FM13: Benfica Thread - The "3-1-50" Formula

About the club

Sport Lisboa e Benfica, commonly known as Benfica or simply SLB, is a Portuguese multi-sports club based in Lisbon, Portugal. Although Benfica successfully competes in a number of different sports, it is mostly known for its football team.

Founded on 28 February 1904, at a meeting in Farmácia Franco involving 24 men led by Cosme Damião, Sport Lisboa e Benfica (originally known as Grupo Sport Lisboa) is one of the Três Grandes (Big Three) football clubs in Portugal, with Sporting and FC Porto being the other two clubs, Benfica's biggest rivals. Benfica has more than 14 million fans and holds the Guinness World Record for the football club in the world with most members. It is the most popular Portuguese club in the world and its supporters are often called Benfiquistas.

Benfica is the most successful football club in Portuguese competitions, with 67 titles, and the second most successful Portuguese club overall, with 70 titles. Benfica holds the record of 32 Portuguese League titles, the record of 24 Portuguese Cups (and record of 4 consecutively), the record of 4 Portuguese League Cups (totally and consecutively), 3 Championships of Portugal and 4 Portuguese SuperCups. Benfica has the distinction of being the first in the history of the Portuguese Liga to have completed an entire 30 game season unbeaten (in 1972–73) and the only one to do it twice (in 1977–78). Benfica has set the European winning streak record of 29 games (between 1971–72 and 1972–73).

Benfica was one of the founding members of the Primeira Liga in 1933 and it has never been relegated from the Primeira Divisão (First Division) of Portuguese football. Internationally, Benfica was the first and only Portuguese club to win a Latin Cup and 2 European Champions' Cups consecutively: the 1960–61 and the 1961–62 European Cups. In addition, Benfica were runners-up in the 1961 and 1962 Intercontinental Cups, in the 1962–63, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1987–88 and 1989–90 European Cups, and in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup; holding the national record of 8 European finals played.

As a sports club, Benfica currently has departments for futsal, roller hockey, basketball, handball, volleyball, athletics, triathlon, rugby, table tennis, judo, among others. Due to the success and popularity of its football, Benfica has built the biggest fan base among the Três Grandes in Portugal. Benfica also has one of the biggest fan bases in the world, with many supporters outside of Portugal in countries like Andorra, Angola, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Croatia, France, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, United Kingdom, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Switzerland, Netherlands and United States.

As one of the biggest clubs in the world, Sport Lisboa e Benfica has its own television channel called Benfica TV, a weekly newspaper called O Benfica, a bimonthly magazine called Mística and a multi-language website which includes a social network called SLB Fans. The club is involved in social intervention with Fundação Benfica (Benfica Foundation).

In 2011, Benfica was considered the richest club outside of the five major European football leagues by the Deloitte Football Money League, being 21st in the list.

Jorge Jesus Era to the Present (2009–present)

On 8 June 2009, manager Quique Flores resigned as coach after agreeing to a friendly contractual termination; he was replaced by former Sporting de Braga manager Jorge Jesus on June 17. Benfica paid a fee of €700.000.

In the 2009–10 season, Benfica had the highest average home attendance with 50,033; its highest mark was 58,659 against FC Porto, a game in which Benfica defeated FC Porto and won three important points to conquer its 32nd championship.

In March 2010, Benfica smashed arch-rivals FC Porto by 3–0 in the Portuguese League Cup final and won its second consecutive League Cup.

Benfica was paired with Liverpool F.C. in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. At the Estádio da Luz, Benfica defeated Liverpool 2–1 but was eliminated after a 4–1 loss in Liverpool.

On 9 May 2010, Benfica won its final match against Rio Ave and became champion of the 2009–10 season, conquering its 32nd championship and securing direct entry into the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. Óscar Cardozo finished top scorer of the season with 26 goals.

In the next season, after participating in the Champions League, Benfica moved to Europa League and progressed to its first European semi-final in 18 years. The team lost on the away goals rule after a 2-2 result against SC Braga. Benfica won the Portuguese League Cup final against Paços de Ferreira, clinching its third consecutive trophy, and finished second in Primeira Liga.

In 2011–12, Benfica reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, being eliminated by eventual winners Chelsea; won its fourth consecutive Taça da Liga; and finished in second place of the Primeira Liga, qualifying directly to the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. Óscar Cardozo was the top scorer of Portuguese league for the second time, with 20 goals.

In 26 October 2012, Luís Filipe Vieira was re-elected president of Benfica with 83,02% of the votes, defeating Rui Rangel which got 13,83%. This was the most participated elections in Benfica history with 22.676 sócios voting.

