from Reggina to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

;July 9, 2006 * Mário Jardel from

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its Association football, football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth natio ...

;July 11, 2006 * Laurent Robert from Benfica to Levante * Tarik Sektioui from AZ to

* Hugo Almeida from

UEFA competitions

UEFA Champions League

Porto

All times CET ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

= Round of 16

= ----

Sporting CP

All times CET ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Benfica

= 3rd Qualifying Round

= Benfica played the 3rd qualifying round on 8 August (first leg) and 22 August (second leg), 2006, against

and qualified to the group stage of the Champions League.

= Group stage

= All times CET ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

UEFA Cup

Portuguese teams entered the UEFA Cup in the 1st round immediately after the two qualifying rounds. That year's teams in the UEFA Cup were Sporting de Braga, Nacional, and Vitória de Setúbal. Benfica eventually entered into the Round of 32 after achieving a 3rd-placed finish in its UEFA Champions League group.

First round

The 1st leg was played on 14 September 2006. The 2nd leg was played on 28 September 2006.

Group stage

Round of 32

The first leg was held on 14th or 15 February 2007, while the second leg was held on 22 February 2007. ¹ On 7 February, the Italian Government ruled that Parma and Livorno's home fields did not meet requirements following riots held after an Italian Serie A match in Sicily.

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

played its home leg behind closed doors on 14 February.

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

played its home leg behind closed doors on 22 February. ² Transferred from

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage as third-place finishers in their groups.

Round of 16

The first leg will be held on 8 March 2007, while the second leg will be held on 14 or 15 March 2007.

Honours

National team

The ''Selecção'' played its first game against Denmark in September, losing to the Northern European side. After that friendly, the national team started its qualification for

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

with a draw against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. ;Key * H = Home match * A = Away match * N = Neutral field * F = Friendly * ECQ = European Championship Qualifier

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 Portuguese Football Season Seasons in Portuguese football

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Portuguese football