S.L. Benfica (youth)

Benfica Juniors
Full name	Sport Lisboa e Benfica Juniors
Nicknames	As Águias (The Eagles); Os Encarnados (The Reds)
Ground	Benfica Campus
Capacity	2,644
President	Rui Costa
Head coach	Luís Araújo
League	Campeonato Nacional de Juniores
2024–25	Champions
Website	www.slbenfica.pt/pt-pt/futebol/formacao

Sport Lisboa e Benfica "Juniors" (Portuguese: Juniores), commonly known as Benfica Juniors, is the under-19 football team comprised in the youth department of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play their home matches at the Benfica Campus, the club's training ground and youth academy in Seixal.^[1]^[2]

Full nameSport Lisboa e Benfica Juniors

NicknamesAs Águias (The Eagles)
Os Encarnados (The Reds)

GroundBenfica Campus

Capacity2,644

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Benfica's under-19s have won a record 26 Campeonato Nacional de Juniores, one Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup (1996), one UEFA Youth League (2021–22) and one Under-20 Intercontinental Cup (2022). Benfica hold UEFA Youth League records for the biggest win in a final, 6–0 against Red Bull Salzburg, most final appearances (4, joint-record with Chelsea) and most games played (70).^[3] They were distinguished for "Best implementation of the UEFA Youth League values" in 2013–14.^[4]

There are other development teams below under-19, completing Benfica's youth system: Juvenis "A" and "B"; Iniciados "A" and "B"; Infantis "A", "B", "C" and "D"; Benjamins "A" and "B"; and Traquinas "A". In 2015, Benfica received the Globe Soccer award for Best Academy of the year.^[5]

Benfica ranked first in a study analysing football academies, with 93 club-trained players active across 49 leagues. These players averaged 2,582 minutes played in official matches over the previous year, with an average club employment level of 0.81. FC Barcelona ranked second with 76 trained players (average club level of 0.87 and 2,773 minutes played), followed by CA River Plate in third place with 97 players (average club level of 0.81 and 2,305 minutes).^[6]

The top ten also included Sporting CP, Real Madrid, CA Boca Juniors, CA Vélez Sarsfield, AFC Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb, and Defensor Uruguay. In total, 30 countries were represented by at least one club in the top 100 rankings, with Argentina (15 clubs) and Brazil (11 clubs) being the most represented nations.^[6]

As of 2025:

More information Rank, Club ...

Rank	Club
1	S.L. Benfica
2	FC Barcelona
3	CA River Plate
4	AFC Ajax
5	CA Boca Juniors
6	Sporting CP
7	Dinamo Zagreb
8	Defensor SC
9	Real Madrid CF
10	Vélez Sarsfield

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[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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[6]

Position	Staff
Head coach	Luís Araújo^[76]
Assistant coaches
Goalkeeping coach
Observation coach
Fitness coach