Luís Filipe Vieira has established a formula for the next four years known as the "3-1-50" formula: 3 football league titles, 1 european final and 50 titles in all sports.

Club honours

Club information

In what regards to facilities you don't need to worry. Benfica has the best facilities in Portugal and it's up to you to use them wisely. The youth setup is also good, and usually good regens come through the ranks so if you like to use home grown players (you have to use them even if to a minimal extent) there's no need to go to the market to get good gems.

As long as you keep going to the Champions League the finances can hold steadily so you can count on a good budget to spend every season. Usually the board gives around €15m per season. If you can make good sales and good campaigns in the CL the transfer budget can easily double.

Squad analysis

The squad is based on the one listed at Benfica's website. In the game Benfica has around 50 players available but many of them are not good enough for the first team.

Goalkeepers:

ARTUR Moraes

Paulo LOPES

Artur is definitely the first choice. Then you decide if you want to rotate him with Paulo Lopes, 34 year old experienced goalkeeper, or 20 year old Mika (in the B team).

Defenders:

André ALMEIDA

Ezequiel GARAY

JARDEL

Lorenzo MELGAREJO

LUISÃO

LUISINHO

MAXI Pereira

Miguel VÍTOR

So, have you spotted the easter egg here? That's right, it's Melgarejo. What do you mean he looks like a striker? Well, that's because he's a... striker. JJ has decided to play a striker in the left back slot, that's why I'm listing him as a defender. Aside from that the defense will feature Maxi, Luisão, Garay and one more. "Melga" or Luisinho are the options, even if none of them is a natural left-back. Maybe you should focus in acquiring one. Tip: Málaga's Eliseu looks good!

Midfielders:

André GOMES

Bruno CÉSAR

Carlos MARTINS

Enzo PÉREZ

Nemanja MATIC

Nico GAITÁN

Eduardo SALVIO

NOLITO

Ola JOHN

Pablo AIMAR

The midfield is the strongest sector of the squad. You have plenty of choice, unfortunately only one of these gentlemen is a defensive midfielder, so you better like Matic. Of course Pablito Aimar is the creative genius but his age and the fact that he can only play in the AMC slot might be a negative factor.

With so many (good) wingers it's almost mandatory to employ a wingers tactic.

Strikers:

LIMA

RODRIGO

Óscar CARDOZO

Three very good strikers, plus Nélson Oliveira who is loaned at Deportivo means that you don't have to worry about signing strikers in the short term. Using one or two strikers is a matter of choice, they all have different characteristics.

Tactical analysis

It's hard to emulate the way Benfica plays in real life due to the player's stats in-game. Some wrongly judged players IMO mean that it's impossible to design a tactic besides this assymetric 442 that can field eleven players in effective positions.

Players like Matic and Aimar don't have good rating in the central midfield spot which prevents you from using a flat 442, which is JJ's preffered formation this season.

So, having in consideration the database's "limitations" and the best players in the club I'd say the best formation to use with the players you have from the start is this:

In order to be more flexible with the formation due to injuries or squad rotation, I would advise to retrain some players to new positions, like:

- Matic to MC

- Aimar to MC

- Gaitan to ML

- Luisinho to ML

- Enzo Perez to MC

- Bruno Cesar to MC/ML

- Nolito to MR

- Ola John to ML

Nice thread about one of the best clubs in europe. Well done kingjericho

Good advice on the retrain new positions. Due to the recent sell of Javi Garcia and Witsel (last days of the market) i think team need improvement in the midfield.

Still not play new FM, so dunno how database scouts see new "cantera" players..(finally Jorge Jesus start to see young portugueses players from club)

Cheers

Rodrigo is a beast .. hell of a change from 12 to this one.

And btw, everybody should keep an eye on Bernardo Silva, he seems to have tons of potential.

Like the title, very similar to a AFL teams mantra 50-2-5 50K members, 2 Premierships, 5 years.

Good thread

Good thread. Once I get the game, I'm loading up with SLB

Kara would be a good addition to the Squad. Forca Glorioso !!!!!

Benfica have 3 weak areas in the squad, the keeper, left defender and midfield. For midfield Kara is the best that you can get for low price, Didac from AC Milan could be a nice left defender for the transfer window. Keeper...i'm looking (lol).

in one of my saves they won the cl in season 2 and in all of the 3 preseasons they have spent over 35mil on players so something must be going right for them.

I finished my first season in FM13 and managed to get the league title for Benfica and the second league title for Benfica B. All other competitions lost.

What I did:

Relegated Julio Cesar, Luisinho, Andre Almeida, Ascues, Ola John, Matic and Alan Kardec to Benfica B.

