S.C. Braga

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Sporting C. de Braga

Full name

Sporting Clube de Braga

Nickname(s)

Os Arsenalistas (The Arsenalists)

Founded

1921

Ground

Estádio Municipal de Braga,
Braga
(Braga Municipal Stadium)

Capacity

30,154

Chairman

António Salvador

Manager

vacant

League

BWINLIGA

2005-06

Liga, 4th





Home colours





Away colours

Sporting Clube de Braga (pron. IPA: ['spɔɾtĩg 'klub(ɨ) dɨ 'bɾagɐ]) is a Portuguese sports club, from the city of Braga, that was founded in 1921. Portuguese club Sporting Braga have been known as Arsenal do Minho -'Minho's Arsenal'- ever since former coach Jose Szabo returned from a match at Highbury in the 1930s and convinced his old team to ditch green in favour of red and white sleeves. (Sporting even renamed their youth team Arsenal do Braga).

Its football team plays at the Braga Municipal Stadium, which was built for Euro 2004. The current manager of Braga is Carlos Carvalhal. They shocked everyone with a 3-2 win over Benfica and 3-2 win against Sporting Lisbon in the last (2005/06) season and a 2-1 win over FC Porto in the 2006\2007 season. The club is now becoming one of Portugal's most successful clubs afer the Big Three and they have been known to eliminate many clubs in major competitions.

1 History
2 The Carlos Carvalhal season
3 Current Squad 06/07
4 Notable Players
5 Honors
6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1966: Braga celebrate the cup

In 1966 the city of Braga were at an all time high, not only did Portugal finish in third place at the FIFA World Cup 1966 in England, but Braga won the Portuguese Cup. This came as a surprise, as not even the people of Braga expected their club to win, but once the cup was brought home to Braga, celebration was in the air. This was the first time Braga had won an honor.

[edit] The Ferreira years

Jesaldo Ferreira is an icon at Braga as he led the club to glory as they reached 4th in the Portuguese Superliga. Many fans were hurt when Ferreira left, many fans even went as far as to call him a traitor, but nonetheless Ferreira led the club to a high finish in the league, which led Braga to enter European competitions.

Ferreira left for Boavista FC, the club that many Braga fans consider arch-rivals for the UEFA slot in the competition. At Braga, Ferreira was known as "The Professor" for his tactical decisions when deciding the starting line-up that led Braga to 4^th place.

Miklos Feher was a key part while at Braga. He managed an impressive record of 26 matches and 14 goals in the 2000/2001 season for Sporting Braga. He then pursued his dreams when he arrived in Lisbon to play for Benfica, although Miklos' dream would be short as he died from a heart-attack on the feild.

[edit] João Vieira Pinto

The arrival of João Vieira Pinto marked a turning point for Braga. João Vieira Pinto previously played for rivals Boavista FC where he played a major part for the squad. He also played for SL Benfica where he was at his best. Upon his arrival to Braga, fans of the club throughout the world were in amazementwhen João Vieira Pinto signed for Braga once again proving that Braga will be a force to be reckoned with against Real Betis.

[edit] Close to Best:Paulo Santos

When Braga defender Andrés Madrid deflected the ball in for an own goal, goalkeeper Paulo Santos had been beaten for the first time in 595 minutes, just 40 minutes short of the record set by legendary SL Benfica goalkeeper Manuel Bento. It is perhaps unfortunate that the only other time he had conceded this season, FK Crvena Zvezda claimed the away goal that ended Braga's UEFA Cup campaign at the first round for the second year running.

[edit] The new stadium

Estádio Municipal de Braga, entrance

Braga currently play at the Estádio Municipal de Braga stadia. Many a fan were hoping it would bring the team good luck, that it did as Braga have been finishing in the top-half of the table in recent years.

It has one of the most spectacular settings of any stadium in the world, as it is carved out of the Monte Castro hillside that overlooks the city of Braga. The enormous earthmoving process contributed heavily to its €83.1 million cost, more than any other EURO 2004 venue except for the new Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, which has more than twice the capacity of the new Braga stadium. The architect for the project was Eduardo Souto de Moura.

Unlike most major stadiums, Braga Municipal has stands only on the two sides of the field; the two end zones are backed with rock walls left behind from the construction process. The two stands are covered with a canopy-style roof which are connected by multiple steel strings over the pitch, inspired by ancient south American Inca bridges.

The stadium was inaugurated on 30 December 2003 with Braga beating Celta de Vigo 1-0.

[edit] Fans of Braga

The fans of SC Braga are known as Arsenalistas due to their never-say-die attitude. Many of Braga fans are known for their crazy antics such as throwing flares in the field to get their players pumped up.

[edit] Symbols and Europe

The emblem of Sporting Braga is the city of Braga's shield with Mother Mary and baby Jesus. On the top of the Emblem is the Royal Crown of Braga, with the name Sporting Clube da Braga on it. Many fans of SC Braga have said that Mother Mary gives them luck.

Back in the 60's and 70's Braga began to climb up the league ladder and eventually participated in the UEFA Competitions. The club is also participating in the 2006\2007 UEFA Cup with the help from former manager Jesualdo Ferreira. The team is also expecting a top three finish in the 2006\2007 season. Braga finished fifth in his first full season and brought UEFA Cup football to the Municipal stadium. Then last term they challenged for the championship until the penultimate round, ending fourth.

