The 1984–85 season was Sport Lisboa e Benfica's 81st season in existence and the club's 51st consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football, covering the period from 1 July 1984 to 30 June 1985. Benfica competed domestically in the Primeira Divisão, Taça de Portugal and the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, and participated in the European Cup after winning the previous league.

In the off-season, Sven-Göran Eriksson left for Roma and Benfica hired Tomislav Ivic. Major departures included Fernando Chalana and Glenn Strömberg. To counter, the club added Jorge Silva, Wando and Adelino Nunes. Even before the end of the season, Ivic resigned and Benfica was forced to replace him in August. The selected was Pál Csernai. Benfica never performed as expected and even suffered their longest ever win-less period in the Primeira Divisão. In the end, the team ended in third place, 12 points from first place, and lost the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Still, it was not a trophy-less season as Benfica conquered their 19th Taça de Portugal in a 3–1 win against Porto.

Benfica entered the new season as defending Champions, but with significant changes. After two years in Portugal, Sven-Göran Eriksson was hired by Roma. Same of the names speculated as replacement were Georges Heylens, John Mortimore and Gilbert Gress. The new manager was announced on 6 July, Croatian Tomislav Ivic. In the transfer season, Benfica lost two major players, Fernando Chalana and Glenn Strömberg. To replace him, Benfica signed domestic players like Jorge Silva, Wando and Adelino Nunes. The club also approached Torbjörn Nilsson, Washington and Walter Casagrande, but nothing came out of it. The pre-season began on 19 July, with games scheduled with Bordeaux on late July, the Lisbon International Tournament in August, and the presentation game with Vasco da Gama after that. After just one game in charge, on 31 July, Tomislav Ivic resigned because he wanted to get paid in dollars. The position was offered to assistant manager Toni but he declined it for unspecified reasons. On 9 August, Benfica selected Pál Csernai as Ivic's replacement.

...
Wikipedia