The 2015–16 Andebol 1 (also known as Fidelidade Andebol 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the 64th season of the

Portuguese Handball First Division The Campeonato Nacional de Andebol Masculino (English: Men's Handball National Championship), also known simply as Andebol 1 (or Campeonato Placard Andebol 1 for sponsorship reasons), is the premier handball league in Portugal and is overseen ...

, the premier professional

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

league in Portugal. A total of twelve teams contested the league, which began on 5 September 2015 and concluded on 4 June 2016.

ABC Braga ABC Braga is a professional handball team based in Braga, Portugal. It plays in LPA. It was founded on 29 December 1933. Despite the practice of handball as a primary sport, the club plays other sports such as roller hockey, basketball, athlet ...

beat Benfica 3–2 in the playoff finals to win their 13th national championship title, nine years after their previous triumph. Seven-time defending champions

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 ...

were eliminated by Benfica in the semi-finals.

Format

The competition format for the 2015–16 season consisted of two phases. The first phase was contested under a

double round-robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

system, with teams playing against each other home and away. In the second phase, the eight top-ranked teams from the first phase competed in the championship

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, while the remaining four teams played a mini-tournament to decide the two teams being relegated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Teams

A total of twelve teams contested the league, including ten sides from the previous season. The remaining two teams,

Avanca Avanca is a Freguesia, civil parish in the concelho, municipality of Estarreja Municipality, Estarreja, in the Centro, Portugal, central subregion of Baixo Vouga. The population in 2011 was 6,189, in an area of 21.07 km2. History During the m ...

and

Fafe Fafe (), officially the City of Fafe (), is a city and municipality in the northern Portuguese district of Braga. The population in 2021 was 48,502, in an area of approximately . The city itself had a population of 15,703 in 2011. The present ma ...

, were promoted from the 2014–15 Second Division, replacing the relegated sides of

Santo Tirso Santo Tirso () is a city and municipality located in the north of Porto Metropolitan Area, 25 km from central Porto, Portugal. In the region, the Ave Valley, there is a large center of textile industry. The population in 2021 was 67,709, in ...

and Xico Andebol.

First phase

Standings

Results

Second phase

Playoffs

5th–8th classification

Relegation group

References

External links

Portuguese Handball Federation
{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Andebol 1 Andebol 1

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...