The 2017–18 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. Benfica were the defending champions for a fourth consecutive time, but they did not retain the title. Porto became the new champions with two matches to spare, clinching their 28th league title. This was their first trophy in four years.
Since Portugal dropped from fifth to seventh place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of 2016–17 season, only the two best-ranked teams could qualify for the UEFA Champions League (the champions entered directly into the group stage, and the runners-up entered the third qualifying round). The third and fourth-placed teams qualified respectively to the UEFA Europa League third and second qualifying rounds.
Teams Eighteen teams competed in the league – the top sixteen teams from the 2016–17 season, as well as two teams promoted from the LigaPro.
Portimonense became the first club to be promoted on 23 April 2017 and will play in Primeira Liga for the first time since the 2010–11 season. On 21 May 2017, after a 2–1 win in Azores against Santa Clara, they were crowned champions. The other team promoted were runners-up Desportivo das Aves, following a 2–2 draw against União da Madeira on 30 April 2017. This will mark the return of the Vila das Aves' team to the top flight after a 10-season absence.
The two promoted clubs replaced Nacional and Arouca. Nacional confirmed their relegation on 5 May 2017, 15 years after their promotion, when Moreirense, who were also struggling to escape relegation, beat Braga. On the last matchday, Arouca's 4–2 defeat against Estoril sealed their relegation, four seasons after having been promoted for the first time to Primeira Liga.
Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity2016–17 finish Belenenses Lisbon Estádio do Restelo 15,016 14th Benfica Lisbon Estádio da Luz 64,642 1st Boavista Porto Estádio do Bessa 27,363 9th Braga Braga Estádio Municipal de Braga 30,287 5th Chaves Chaves Estádio Municipal Eng. Manuel Branco Teixeira 8,870 11th Desportivo das Aves Aves Estádio do CD Aves 6,230 2nd (LP) Estoril Estoril Estádio António Coimbra da Mota 7,891 10th Feirense Santa Maria da Feira Estádio Marcolino de Castro 5,450 8th Marítimo Funchal Estádio do Marítimo 10,566 6th Moreirense Moreira de Cónegos Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas 6,152 15th Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira Estádio Capital do Móvel 9,078 13th Porto Porto Estádio do Dragão 50,034 2nd Portimonense Portimão Estádio Municipal de Portimão 4,931 1st (LP) Rio Ave Vila do Conde Estádio dos Arcos 8,957 7th Sporting CP Lisbon Estádio José Alvalade 50,049 3rd Tondela Tondela Estádio João Cardoso 5,000 16th Vitória de Guimarães Guimarães Estádio D. Afonso Henriques 30,007 4th Vitória de Setúbal Setúbal Estádio do Bonfim 14,274 12th
Personnel and sponsors
Team Manager Captain Kit Manufacturer Sponsors Belenenses Silas Gonçalo Silva Lacatoni Kia Motors Benfica Rui Vitória Luisão Adidas Emirates Boavista Jorge Simão Idris BLK Mestre da Cor Braga Abel Ferreira Nikola Vukčević Lacatoni Visit Braga Chaves Luís Castro Nuno André Coelho Lacatoni Museu do Pão Desportivo das Aves José Mota Nélson Lenho Macron MEO Estoril Ivo Vieira Diogo Amado Nike EuroBic Feirense Nuno Manta Cris Legea Castro Electrónica Marítimo Daniel Ramos Edgar Costa Nike Santander Totta Moreirense Petit André Micael CDT — Paços de Ferreira João Henriques Ricardo Lacatoni Aldro Portimonense Vítor Oliveira Ricardo Pessoa Mizuno McDonald's Portimão Porto Sérgio Conceição Iván Marcano New Balance MEO Rio Ave Miguel Cardoso Tarantini Adidas MEO Sporting CP Jorge Jesus William Carvalho Macron NOS Tondela Pepa Ricardo Costa CDT Laboratórios BASI Vitória de Guimarães José Peseiro Josué Sá Macron — Vitória de Setúbal José Couceiro Vasco Fernandes Hummel Kia Motors
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Porto Nuno Espírito Santo Resigned 22 May 2017 Pre-season Sérgio Conceição 8 June 2017 Desportivo das Aves José Mota Resigned 23 May 2017 Ricardo Soares 27 May 2017 Rio Ave Luís Castro Mutual consent 24 May 2017 Miguel Cardoso 12 June 2017 Moreirense Petit Mutual consent 26 May 2017 Manuel Machado 27 May 2017 Chaves Ricardo Soares Resigned 27 May 2017 Luís Castro 1 June 2017 Boavista Miguel Leal Resigned 13 September 201716th Jorge Simão 14 September 2017 Desportivo das Aves Ricardo Soares Sacked 2 October 201716th Lito Vidigal 2 October 2017 Estoril Pedro Emanuel Mutual consent 21 October 201718th Filipe Pedro 21 October 2017 Paços de Ferreira Vasco Seabra Mutual consent 23 October 201713th Petit 23 October 2017Moreirense Manuel MachadoSacked29 October 201717th Sérgio Vieira31 October 2017 Estoril Filipe Pedro End of caretaker role 13 November 201718th Ivo Vieira 13 November 2017 Paços de Ferreira Petit Mutual consent 8 January 201814th João Henriques 12 January 2018 Belenenses Domingos Paciência Mutual consent 15 January 201811th Silas 15 January 2018 Moreirense Sérgio Vieira Mutual consent 13 February 201817th Petit 14 February 2018 Vitória de Guimarães Pedro Martins Sacked 18 February 20189th José Peseiro 28 February 2018
