Benfica da Praia

Associação Benfica Futebol Clube da Praia is a football club that plays in the Premier division of the Santiago South Regional Championships in Cape Verde. It is played along with Praia's three other famous teams in Estádio da Varzea, the club also practices at the stadium.

Its nickname is "Benfiquinha" and sometimes the club is being called Benfiquinha.

Logo

Its logo is with a white crest (not fully circular) with a golden bird above, a green-red ribbon reading the Latin name "E pluribus unum", a red and white shield with a ball and a blue ribbon with the club name acronym in the middle. Its logo is nearly the same as Benfica's but the bottom part is different and has its rims and edges, Other logos are the same (with some similarity) are Paulense, Sport Sal Rei Club, Benfica de Santa Cruz, Benfica of Brava and Benfiquinha (who currently plays in the region's second division).

Club affiliation

Benfica Praia parent club (not mainly as a B team) is CD Travadores which is another club who uses the same logo to Benfica's but slightly different. It is the only place in Cape Verde where two clubs are affiliated to one Portuguese club. Along with Travadores and Benfica de Santa Cruz, it is the only island that has three clubs affiliated to one Portuguese club but participate in two zones. There are others in Cape Verde with Académicas in Sal but in different levels, city and the other island and on Maio where they are located in two different places.

Uniform

Its uniform color are colored red and white, much of its colors are opposite to that of Travadores, when a club challenges Travadores, its uniform colors are different.

History

The club started competed at the start of the 2010s. There could be a possibility that a club was formed after the merger of Avenida 77 and Jentabus and later included as a Benfica affiliate. The club participated in the Second Division competitions and remained until 2016 when a shortened season brought the club to first place ahead of Tchadense and finished as champions and qualified to the Premier Division for the first time in the 2016-17 season, one of two clubs.

Their first draw at the Premier Division was made on 6 November with Tchadense and worth no goals, another consecutive scoreless draw was made with Eugénio Lima. For the first matches, not a single goal were scored, not even in 2016. The club's first ever win at the Premier Division was made on December 17 in a match against Os Garridos. On February 4, 2017, Benfica suffered a six match losing streak. Their highest scoring Premier Division match were two goals until March 12 and became three goals, first to Vitória then to Os Garridos which was also the club's recent win. Their last three matches ended in loss, the second one lost to Desportivo Praia 0-4 which was their worst at the division. Benfica finished 9th, their greatest position made and had four wins, 18 goals scored and had 18 points. In the 2016-17 regional club, the club advanced up to the Round of 8 and lost to Ribeira Grande de Santiago.

Until 2016, it was the newest team in Santiago South , they were later taken by Tira Chapéu and Relampago as the newest.

Benfica started off the 2017-18 season, a 1-3 loss to almighty Sporting Praia and as of the 7th round, they yet to win a match and has 3 draws and scored two goals. They are currently 11th with 3 points, shared with Eugénio Lima, Benfica conceded 12 goals, three less than the last placed club and slimmed their chance of remaining in the Premier Division.

The club's most greatest player was Patrick who played in 2013, afterwards, he played in Europe as other notable Cape Verdean footballers did in the earlier years. The greatest player today is the Nigerian Kingsley Ezenwa who previous played with Praia's Celtic for the 2015-16 season.

Stadium

Estádio da Várzea is a multi-use stadium in Praia, Cape Verde. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 8,000. The stadium has seat rows in the left and right sides and a small hill and a plateau lies to the west.

It is played along with Praia's three other famous teams including Sporting Praia, Boavista, Vitória FC Praia, Desportivo Praia, CD Travadores and Académica da Praia in the same stadium. The club practices also at the stadium.

Achievements

Secondary achievements

• Santiago South Second Division: 1

2015/16

League and cup history

Island/Regional Championship

Statistics

• Best position: 9th (regional)
• Appearances at the Regional Championships as Benfica Praia: 9
  • Premier Division: 2
  • Second Division: 7

Players

Current squad

Regional Premier Division record by opponent

Key

• Teams with this background and symbol in the "Club" column are competing in the 2016–17 Santiago South Premier Division alongside Benfica Praia

• P = matches played; W = matches won; D = matches drawn; L = matches lost; F = Goals scored; A = Goals conceded; Win% = percentage of total matches won

All-time championship record

Statistics correct at the end of the 2016-17 Santiago South Premier Division season

External links

• Official website
• Benfica da Praia at the Final Ball