Season	Round	Opponent	Home	Away
2013–14	GS	Anderlecht	3–0	6–3
		Paris Saint-Germain	1–1	4–1
		Olympiacos	0–0	0–1
	R16	Austria Wien	4–1	N/a
	QF	Manchester City	N/a	2–1
	SF	Real Madrid	4–0
	F	Barcelona	0–3
2014–15	GS	Zenit Saint Petersburg	0–0	1–5
		Bayer Leverkusen	4–1	3–2
		Monaco	3–0	1–0
	R16	Liverpool	2–1	N/a
	QF	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–1 (aet) (4–5 p)	N/a
2015–16	GS	Astana	8–0	5–0
		Atlético Madrid	1–1	2–1
		Galatasaray	2–0	11–1
	R16	FK Příbram	N/a	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)
	QF	Real Madrid	N/a	0–2
2016–17	GS	Beşiktaş	0–0	3–0
		Napoli	2–0	3–2
		Dynamo Kyiv	1–2	1–2
	PO	Midtjylland	N/a	1–1 (aet) (6–5 p)
	R16	PSV Eindhoven	N/a	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)
	QF	CSKA Moscow	N/a	2–0
	SF	Real Madrid	4–2
	F	Red Bull Salzburg	1–2
2017–18	GS	CSKA Moscow	5–1	0–2
		Basel	0–0	2–2
		Manchester United	2–2	1–1
2018–19	GS	Bayern Munich	3–0	2–2
		AEK Athens	3–0	3–1
		Ajax	3–3	0–3
	PO	Montpellier	N/a	1–2
2019–20	GS	RB Leipzig	2–1	3–0
		Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–0	7–1
		Lyon	1–2	3–2
	R16	Liverpool	4–1	N/a
	QF	Dinamo Zagreb	3–1
	SF	Ajax	3–0
	F	Real Madrid	2–3
2020–21	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
2021–22	GS	Dynamo Kyiv	1–0	0–4
		Barcelona	4–0	3–0
		Bayern Munich	4–0	2–0
	R16	Midtjylland	N/a	3–2
	QF	Sporting CP	N/a	4–0
	SF	Juventus	2–2 (4–3 p)
	F	Red Bull Salzburg	6–0
2022	F	Peñarol	1–0
2022–23	GS	Maccabi Haifa	0–1	6–2
		Juventus	2–3	1–1
		Paris Saint-Germain	0–1	3–2
2023–24	GS	Red Bull Salzburg	1–1	2–4
		Internazionale	1–1	1–1
		Real Sociedad	2–1	1–2
2024–25	LP	Crvena Zvezda	N/a	2–1
		Atlético de Madrid	2–2	N/a
		Feyenoord	2–0	N/a
		Bayern Munchen	N/a	3–3
		Monaco	N/a	0–1
		Bologna	3–0	N/a
	R32	AZ Alkmaar	N/a	2–2 (3–4 p)
2025–26	LP	Qarabağ FK	7–1	N/a
		Chelsea	N/a	2–5
		Newcastle	N/a	5–1
		Bayer Leverkusen	5–0	N/a
		Ajax	N/a	4–0
		Napoli	3–0	N/a
	R32	Slavia Praga	3–2	N/a
	R16	AZ Alkmaar	6–2	N/a
	QF	Internazionale	N/a	3–2
	SF	Club Brugge KV	1–3
2026–27	Champions PR2	Pafos FC

Season	Round	Opponent	Match Result ^[77]
1996	GS	Grasshopper-Club	0–0
		Slovan Bratislava	0–0
		Bellinzona	2–0
	QF	Basel	2–1
	SF	FC Barcelona	0–0 (2–0 p)
	F	Grasshopper-Club	0–0 (7–6 p)
1997	GS	Manchester United	0–1
		FC Sion	1–0
		FC Blue Stars Zürich	1–0
	QF	Ferencvaros	1–0
	SF	FC Sion	2–0
	F	FC Basel	0–0 (2–3 p)
1998	GS	PSV Eindhoven	0–0
		C.D. Guadalajara	0–0
		FC Zürich	0–0
	QF	Atlético Madrid	0–1
	SF - places 5-8	C.D. Guadalajara	0–0 (1–2 p)
	Seventh place match	Brøndby IF	0–0 (0–1 p)
2000	GS	FC Luzern	2–0
	GS	FC Bayern München	1–0
	QF	Grasshopper-Club	2–0
	SF	Valencia CF	0–1
	Match for places 3/4	FC Bayern München	2–0
2001	GS	FC St. Gallen	0–0
	GS	Newcastle United	1–0
	QF	Celta de Vigo	2–0
	SF	Grasshopper-Club	0–2
	Match for places 3/4	Sparta Praha	1–0
2003	GS1	FC Blue Stars Zürich	4–0
	GS1	Levski Sofia	0–1
	GS2	FC Basel	2–1
		AS Roma	0–1
		Levski Sofia	0–1
	Match for seventh place	FC Zürich	1–2
2014	GS	FC Zürich	1–0
		Asante Kotoko	3–0
		Villarreal CF	3–0
		FC Blue Stars Zürich	1–0
	F	Athletico Paranaense	0–1
2015	GS	FC Luzern	1–1
		Feyenoord Rotterdam	1–1
		IFK Göteborg	4–0
		FC Blue Stars Zürich	3–1
	Match for Third Place	Bursaspor	2–1
2016	GS	Grasshopper-Club	0–3
		FC St. Pauli	0–0
		Feyenoord Rotterdam	0–0
		FC Blue Stars Zürich	1–0
	Seventh Place Match	FC Zürich	1–1 (5–4 p)
2017	GS	RSC Anderlecht	0–1
		FC Zürich	0–1
		1. FSV Mainz 05	3–2
		FC St.Gallen	2–0
	Fifth Place Match	West Ham United	1–3
2019	GS	PAOK FC	0–1
		FC Zürich	1–0
		FC Basel	1–0
		Seattle Sounders	1–0
	F	Boca Juniors	0–2
2022	GS	FC Zürich	0–0
		FSV Mainz	0–1
		FC Blue Stars Zürich	6–0
	Fifth Place Match	Valencia CF	0–1

