The 2024–25 Sport Lisboa e Benfica season was the club's 121st season in existence and its 91st consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football. Domestically, Benfica played in the Primeira Liga, and also competed in the Taça da Liga and Taça de Portugal. In Europe, Benfica played in the UEFA Champions League. At global level, the club competed in the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup.
Season summary Pre-Season Benfica entered the 2024–25 season aiming to regain the league title lost in the previous season, with Roger Schmidt remaining as manager for a third consecutive season. Several changes were made to the squad: left-backs Álvaro Carreras and Jan-Niklas Beste, right-back Issa Kaboré, midfielders Renato Sanches (on loan) and Leandro Barreiro, wingers Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Ángel Di María, and strikers Zeki Amdouni and Vangelis Pavlidis, all joined the club.
Departures included Morato, David Jurásek (on loan), João Mário, João Neves, Rafa Silva, David Neres, Casper Tengstedt and Marcos Leonardo.
Pre-season began on 3 July, with the first friendly taking place on 12 July, a 5–0 win over Farense. Further matches included two draws with Celta de Vigo and Brentford F.C., a 5–0 win over Feyenoord in the Eusébio Cup and 1–0 loss with Fullham.
August–October The first official match of the season was on 11 August 2024 against Famalicão, which Benfica lost 2–0. The team responded with two consecutive home league victories before drawing 1–1 away with Moreirense, which meant Benfica was five points away from leaders Sporting. Poor results in the league led to Schmidt's dismissal, with Bruno Lage becoming the new manager.
In September Benfica won its three league games and defeated Red Star Belgrade in its Champions League debut. On 2 October Benfica hosted Atlético Madrid in the second matchday of the Champions League, winning 4–0. The result was followed by a 2–0 win over Pevidém S.C. in the third round of the Taça de Portugal and a 3–1 home loss to Feyenoord in the Champions League. With two more wins the team finished October in third place and qualified for the Taça da Liga semi-finals.
November–January November started with a win over S.C. Farense, before travelling to Germany to face Bayern Munich, where the team lost 1–0, before hosting and defeating Porto 4–1 in the first O Clássico of the season. The team collected one more league win before defeating AS Monaco 3–2 away. The next month started with two league wins, before a goalless draw with Bologna and a 1–1 draw with AVS, but two wins over Estoril and Nacional allowed Benfica to climb to first place. In the last game of the year, Benfica visited Estádio José Alvalade losing 1–0 and dropping to second place.
The new year started with a 2–1 home loss to Braga, which cost the team the chance to reach the first place as Sporting had tied with Vitória de Guimarães. The team avenged its two latest losses defeating Braga 3–0 in the semi-finals and Sporting in a finals penalty shootout, winning the Taça da Liga. The result was followed by an away win over Farense in the Taça de Portugal and a league win over Famalicão, before hosting Barcelona in the Champions League matchday seven, where Benfica lost 4–5 with a controversial goal in extra time, followed by a 3–1 away loss with Casa Pia, now having a six-point disadvantage over Sporting. In January's last match Benfica travelled to Turin to face Juventus, needing a win to qualify for the play-offs; a goal from Vangelis Pavlidis and a goal from Orkun Kokcu allowed them to win 2–0, finishing the league phase in 16th place.
February–April In February Benfica won its four league games, also defeating Braga 1–0 in the Taça de Portugal quarter-finals. In the Champions league play-off the team once again faced AS Monaco, winning 1–0 away and drawing 3–3 at home. March started with a Champions League round of 16 tie with Barcelona, with Benfica losing 1–0 the first leg at home despite playing most of the game against 10-man and losing 3–1 at Camp Nou, being eliminated from the competition. Despite being eliminated in European competitions the team won its three league matches, climbing to first place tied on points with Sporting.
April started with a home win over Farense, before facing Porto at Estádio do Dragão in O Clássico, where Benfica won 4–1 with Pavlidis scoring a hattrick, assuming the first place as Sporting had lost points with Braga. In the next matchday the team dropped points in a 2–2 draw with Arouca, being tied on points with Sporting once again. The team responded winning its next four matches, three of them for the league and also qualifying for the Taça de Portugal final.
May–June On 10 May, Benfica hosted Sporting in a decisive Derby de Lisboa, with the game ending 1–1 meaning both teams would enter the last matchday with the same points, but with Sporting having the head-to-head advantage. In the last matchday Benfica tied 1–1 away with Braga, finishing the league in second place two points away from top. Eight days later, Benfica faced Sporting in the Taça de Portugal final. An early goal from Orkun Kokcu gave Benfica the advantage, but a last minute penalty tied the game for Sporting, taking it to extra-time, where the Lions won 3–1; minutes before the penalty a controversial incident happened, with Matheus Reis stepping on the head of Andrea Belotti and with VAR not interfering.
Benfica finished the season competing in the reformulated FIFA Club World Cup. The team finished the group stage in first place, drawing 2–2 with Boca Juniors, defeating Auckland City 6–0 and, for the first time in club history, defeating FC Bayern Munich. In the round of 16 an extra-time 4–1 defeat to, eventual winners, Chelsea eliminated them from the competition.
Players First-team squad
Transfers In PlayerTransferred fromFeeDateSourceSummer transfers3 Manchester United€6,000,00032 River Plate€9,500,00014 AZ Alkmaar€18,000,00018 Mainz 05Free37 1. FC Heidenheim€8,000,00085 Paris Saint-GermainLoan7 Burnley28 Manchester City17 Galatasaray€12,000,000Winter transfers16 Vitória SC€12,000,00019 ComoLoan27 Braga€6,500,00026 RomaLoanDisclosed total€72,000,000
Out PlayerTransferred toFeeDateSourceSummer transfers27 BeşiktaşFree— TSG HoffenheimLoan— Arouca11 July 2024— Sint-TruidenFree— Celtic€4,000,0001 August 202487 Paris Saint-Germain€60,000,0005 August 202419 Hellas VeronaLoan9 August 20247 Napoli€28,000,00021 August 2024— OsijekFree29 August 20245 Nottingham Forest€11,000,00030 August 202416 Rio AveLoan2 September 202436 Al Hilal€40,000,00020 BeşiktaşLoan4 September 2024Winter transfers23 PAOKLoan22 January 202537 Freiburg€8,000,00031 January 202532 Santos€11,000,00012 February 2025Disclosed total€162,000,000
Pre-season friendlies
The pre-season began on 3 July 2024.
Competitions Overall record
Primeira Liga
League table
Results summary
Results by round
1 Matchday 8 (vs Nacional) was postponed to 19 December 2024.
Matches
Taça de Portugal
Taça da Liga
UEFA Champions League
League phase
The league phase draw was held on 29 August 2024.
League table
Results by round
Matches
Knockout phase
Knockout phase play-offs The knockout phase play-offs draw was held on 31 January 2025.
Round of 16 The draw for the round of 16 was held on 21 February 2025.
FIFA Club World Cup
Group stage The draw for the group stage was held on 5 December 2024.
Knockout stage
Statistics Appearances and goals
! colspan=18 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Goalkeepers
! colspan=18 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Defenders
! colspan=18 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Midfielders
! colspan=18 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Forwards
! colspan=18 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center|Players who made an appearance and/or had a squad number but left the team.
References