Big Three (Portugal)

The Big Three (Portuguese: Os Três Grandes) is the nickname of the three most successful and biggest football clubs in Portugal.^[1] The teams of S.L. Benfica, Sporting CP, both from Lisbon, and of FC Porto, from Porto, have a great rivalry and are usually the main contenders for the Primeira Liga title.^[2]

They share all but two of the Portuguese Football Championships ever played, and generally end up sharing the top three positions. None of them has been relegated from the Primeira Liga either, having been participants in all editions since its first season in 1934–35. Benfica's lowest position was 6th in 2000–01, while Porto's 9th-place finish in 1969–70 is the closest any of the three sides have come to relegation. Sporting's worst finish was a 7th-place finish in 2012–13.

Benfica and Porto are the only Portuguese teams to have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, which they have both won on two occasions. The closest Sporting came was in 1983, when they reached the quarter-finals.

The only two clubs outside the Big Three to have won the Portuguese league are Belenenses, in the 1945–46 season, and Boavista, in the 2000–01 campaign. Belenenses has been relegated four times to the second tier, while Boavista has been in the third tier twice.

In this trio of rivalry between fans, popular terms and nicknames were created to identify them and their clubs. Benfica fans are known as "benfiquistas" and "encarnados" ("reds"), but their bitter rivals call them "lampiões".^[3] Sporting fans, "sportinguistas" and "leões" ("lions"), are called "lagartos" ("lizards"),^[4] , while FC Porto supporters, "portistas" or "dragões ("dragons"), are nicknamed "andrades" and "tripeiros", despite the latter nickname also including people from Porto but who are fans of any other club (including Benfica and Sporting CP).^[5]

Being the most popular and regular winners of the Primeira Liga (only Belenenses and Boavista have managed to win the competition once, in 1945/46 and 2000/01 respectively), the Big Three have achieved such hegemony that the vast majority of Portuguese fans support one of them, relegating the local team to second place.^[6]

Thus, The Big Three have the highest average attendance each season in the Primeira Liga, while the other teams, without the support of the local population, have suffered from poor attendances (with the exception of Vitória de Guimarães, the only other team with an average attendance higher than the Primeira Liga's average attendance), partly due to the monopoly of the Big Three.^{[7] [8]}

The Portuguese press, often accused of failing to fulfil any criteria of equality with the other clubs in the league who are constantly snubbed, is another reason often given for the majority of the Portuguese population to support one of these three teams based in Lisbon and Porto to the detriment of the team based in their own city.^[9]

The resulting problem is so serious that despite the good attendances at the Big Three matches, the rest of the stadiums are increasingly empty. During the 2010/11 Primeira Liga season, 30 per cent of the matches played had fewer than 2,000 spectators.^[10]

Despite everything, the average attendance at Primeira Liga stadiums has been on the rise in the second half of the decade, with increases of more than 7% and 9% in 2015/16 and 2016/17 respectively. This is due to the increase in the average attendance at the D. Afonso Henriques (Vitória de Guimarães), Municipal de Chaves (Chaves), Barreiros (Marítimo) and Bessa (Boavista) stadiums, in addition to the average attendance increasing by more than 15,000 people at the José Alvalade Stadium (Sporting) between 2011 and 2018.^{[11] [12]}

Data in this graph is from EFS Attendances^[13] and since 2009/10 from Liga Portugal.^{[14] [15]}

Benfica vs. Sporting:

Benfica vs. Porto:

Porto vs. Sporting:

Eight footballers have played for Benfica, Porto, and Sporting. Of those, only Eurico Gomes won the domestic league for all three (twice with each club). Additionally, Eurico is also the only player to enter the following list without having played for another club in-between his Big Three career.^[16]

• Portugal Carlos Alhinho: Sporting 1972–75; Porto 1976; Benfica 1976–77, 1978–81
• Portugal Eurico Gomes: Benfica 1975–79; Sporting 1979–82; Porto 1982–87
• Portugal Romeu Silva: Benfica 1975–77; Porto 1979–83; Sporting 1983–86
• Portugal Paulo Futre: Sporting 1983–84; Porto 1984–87; Benfica 1993
• Portugal Fernando Mendes: Sporting 1985–89; Benfica 1989–91, 1992–93; Porto 1996–99
• Portugal Emílio Peixe: Sporting 1991–95, 1996–97; Porto 1997–2002; Benfica 2002–03
• Brazil Derlei: Porto 2002–05; Benfica 2007 (loan); Sporting 2007–09
• Portugal Maniche: Benfica 1995–96, 1999–2002; Porto 2002–05; Sporting 2010–11
• Portugal Miguel Lopes: Benfica 2005–06; Porto 2009–10, 2012–13; Sporting 2013, 2014–15

• Brazil Otto Glória: Benfica 1954–59, 1968–70; Sporting 1961, 1965–66; Porto 1964–65
• Chile Fernando Riera: Benfica 1962–63, 1966–68; Porto 1972–73; Sporting 1974–75
• Portugal Fernando Santos: Porto 1998–2001; Sporting 2003–04; Benfica 2006–07
• Portugal Jesualdo Ferreira: Benfica 2001–03; Porto 2006–10, Sporting 2013

• Big Three (Belgium)
• Big Three (Costa Rica)
• Big Three (Greece)
• Big Three (Netherlands)
• Big Three (Peru)
• Big Three (Turkey)
• Big Three (Sweden)
• Big Twelve (Brazilian football)
• Big Five (Argentine football)
• List of association football club rivalries in Europe

• Football rivalries in Portugal
• S.L. Benfica
• FC Porto
• Sporting CP
• Trios

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