S.L. Benfica (basketball)

S.L. Benfica (basketball)

Benfica Basket is the professional basketball team of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, based in Lisbon, Portugal. The team plays in Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (LPB), although in June 2007, the team decided to leave the professional top league, then known as LCB, and join for the 2007–2008 season the Proliga, a league organized by the Federação Portuguesa de Basquetebol. From 2008 onwards, Benfica returned to the LPB after the Portuguese federation took over the realms of competition.

It is the team with the most national senior titles, having the record for most championships, cups, league cups, supercups, and other national competitions. It is also the Portuguese team that advanced the furthest in the European top club basketball championship, now known as the Euroleague.

Benfica is a top sports club in Portugal and some of its most memorable moments were when its basketball team won European clashes against the likes of European giants that have won the Euroleague such as Buckler Bologna, Real Madrid (in Spain), Pallacanestro Cantù, Cibona Zagreb, Joventut Badalona (in Spain), Panathinaikos, Partizan Belgrade, or CSKA Moscow. Despite basketball not being nearly as popular with the population as football, Benfica also enjoys a major rivalry with FC Porto's basketball team and it usually leads to clashes between the fans, players and staff.

Along with its several junior teams that play in their respective top division championships, Benfica also has a reserve team, Benfica B, that plays in the Proliga, the second highest tier in Portuguese basketball, after the LPB in which the main team competes.