S.L. Benfica (youth)

Sport Lisboa e Benfica "Juniors" (Portuguese: Juniores), commonly known as Benfica Juniors, is the under-19 football team comprised in the youth department of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They hold home matches at Benfica Campus, the club's training ground and youth academy in Seixal.^[1][2]

Benfica Juniors

Full name	Sport Lisboa e Benfica Juniors
Nickname(s)	As Águias (The Eagles) Os Encarnados (The Reds)
Ground	Benfica Campus
Capacity	2,644
President	Rui Costa
Head coach	Luís Araújo
League	Campeonato Nacional de Juniores
2024–25	Champions
Website	www.slbenfica.pt/pt-pt/futebol/formacao
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Benfica's under-19s have won a record 26 Campeonato Nacional de Juniores, one Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup (1996), one UEFA Youth League (2021–22) and one Under-20 Intercontinental Cup (2022). Benfica hold UEFA Youth League records for the biggest win in a final, 6–0 against Red Bull Salzburg, most final appearances (4, joint-record with Chelsea) and most games played (70).^[3] They were distinguished for "Best implementation of the UEFA Youth League values" in 2013–14.^[4]

There are other development teams below under-19, completing Benfica's youth system: Juvenis "A" and "B"; Iniciados "A" and "B"; Infantis "A", "B", "C" and "D"; Benjamins "A" and "B"; and Traquinas "A". In 2015, Benfica received the Globe Soccer award for Best Academy of the year.^[5]

Players

Current players

As of 3 September 2023^[6][7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  POR André Moreira — GK  POR Diogo Ferreira — GK  POR João Fidalgo — GK  POR André Gomes (B) — DF  POR Guilherme Peixoto — DF  POR Kevin Pinto — DF  POR Diogo Rocha — DF  POR Guilherme Gaspar — DF  POR Rui Silva — DF  POR Gonçalo Oliveira — DF  POR Leandro Martins — DF  POR João Pereira — DF  SVN Žan Jevšenak (B) — DF  POR Diogo Spencer (B) — DF  POR João Tomé (B) — DF  POR João Conceição (U23) — DF  POR João Fonseca (U23) — DF  POR Leandro Santos (U23) — DF  BRA Tiago Coser (U23) — DF  POR Vladimir Mendes (U23) — MF  POR Martim Ferreira — MF  POR Rodrigo Pires — MF  POR André Gomes

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Tiago Pinto — MF  POR Diogo Prioste (B) — MF  POR Hugo Félix (B) — MF  POR Nuno Félix (B) — MF  POR Rafael Luís (B) — MF  AUS Paul Okon-Engstler (U23) — MF  POR João Veloso (U23) — FW  POR Francisco Neto — FW  POR Guilherme Afonso — FW  ISL Stigur Thordarson — FW  POR Olívio Tomé — FW  POR Jair Monteiro — FW  BRA Gustavo Ferreira — FW  BEL Jelani Trevisan — FW  POR João Rêgo (B) — FW  POR Gustavo Varela (B) — FW  POR José Marques (B) — FW  POR Ricardo Nóbrega (U23) — FW  POR Ivan Lima (U23) — FW  EST Karel Mustmaa (U23) — FW  NED Kyanno Silva (U23) — FW  POR Rodrigo Rêgo (U23)

Key

B = current Benfica B player; U23 = player for Benfica's under-23 team

Notable players

Over 1,000 players have come through Benfica's youth ranks, but only a small part of them played for the club's first-team. The list below includes former youth players who represented the main team in a minimum of 25 matches, or those that reached 25 caps at full international level. In some occasions, graduates debuted for the first-team but left Benfica before reaching 25 matches and went on representing their national team at full international level. Those players are also listed. (Time periods below correspond to when players joined Benfica youth.)

