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Football in Portugal


Association football (Portuguese: futebol) has a long and storied history in Portugal, following its 1875 introduction. The country's top domestic league, the Primeira Liga, was founded in 1934 and is home to internationally successful clubs such as S.L. Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting CP, the "Big Three" who usually dominate the league. In total, Portuguese clubs have won the UEFA Champions League (the most prestigious club competition in European football) four times, the UEFA Europa League (UEFA Cup) twice, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (European Cup Winners' Cup) once, the UEFA Intertoto Cup once, the UEFA Super Cup (European Super Cup) once and the Intercontinental Cup twice.

Football is the most popular sport in Portugal and in the 2011–12 Primeira Liga season Benfica had an average attendance of 38,029 people, Porto 34,843 and Sporting 30,638 with the season overall having an average attendance of 10,958 and a total attendance of 2,629,950.

Internationally lauded players such as Eusébio, Luís Figo, Rui Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo have played for the Portugal national football team. They were third in the FIFA 1966 World Cup and fourth in the 2006 World Cup. The country hosted the UEFA Euro 2004, where they were runners-up to Greece. Then, A Selecção were semi-finalists in Euro 1984, Euro 2000 and Euro 2012. Twelve years later, Portugal won their first major title, the Euro 2016, beating host nation France.


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