Season	Round	Opponent	Match Result
Otten Innovation Cup - 2013 (Special 100 years anniversary)	GS	Glenavon F.C.	8–0
		Widzew Łódź	12–0
		Eintracht Braunschweig	3–1
		PSV Eindhoven	2–1
		Real Madrid	2–4
	3PM	SC Bastia	1–1 (3–5 p)
Otten Innovation Cup - 2024	GS	Manchester United FC	1–0
		FC Kobenhavn	0–1
		Jeonbuk Motors	3–0
	SF	PSV Eindhoven	0–1
	3PM	RB Bragantino	1–5
Otten Innovation Cup - 2025	GS	PSV Eindhoven	1–3
		Club Brugge KV	1–1
		RB Leipzig	3–1
	5-8PM	Jeonbuk Motors	4–1
	5PM	RB Leipzig	1–1 (7–6 p)
Otten Innovation Cup - 2026	GS	Chelsea FC	2–3
		Club Brugge KV	0–1
		AS Monaco	2–1
	5-8PM	Adelaide United FC	4–0
	5PM	Manchester United FC	5–1

Season	Round	Opponent	Match Result
Geneva Cup 2015	GS	AC Milan	1–0
		FC Basel	1–1
		FC Meyrin	1–1
	SF	Arsenal FC	2–1
	F	Atlético Madrid	0–1
Geneva Cup 2017	GS	Atlético Madrid	0–1
		FC Meyrin	1–2
		Grasshopper-Club	2–2
	SF places 5-8	KRC Genk	4–0
	Fifth Place Match	Grasshopper-Club	1–1 (4–3 p)
Geneva Cup 2019	GS	Cerezo Osaka	1–0
		Sampdoria	0–0
		FC Meyrin	3–0
	SF	Servette FC	3–0
	F	Parma	4–0
Geneva Cup 2022	GS	Young Boys	1–1
		AC Monza	2–1
		FC Meyrin	4–0
	SF	Juventus FC	1–1 (4–3 p)
	F	Fluminense	1–4
Geneva Cup 2025	GS	Everton FC	2–2
		FC Meyrin	3–1
		FC Basel	2–2
	SF	Internazionale	1–0
	F	Everton FC	1–2

S.L. Benfica (youth)

Players

Current players

Notable players

Coaching staff

Competitive record

UEFA Youth League and Under-20 FIFA Intercontinental Cup

Under-20 Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup

Otten Innovation Cup (Under-19)

Geneva Cup (Under-17)

Youngster Cup - Berlin (Under-17)

Shanghai Future Star Cup (Under-17)

Honours

Other youth honours

References

External links

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

Season	Round	Opponent	Match Result
Youngster Cup 2022	GS	Hertha BSC	2–3
	GS	FC Bayern Munich	2–1
	GS for 5th, 6th and 7th places	FC Bayern Munich	1–0
	GS for 5th, 6th and 7th places	1. FC Union Berlin	1–0
Youngster Cup 2023	GS	Galatasaray	2–1
	GS	Borussia Monchengladbach	0–1
	GS for 5th, 6th and 7th places	FC Basel	3–1
	GS for 5th, 6th and 7th places	Galatasaray	2–1
Youngster Cup 2024	GS	1. FC Union Berlin	1–0
		Flamengo	3–0
		FC Basel	3–1
	SF	Real Sociedad	4–1
	F	Flamengo	4–1
Youngster Cup 2025	GS	Borussia Dortmund	2–1
		Paris Saint-Germain	0–2
		FC Kobenhavn	1–1
	SF	Eintracht Frankfurt	1–1 (3–4 p)
	3P	FC Kobenhavn	1–0
Youngster Cup 2026	GS	Juventus FC	1–1
		FC Basel	2–0
		Eintracht Frankfurt	1–0
	SF	FC Kobenhavn	1–0
	F	Eintracht Frankfurt	3–2

Season	Round	Opponent	Match Result
Shanghai Future Star Cup 2025	GS	RB Leipzig	4–1
		Shanghai FA	1–0
		Manchester City	2–0
	SF	Chelsea FC	2–1
	F	Fluminense	0–2