S.C. Braga

Football club infobox
clubname = Sporting Braga


fullname = Sporting Clube de Braga
nickname = "Os Arcebispos" (The Archbishops)
"Os Arsenalistas" (The Arsenalists)
Minhotos (Those from Minho)
founded = 1921
ground = Estádio AXA,
Braga
("AXA Stadium")
capacity = 30,154
chairman = flagicon|Portugal António Salvador
manager =flagicon|Portugal Jorge Jesus
league = Portuguese Liga
season = 2007-08
position = Portuguese Liga, 7th
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Sporting Clube de Braga (pron. IPA2|'spɔɾtĩg 'klub(ɨ) dɨ 'bɾagɐ), also known as Sporting Braga, is a Portuguese sports club, from the city of Braga, that was founded in 1921.

Its football team plays at the Braga Municipal Stadium, which was built for Euro 2004. In the 2000's, the club gradually became one of Portugal's most successful clubs after the Big Three, and they have also competed with relative success in European competitions.

History

Braga celebrate the cup

In 1966 the citizens of Braga were at an all time high as Braga won the Portuguese Cup. This came as a surprise, as not even the people of Braga expected their club to win. This was the first time Braga had won an honour.

The Ferreira years

Jesualdo Ferreira is an icon at Braga as he led the club to glory as they reached 4th in the Portuguese Superliga. Many fans were hurt when Ferreira left, but Ferreira led the club to a high finish in the league, which led Braga to European competitions for the first time in decades.

Ferreira left for Boavista FC, the club that many Braga fans consider arch-rivals for the UEFA slot in the competition. At Braga, Ferreira was known as "The Professor" for his tactical decisions when deciding the starting line-up that led Braga to 4^th place.

Miklos Feher was a key part while at Braga. He managed an impressive record of 26 matches and 14 goals in the 2000/2001 season for Sporting Braga. He then pursued his dreams when he arrived in Lisbon to play for Benfica, although Feher's dream would be short as he died from a heart-attack on the field, in January 2004.

Fans of Braga

The fans of SC Braga are known as Arsenalistas or Braguistas due to their never-say-die attitude. Many of Braga fans are known for their crazy antics such as throwing flares in the field to get their players pumped up. The club's attendance record was broken in May 2007 against Belenenses, in a game that gave Braga a final fourth place in the league.

Symbols and Europe

The emblem of Sporting Braga is the city of Braga's shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus. On the top of the emblem is the Royal Crown of Braga, with the name Sporting Clube de Braga on it. Many fans of SC Braga have said that Mother Mary gives them luck.

Back in the 60's and 70's Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in the UEFA Competitions. The club is also participating in the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup. The team is also expecting a top three finish in the 2007/2008 season. Braga finished fifth in Jesualdo Ferreira's first full season and brought UEFA Cup football to the Municipal stadium. Then in the 2005/06 they challenged for the championship until the penultimate round, ending fourth.

Braga's success was due in part to Jesualdo's astute management of his human resources. His pragmatic tactics also paid dividends, skills acquired in a varied career taking in spells with Estrela da Amadora and the Moroccan army team FAR Rabat, plus four years with the Portugal under-21 side. Braga, who owe their "Sporting Club" tag to the better known Sporting Clube de Portugal, after whom they were named, have been known as "Arsenal do Minho" - Minho's Arsenal - and changed their kits from green-and-white hoops to their Arsenal-style red in 1920 when their then-coach Jozef Szabo, following a trip to England and Highbury, ordered the club to adopt new colours to establish their own identity (Braga even renamed their youth team "Arsenal do Braga").

European ambitions

In 2006/07, Portuguese up-and-coming manager Carlos Carvalhal became manager of the club and a poor start to the season, where Braga lost to AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Cup despite crushing Czech Republic champions Slovan Liberec 4-0 (who had drawn against Sevilla FC only a week before), and a 4-1 loss to Madeiran side Marítimo, proved to be the end of his season, despite success in European competitions, with an overall score of 3-2 against Italian club Chievo Verona in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Carvalhal resigned and was replaced with Rogério Gonçalves with former Portugal captain Jorge Costa as assistant manager of the club. Gonçalves' first game in charge couldn't have gone better with a 3-1 over SL Benfica and a week after a hard-fought loss against UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup champions Sevilla in the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

After a 1-0 away defeat to União de Leiria in a league match on the 18th February 2007, Gonçalves resigned, one day afterwards. Braga president António Salvador announced on the same day that assistant manager Costa would be in charge until the end of the 2006/2007 season. In his first game, Braga beat Parma FC 1-0 (2-0 on aggregate).

They then played Tottenham Hotspur, where they lost 6-4 on aggregate in the last 16, however they were not favourites to win, and after this result attentions had been focused on qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.

Braga eventually finished fourth in the league for the third successive time, just pipping Belenenses by a point on the last day.

During the summer of June 2007 it was presented that AXA would be the club's sponsors in a multi-million dollar deal in which the name of the stadium was changed to Estádio AXA, with this being the first in Portugal.