Pre-1960 Albino[8] Santana[9][10] Humberto Fernandes[11] António Mendes[12] Serra[13] Fernando Cruz[14] José Henrique[15] Simões[16][17]

1960s Diamantino Costa[18] Vítor Martins[19] Artur Correia[20] Nené[16][21] Humberto Coelho[22][23] João Alves[8][24]

1970s António Bastos Lopes[25] Shéu[26] Rui Jordão[27] Eurico Gomes[28] Cavungi[29] Alberto Fonseca[30] Fernando Chalana[31][32] José Luís[33] Jorge Silva[34] Diamantino[35] Rui Costa[36]

1980s Samuel[37] António Fonseca[38] José Carlos[39] Kenedy[40] Paulo Sousa[41] Paulo Madeira[42] Rui Bento[43] Bruno Basto[44] Maniche[45]

1990s Pedro Henriques[46] Edgar[47] Hugo Leal[48] Bruno Aguiar[49] José Sousa[50] João Pereira[51] Diogo Luís[52] Sílvio[53] Manuel Fernandes[54] José Moreira[55]

2000s Miguel Vítor[56] Bernardo Silva[57] Nélson Oliveira[58] Gonçalo Guedes[59] Bruno Varela[60] Renato Sanches[61] João Cancelo[62] Jota[63] Diogo Gonçalves[64] Rúben Dias[65] Ederson[66] Gedson Fernandes[67]

2010s Florentino[68] André Gomes[69] Ferro[70] Victor Lindelöf[71] Gonçalo Ramos[72] João Félix[73] Nuno Tavares[74]

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Luís Araújo[75]
Assistant coaches
Goalkeeping coach
Observation coach
Fitness coach

Last updated: 6 July 2023
Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Competitive record

UEFA Youth League

As of match played 2 November 2022

Note: Benfica score is always listed first.

Season	Round	Opponent	Home	Away
2013–14	GS	Anderlecht	3–0	6–3
		Paris Saint-Germain	1–1	4–1
		Olympiacos	0–0	0–1
	R16	Austria Wien	4–1	—
	QF	Manchester City	—	2–1
	SF	Real Madrid	4–0
	F	Barcelona	0–3
2014–15	GS	Zenit Saint Petersburg	0–0	1–5
		Bayer Leverkusen	4–1	3–2
		Monaco	3–0	1–0
	R16	Liverpool	2–1	—
	QF	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–1 (aet) (4–5 p)	—
2015–16	GS	Astana	8–0	5–0
		Atlético Madrid	1–1	2–1
		Galatasaray	2–0	11–1
	R16	FK Viagem Příbram	—	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)
	QF	Real Madrid	—	0–2
2016–17	GS	Beşiktaş	0–0	3–0
		Napoli	2–0	3–2
		Dynamo Kyiv	1–2	1–2
	PO	Midtjylland	—	1–1 (aet) (6–5 p)
	R16	PSV Eindhoven	—	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)
	QF	CSKA Moscow	—	2–0
	SF	Real Madrid	4–2
	F	Red Bull Salzburg	1–2
2017–18	GS	CSKA Moscow	5–1	0–2
		Basel	0–0	2–2
		Manchester United	2–2	1–1
2018–19	GS	Bayern Munich	3–0	2–2
		AEK Athens	3–0	3–1
		Ajax	3–3	0–3
	PO	Montpellier	—	1–2
2019–20	GS	RB Leipzig	2–1	3–0
		Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–0	7–1
		Lyon	1–2	3–2
	R16	Liverpool	4–1	—
	QF	Dinamo Zagreb	3–1
	SF	Ajax	3–0
	F	Real Madrid	2–3
2020–21	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
2021–22	GS	Dynamo Kyiv	1–0	0–4
		Barcelona	4–0	3–0
		Bayern Munich	4–0	2–0
	R16	Midtjylland	—	3–2
	QF	Sporting CP	—	4–0
	SF	Juventus	2–2 (4–3 p)
	F	Red Bull Salzburg	6–0
2022–23	GS	Maccabi Haifa	0–1	6–2
		Juventus	2–3	1–1
		Paris Saint-Germain	0–1	3–2

Honours

• Portuguese Championship^[76]
  • Winners (26) – record: 1943–44, 1944–45, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2012–13, 2017–18, 2021–22, 2024–25
• UEFA Youth League
  • Winners: 2021–22
• Under-20 Intercontinental Cup
  • Winners – shared record: 2022
• Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup^[77][78]
  • Winners: 1996

Other youth honours

Juvenis (under-17)

• Portuguese Championship^[76]

Winners (22) – record: 1963–64, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1982–83, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25

Iniciados (under-15)

• Portuguese Championship^[76]

Winners (13): 1978–79, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1988–89, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25

Infantis (under-13)

• Portuguese Championship^[76]

Winners (3) – shared record: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1995–96