Braga's success was thanks to Jesualdo's astute management of his human resources. His pragmatic tactics also paid dividends, skills acquired in a varied career taking in spells with CF Estrela Amadora and the Moroccan Army team FAR Rabat, plus four years with the Portugal Under-21 side.

He is a level-headed character. Musing on the end of Braga's extraordinary run of clean sheets, Jesualdo said: "It was a pity the first goal we conceded this season came from an own goal, as I would have preferred a great goal. But I always also said that, on the day it happened, the priority would be to win the match. It was a record that did not matter much. It was earned by a team which did not concede goals, but without meaning we have a defensive philosophy."

Braga, who owe their Sporting Club tag to the better known Lisboetas, after whom they were named, changed their kits from green-and-white hoops to their Arsenal-style red in 1920 when their then coach Jozef Szab,following a trip to England, ordered the club to adopt new colours to establish their own identity. If the Arsenalistas continue to fire as they have done so far this term, a UEFA Champions League meeting with their namesakes next season could be a reality.

[edit] The Carlos Carvalhal season

As Jesualdo Ferreira left Braga for rivals Boavista FC, Portuguese up and coming Manager Carlos Carvalhal became manager of the Club, after a poor star to the 2006/2007 season where Braga lost to AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Cup despite crushing Czech Republic Champion Slovan Liberec 4-0 where a week prior Slovan Liberec drew with UEFA Cup Champions Sevilla FC 0-0 in Spain and a 4-1 loss to Madeira side CS Marítimo proved to be the end of his Season despite success in Europe's intense Competitions with a overall acore of 3-2 against Italian club Chievo Verona.

[edit] Current Squad 06/07

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Paulo Santos
2	DF	Pedro Costa
3	DF	Paulo Jorge
4	DF	Maurício
5	DF	Nem
6	MF	Hugo Leal
7	MF	Davide
8	DF	Paito
10	MF	João Vieira Pinto
11	FW	Cesinha
12	GK	Dani Mallo
13	DF	Carlos Fernandes
14	MF	Castanheira

No.	Position	Player
15	FW	Wender
17	DF	Frechaut
19	FW	Maciel
20	DF	Luis Filipe
21	MF	Ricardo Chaves
22	DF	Irineu
23	MF	Madrid
24	GK	Eduardo
29	FW	Marcel
77	FW	Ze Carlos
87	FW	Bruno Gama
88	MF	Vandinho
99	FW	Matheus

[edit] Notable Players

Along its history Braga has had many great players. Some of them had worldwide recognised success and some others remained at the club, achieving local, national and international success. António Augusto was the very first Portuguese player to score a goal for the national team. He played for Braga in the 1920's. Ferreirinha was another Portuguese international in the 1960's and played along with Perrichon, an Argentinian striker that is most known by his goal that gave Braga its first and only Portuguese Cup. Chico Gordo (Fat Chico) was the best goalscorer of the club finding the back of the net 59 times in 4 years. Other strikers include João Tomás (still in the club but on a loan to a team from Qatar) who scored 30 goals in two seasons or Mladen Karoglan, a right winger that was best goal scorer for many years. Elpídio Silva was also a great player. Subsequent seasons took him to Boavista where he scored many goals in the Champions League and later to Sporting Lisbon. But one of the greatest players ever to play for Braga was José Alberto Barroso, a defensive midfielder that played for Portugal and took part in the Euro1996 campaign together with Rui Correia, the team's goalie. Later, Quim took over the post of Rui Correia in the first team as well as in the National Team where he played over 30 games. He was sold to Benfica and became champion in 2004/05. Tiago Mendes a great Portuguese player that controls the team's midfield play and a fine shooter of the ball was a key man for Braga , one of the best in the Portuguese team he left to play UEFA Champion's league with rivalsSL Benfica. He subsequently moved to Chelsea where he won the English Premiership, and the League Cup and then to Olimpique Lyonnais, where he has won the French League title in his first year there.

A great Argentinian player that controls the team's midfield play, one of the best in the current Braga squad. His youth makes him a great promise and guarantees him a great future while playing for SC Braga and possibly for Argentina's national squad. Former Argentina coach José Pekerman has said that Andrés Madrid was a very fine and aggressive player a style that Pekerman enjoys very much despite not making the squad for the 2006 World Cup for Argentina he still remains a great player after Argentina fell out early in the 2006 World Cup people such as Diego Maradona were surprised that Madrid wasn't even considered to even play for the squad.

Andres Madrid was also offered a contract by Newcastle United during the January transfer season in 2006, but Andres Madrid has vowed to stay at Braga along side team-mate Luis Filipe.

He wears the number twenty-three and is a key player in SC Braga. He started his Professional life in soccer at a club in Argentina named Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata in the 2000/2001 season as a teenager. During the 2004/2005 season he joined Portuguese side SC Braga on a transfer. He currently plays there in Braga as a mid-fielder. He is one of the most valious players of Portuguese club Braga, due to his excellent tactical skills.