The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (English: Women's National Championship), also known as Liga BPI for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

league in Portugal and part of the various

women's football competitions in Portugal A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

. It is run by the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation ( , FPF) is the governing body of Association football, football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (, UPF) by the three existing regional associations of Lisbon Footbal ...

and began in 1993. An initial ten teams compete in the league, which replaced the Taça Nacional as the highest level of women's football in Portugal. The current champions are Benfica, who won their fourth consecutive title in 2023–24. The most successful team is S.U. 1º de Dezembro, with 12 titles.

History

One of the first women's football national championship in Portugal began in 1985, under the title Taça Nacional. It included all clubs interested in participating and comprised two stages, in the first stage clubs were divided in different zone groups with the top clubs from each zone advancing to the second stage to decide the champion. Boavista dominated this competition, winning all its eight editions. The competition was renamed Campeonato Nacional for the 1993–94 season though keeping the same format. On the 1998–99 season, more matches were added to the competition as clubs not advancing to the championship stage played would play again between them. In 2001, the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. T ...

was created with the previous season winners of this competition qualifying to play on it. The

Portuguese cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

started on the 2003–04 season with all clubs competing on it. In 2005, the Campeonato Nacional II Divisão was created, leaving only the top 6 teams on the first tier, each one playing the others 4 times with the bottom team being relegated. The competition was expanded for the 2009–10 season to 10 teams, playing each other twice, with top clubs advancing to a championship group and bottom teams to a relegation group. A supercup, played between the championship winners and cup winners, started in 2015. For the 2016–17, the

granted direct entrance to the first tier to four

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 ...

teams, with

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,

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

and

CF Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

taking the spots. This teams had to keep the women's team for at least three seasons and introduce Under-19 sides to promote youth football. This way,

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,

and

became the first professional women's football teams in Portugal. That same season, the format was reverted to a single stage, where the 14 teams (reduced to 12 on the following season) play each other twice. The league cup was introduced for the 2019–20 season with teams qualifying through mid-season standings on the championship. That season was interrupted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal The COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal was a part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 2 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have reached the country when it was re ...

with no title awarded and no teams relegated. This was the first time no title was awarded since the creation of the competition. This led to a total of 20 teams on the first tier on the following season, requiring a format change for that season, with a first stage where teams are divided in two groups playing each other once with top teams advancing to a championship group and bottom teams to relegation groups.

Competition format

Competition

As of 2016–17, there are 12 clubs in the Campeonato Nacional. During the course of a season (from September to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents', for 22 games. Teams receive

three points for a win Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which 3 points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is draw ...

and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

by total points, then head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference,

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

, matches won, and goals scored. If still equal, a play-off match at a neutral venue decides rank. The two lowest placed teams are relegated into the Campeonato Nacional II Divisão, and the top two teams from the Campeonato Nacional de Promoção are promoted in their place.

Qualification for European competitions

The winner of Campeonato Nacional qualifies for the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

qualifying round.

Teams

12 teams contest the Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino in 2023–24.

Stadia and locations

List of champions

The following teams won the league:

Taça Nacional

Campeonato Nacional

Teams by titles

Performance by club

Notes

References

External links

Women's League at fpf.pt

at UEFA
Portuguese league
at women.soccerway.com {{National championships in Portugal

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

1 Recurring sporting events established in 1986 1993 establishments in Portugal

Women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

Women's sports leagues in Portugal Campeonato Nacional Feminino Professional sports leagues in Portugal