The Big Three () is the nickname of the three
most successful and biggest
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
clubs in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
. The teams of
S.L. Benfica,
Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries, , both from
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
, and of
FC Porto
Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...
, from
Porto
Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
, have a great rivalry and are usually the main contenders for the
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...
title.
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
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
, 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". Sporting fans, "sportinguistas" and "leões" ("lions"), are called "lagartos" ("lizards"),, 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).
Impact on society
Fan support and attendances
Being the most popular and regular winners of the
Primeira Liga
The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the 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.
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.
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
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
and
Porto
Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
to the detriment of the team based in their own city.
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.
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.
Audience development
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Data in this graph is from EFS Attendances and since 2009/10 from Liga Portugal.
The three-way rivalry
Benfica vs. Sporting:
Benfica vs. Porto:
Porto vs. Sporting:
Statistics
League placements
Honours comparison
Footballers who have played for the three clubs
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.
*
Carlos Alhinho: Sporting 1972–75; Porto 1976; Benfica 1976–77, 1978–81
*
Eurico Gomes: Benfica 1975–79; Sporting 1979–82; Porto 1982–87
*
Romeu Silva: Benfica 1975–77; Porto 1979–83; Sporting 1983–86
*
Paulo Futre: Sporting 1983–84; Porto 1984–87; Benfica 1993
*
Fernando Mendes: Sporting 1985–89; Benfica 1989–91, 1992–93; Porto 1996–99
*
Emílio Peixe: Sporting 1991–95, 1996–97; Porto 1997–2002; Benfica 2002–03
*
Derlei: Porto 2002–05; Benfica 2007 (loan); Sporting 2007–09
*
Maniche: Benfica 1995–96, 1999–2002; Porto 2002–05; Sporting 2010–11
*
Miguel Lopes: Benfica 2005–06; Porto 2009–10, 2012–13; Sporting 2013, 2014–15
Managers who managed all three clubs
*
Otto Glória: Benfica 1954–59, 1968–70; Sporting 1961, 1965–66; Porto 1964–65
*
Fernando Riera: Benfica 1962–63, 1966–68; Porto 1972–73; Sporting 1974–75
*
Fernando Santos: Porto 1998–2001; Sporting 2003–04; Benfica 2006–07
*
Jesualdo Ferreira: Benfica 2001–03; Porto 2006–10, Sporting 2013
See also
*
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)
*
Big Six (Premier League)
*
List of association football club rivalries in Europe
References
{{Football in Portugal
Football rivalries in Portugal
S.L. Benfica
FC Porto
Sporting CP
Trios