World Football Club Crests

Football is not always easy to explain and therefore some odd myths can develop in the world’s greatest sport. One of the best known is the one about Benfica and ‘the curse of Béla Guttman’. In the early 1960s Benfica won two successive European Cup titles, and the football world was at their feet. Led by the famous Hungarian coach Béla Guttman, everything seemed possible for the great Portuguese club. But soon after they won the final against Real Madrid in 1962, there were some problems. Guttman left in protest after he was refused the pay rise he felt he deserved, and is supposed to have shouted, ‘Benfica will not be European Champions for the next 100 years.’ So far Guttman has been proved right, because since then the club has lost eight straight finals on the continent – five in the European Cup and three in the UEFA Cup/Europa League.

Even so, Benfica should never be underestimated – as both history and their fan base bear witness. Beyond the two European Cup triumphs, Benfica is Portugal’s most successful club, taking into account the number of titles they’ve won and the size of their home support. The club crest has always shown an eagle called Vitória (Victory) and the only question is whether they can break Guttman’s curse and be victorious again in Europe.

CLUB: Sport Lisboa e Benfica

NICKNAMES: Águias (the Eagles), Encarnados (the Reds) and Glorioso (the Glorious)

FOUNDED: 1904

STADIUM: Estádio da Luz, Lisbon (65,647 capacity)

HISTORIC PLAYERS: Eusébio, José Águas, Nené, José Torres, António Veloso, Mário Coluna, Rui Costa, Davd Luiz and Luisão

1904–1908. Benfica was founded in 1904 under the name Sport Lisboa. The club’s emblem was printed in red and white (the team colours) and crowned with an eagle. The great raptor is sitting on a scroll with the Latin text E pluribus unum, which translates as ‘Out of many, one’ – very fitting for a football team; it is, of course, also the unofficial motto of the United States.

1906–1908. A contemporary of Sport Lisboa was Grupo Sport Benfica. Sport Lisboa was first and foremost a football club while Grupo Sport Benfica was a cycling club, which is seen in their crest with the bicycle wheel that supports the shield and the club initials.

1908–1927. In 1908 the two clubs merged, forming Sport Lisboa e Benfica. Even the emblems were combined so that Sport Lisboa’s crest lies in front of Grupo Sport Benfica’s bicycle wheel. This crest remained like this with only small alterations for the next 20 years.

1927–1999. Between 1927 and 1930 two new variations of the emblem were introduced, both of them including more colour. Between 1930 and 1939 there were no updates.

1999–present. Before the turn of the millennium the club launched a new version of its emblem in which the eagle was given a more dominant place. The new design placed the bird above instead of in front of the wheel. The eagle, which is also the club mascot, is called Vitória (Victory). Since 2011 Vitória has flown around the Estádio da Luz before matches.

Benfica icon Eusebio lashes home the first goal of the 1963 European Cup final. This is one of the 317 goals he scored for the Eagles in just 301 appearances.