Who I bought: lelf FB Masilela from Kaiser Chiefs (700k), right FB Lars Jacobsen from Copenhagen (1M), central midfielder Hosny from Ismaily (500k), central midfielder Cirigliano from River Plate (7M), central midfielder Bressan from Bate Borisov (1.3M).

Prepared 3 tactics: 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 4-2-4.

1st half of the season playing mostly with 4-2-3-1(ball winning midfielder and deep playmaker)(with two wingers and an offensive midfielder)(poacher) - Artur / Maxi, Sidnei, Garay, Masilela / Bressan, Hosny / Salvio, Aimar, Gaitan / Cardozo

Although, when against other 4-2-3-1 formations I used 4-3-3 with 3 inline central midfielders (2 box-to-box and 1 ballwinning). Artur, Maxi, Luisao, Garay, Masilela, Carlos Martins, Hosny, Bressan, Salvio (winger), Rodrigo (as an inside forward) and Cardozo (poacher). Playing counterattack I managed to win all matches against Porto and Sporting (Benfica 4-0 Sporting, Sporting 0-3 Benfica, Benfica 1-0 Porto and Porto 0-2 Benfica) which I must say was the most beautiful thing I did from the start of my journey.

Already bought Odjidja (Club Brugges) and Demirci (Besiktas) at the end of their contract for the next season. Struggling with club finances I need to focus on free players and youngsters.

Nolito, Carlos Martins, Aimar, Sidnei and Bruno Cesar will be sold/released. Will promote a couple of youngsters and analyse all on loan players I got. Rodrigo, Salvio and Cirigliano will be without doubt world class players and I think I will build a new tactic for the 2nd season that takes the best out of their attributes.

btw: Moreira (GK) freetransfer will be really useful. I bought him and forgot to mention. You will remember Moreira when you have to send the list to european competitions

Nice thread.

Just wondering... Does Brazilian players still doesn't count as foreigners in Portugal?

lol 'promising young striker, retrained as left back'

How the hell does that happen?!

Just wondering... Does Brazilian players still doesn't count as foreigners in Portugal?

in Portugal that doesn't matter. You need to build your squad with maximum 30 players over 19yrs old and with 8 portuguese players. That's all.

lol 'promising young striker, retrained as left back'

How the hell does that happen?!

Benfica sold Emerson to Trabzonspor and released Capdevilla. We bought Luisinho from Paços de Ferreira and Melgarejo, a paraguayan striker that was on loan at Paços de Ferreira, impressed Jorge Jesus and our manager thought he was a good solution to the left fullback problem.

Been playing with Benfica all my life. Try Alan Dzagoev!!! (he comes for free at the beggining of the game) awsome AMC to replace Pablo Aimar. Everything said here is spot on. Benfica does have an excess players so you can get a lot of cash pretty quickly!

I like to play 3-5-2's so the lack of fullbacks doesn't bother me that much, I just buy a good DC and a better DMC (though Matic does a fine job, no one's there to replace him) and rule the league. Will try to win champions the second season, though not easy)

Nelson Oliveira and Aírton are 2 great loanees that come at the end of season 1.

First approach in the new FM13

Benfica 1st season:

Success almost total: won all internal and get to the Final of the champions lost to Man Utd.

Some images.

CHAMPIONS

TAÇA DE PORTUGAL

LIGA

Not bad...

Cheers

Well done! What's your starting XI?

Just to note kingjericho, please report it to the data issues if you have a problem with ratings. You can display your feelings and see if they will change the ratings for the next database

Just to not kingjericho, please report it to the data issues if you have a problem with ratings. You can display your feelings and see if they will change the ratings for the next database

bit pointless anyways, year in n out and nothing is ever done. been like this since the start of fm.

Benfica European Champion 2017

With help of new tactic from my friend Vodu: the MASTER.

Cheers

Toying around with a Benfica game, not sure that I will hang on to it for a long time, but this signing would be the main reason to do so

He got transferlisted by Porto, but Porto didn't want to accept my offer of their asking price, so I had to meet his min. clause of £35m - a bit expensive and his wages will reach £71k a week after 5 matches, but he is the main Portuguese midfield general, so rather he is with me on high wages than at Porto

I'm thrilled to have signed him for Benfica

Other signings are Dede, Medel and Capoue +Loan signings Morel (Marseille) Mîno (Boca) Taylor (Newcastle) Adán (Real Madrid)

Sidney, Aimar, Jardel, Melgaredo, Artur and Garay have all left

Still in the hunt for a class keeper, a first choice left back, and a AMC that can create and score goals - but I've spend £70m more than I've sold for, so they need to be the right players and not some one that is bought for the sake of it