After the 2006/2007 season Braga qualified for the UEFA Cup where they faced Hammarby; despite losing the first leg in Sweden 2-1, Braga won at home 4-0 to qualify to the groupstages for the third consecutive time.

There, their first game was against Bolton Wanderers FC where the game finished 1-1, Braga then played against German giants Bayern Munich who were the favourites to win the competition; despite the negative feedback, Braga drew 1-1 with Roland Linz scoring the vital goal. After that good display, Braga faced Aris FC with another 1-1, with Linz scoring another vital goal for the "Minhotos". Braga then went into the last game against Red Star Belgrade of Serbia where they picked up a 2-0 victory, which was enough to take them into the next round.

Minho rivalry

Aside from the loyalty of the supporters, which earned the "Arsenalistas" a big part of Portuguese football culture, the Minho derby against Vitória de Guimarães is a match that both sets or fans are always waiting for. This match is more than football, it is a way people from the north view other cities. The derby is one of Portugal's most intense derbies, and children under 13 are restricted from entering unless an adult is with them.

The rivalry goes back to when the City of Braga was the ancient capital of Galicia, and Guimarães, who was led by the first Portuguese King, Afonso I of Portugal, was one of Portugal's biggest cities.

Achievements

*Portuguese Cup:
**Winners (1): 1966
**Runners-up (3): 1977, 1982, 1998
*Portuguese Super Cup:
**Runners-up (2): 1982, 1998
*UEFA Intertoto Cup:
**Winners (1): 2008

League and Cup history

The club has 51 presences at the top level of Portuguese football. Its best classification are seven 4th places.

The table below shows the club's performance since its first presence in the 1st Division in the 1947/1948 season.

*1D: Portuguese Liga and predecessors (1st level)
*2D: Portuguese Second Division (pre-1991: 2nd level; post 1991: 3rd level)
*CWC: UEFA Cup Winner's Cup
*UC: UEFA Cup

Current squad

Notable players

*flagicon|Portugal Vítor Castanheira
*flagicon|Portugal Hugo Leal
*flagicon|Portugal Paulo Santos
*flagicon|Portugal João Vieira Pinto
*flagicon|Portugal João Tomás
*flagicon|Portugal Ricardo Rocha
*flagicon|Portugal Tiago
*flagicon|Portugal Luis Filipe
*flagicon|Portugal Nunes
*flagicon|Portugal Quim
*flagicon|Portugal César Peixoto
*flagicon|Portugal Miguelito
*flagicon|Portugal João Pereira
*flagicon|Portugal Carlos Secretário
*flagicon|Angola Jordão
*flagicon|Argentina Andrés Madrid
*flagicon|Austria Roland Linz
*flagicon|Belgium Stéphane Demol
*flagicon|Brazil Elpídio Silva
*flagicon|Brazil Jorginho
*flagicon|Chile Pablo Contreras
*flagicon|Australia Michael Curcija
*flagicon|Hungary Miklos Feher
*flagicon|Israel Eli Ohana
*flagicon|Israel Ilan Bakhar
*flagicon|Montenegro Andrija Delibašić
*flagicon|Morocco Nabil Baha
*flagicon|Mozambique Armando Sá
*flagicon|Netherlands Nordin Wooter
*flagicon|Nigeria Abiodun Agunbiade
*flagicon|Ireland Dominic Foley
*flagicon|Paraguay Jorge Brítez
*flagicon|Peru Alberto Rodríguez
*flagicon|Qatar Hussain Yasser
*flagicon|Senegal Faye Fary
*flagicon|Sweden Hans Eskilsson
*flagicon|Sweden Johnny Rödlund
*flagicon|Serbia Vanja Grubač
*flagicon|Japan Nozomi Hiroyama

Notable coaches

*flagicon|Portugal Manuel Cajuda
*flagicon|Portugal Jorge Costa
*flagicon|Portugal Jesualdo Ferreira
*flagicon|Portugal Manuel Machado
*flagicon|Hungary Josef Szabo

External links

* [http://www.scbraga.pt/ Official website] pt icon
* [http://www.football-lineups.com/games/?t=Campaign&campaign=32.92 Braga at footballlineups.com]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDH79JArRlQ&search=Braga/ 85 years of Braga at youtube]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p675ikDPv5U&mode=related&search=|Braga vs Real Betis 3-1, UEFA Cup, at youtube]
* [http://www.superbraga.com/ www.superbraga.com]
* [http://scbragabrasil.blogspot.com/ SC Braga Brasil]
* [http://djarsenalista.skyrock.com Djarsenalista]

*Portuguese football news:
* [http://www.portugoal.net www.PortuGOAL.net | | The definitive Portuguese football site] (in English)
* [http://www.pfutebol.com Portuguesefutebol.com] Your source for Portuguese football in English.
* [http://www.portuguesefutebol.com Daily Portuguese futebol news, discussion, stats, images, and more in English]