Rui Vitória: six titles in three and a half years at Luz

Signed in June 2015 to lead Benfica's professional football squad, Rui Vitória gave substance to a competitive cycle that, on the pitch, began on August 9, 2015, and ended on January 2, 2019. In this three and a half years spell, the coach helped the eagles win six trophies: 2 Championships, 1 Portuguese Cup, 2 Super Cups and 1 League Cup.

Rui Vitória amassed 180 matches at the helm of the reds and racked up 123 wins. In 2015/16, in his debut season, he amassed 52 matches and 40 wins, ending the season with a final flourish: winning the Third league title in a row, secured in the afternoon of May 15, 2016,  at Estádio da Luz. A few days later, he also won the League Cup.

Launching and promoting  players nurtured at Caixa Futebol Campus – such as Ederson, Nélson Semedo, Lindelöf, Renato Sanches, Gonçalo Guedes, João Carvalho, Diogo Gonçalves and, more recently, Rúben Dias, Gedson, João Félix, Alfa Semedo, Bruno Varela and Yuri Ribeiro, among others –, Rui Vitória, in this journey, led the reds to the Fourth league title in a row in 2016/17, a season in which Benfica played 50 matches and racked up 36 wins.

In his first two seasons, Rui Vitória had the merit of leading Benfica consecutively to the Champions League Round of 16.

Benfica celebrated the Fourth consecutive league title under Rui Vitória in 2016/17, but the season which had started win the triumph in the Super Cup would only end at the Estádio Nacional after winning the Portuguese Cup. 

As result of the successes amassed throughout this spell, the reds played two Super Cups under Rui Vitória and were successful in both occasions: wins by 3-0 over Braga in 2016/17 and by 3-1 over V. Guimarães in 2017/18.

Numbers at Benfica

Trophies won

• 2 Championships (2015/16 and 2016/17)
• 1 Portuguese Cup (2016/17)
• 2 Super Cup (2016/17 and 2017/18)
• 1 League Cup (2015/16)

Text: João Sanches

Pics: SL Benfica