Season summary
League table
Positions by round
Results
Statistics
Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals 1 JonasBenfica 34 2 Bas DostSporting CP 27 3 Moussa MaregaPorto 224 Vincent AboubakarPorto15 FabrícioPortimonense RaphinhaVitória de Guimarães 7 PaulinhoBraga 138 Ricardo HortaBraga11 Paolo HurtadoVitória de Guimarães WilliamChaves Bruno FernandesSporting CP
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Jonas Benfica Belenenses 5–0 Porto Moreirense 3–0 Sporting CP Chaves 5–1 Porto Vitória de Setúbal 5–0 Sporting CP Marítimo 5–0 Sporting CP Desportivo das Aves 3–0 Fabrício Portimonense Rio Ave 4–1 Jonas Benfica Marítimo 5–0 Edinho4 Vitória de Setúbal Desportivo das Aves 4–1 Portimonense Moreirense 4–3
Note 4 Player scored 4 goals
Top assists
Rank Player Club Assists 1 Alex TellesPorto 13 2 Ricardo EsgaioBraga 10 Shoya NakajimaPortimonense 4 JeffersonBraga 9 5 Yacine BrahimiPorto 8 Franco CerviBenfica Bruno FernandesSporting CP Ricardo HortaBraga Gelson MartinsSporting CP António XavierPaços de Ferreira
Clean sheets
Rank Player Club Clean sheets 1 Rui PatrícioSporting CP 17 2 MatheusBraga 14 3 Bruno VarelaBenfica 13 4 Iker CasillasPorto 12 5 VagnerBoavista 11 6 CharlesMarítimo 10 7 CássioRio Ave 9 Caio SeccoFeirense 9 Cláudio RamosTondela 8 10 José SáPorto 7 Adriano FacchiniFeirense
Scoring First goal of the season: Gelson Martins, for Sporting CP vs Desportivo das Aves (6 August 2017) Latest goal of the season: Gevorg Ghazaryan, for Marítimo vs Sporting CP (13 May 2018) Biggest home win: Braga 6–0 Estoril (1 October 2017) Biggest away win: Estoril 0–6 Braga (3 March 2018) Highest scoring match: 7 goals Porto 5–2 Portimonense (22 September 2017) Porto 6–1 Paços de Ferreira (21 October 2017) Portimonense 5–2 Vitória de Setúbal (30 October 2017) Biggest winning margin: 6 goals Braga 6–0 Estoril (1 October 2017) Most goals scored in a match by a team: 6 goals Braga 6–0 Estoril (1 October 2017) Porto 6–1 Paços de Ferreira (21 October 2017)
Match streaks
Longest winning run: 9 matches Benfica, from matchday 21 (3 February 2018) to matchday 29 (7 April 2017) Longest unbeaten run: 25 matches Porto, from matchday 1 (6 August 2017) to matchday 25 (2 March 2018) Longest winless run: 11 matches Estoril, from matchday 4 (27 August 2017) to matchday 14 (9 December 2017) Longest losing run: 8 matches Estoril, from matchday 4 (27 August 2017) to matchday 11 (4 November 2017) Most consecutive draws: 5 matches Vitória de Setúbal, from matchday 16 (4 January 2018) to matchday 20 (31 January 2018)
Discipline
Club Most yellow cards: 104 Feirense Most red cards: 8 Paços de Ferreira
Player Most yellow cards: 14 Babanco (Feirense) Most red cards: 3 Marcão (Rio Ave) Hassan Yebda (Belenenses)
Awards
Monthly awards Liga Portugal MonthPlayer of the MonthGoal of the MonthNameClubNameClubAgainstDateAugust Bruno FernandesSporting CP Bruno FernandesSporting CPVitória de Guimarães19 August 2017September Bruno FernandesSporting CP Bruno FernandesSporting CPTondela16 September 2017October/November JonasBenfica Rodrigo PinhoMarítimoTondela28 October 2017December JonasBenfica DráusioMarítimoMoreirense2 December 2017January JonasBenfica Yacine BrahimiPortoVitória de Guimarães7 January 2018February JonasBenfica Franco CerviBenficaPortimonense10 February 2018March JonasBenfica André PereiraVitória de SetúbalPortimonense6 March 2018April Bruno FernandesSporting CP Héctor HerreraPortoBenfica15 April 2018
MonthGoalkeeper of the MonthDefender of the MonthMidfielder of the MonthForward of the MonthManager of the MonthNameClubNameClubNameClubNameClubNameClubAugust Iker CasillasPorto Alex TellesPorto Bruno FernandesSporting CP Vincent AboubakarPorto Miguel CardosoRio AveSeptember CharlesMarítimo BebetoMarítimo Danilo PereiraPorto Moussa MaregaPorto Daniel RamosMarítimoOctober/November Rui PatrícioSporting CP Sebastián CoatesSporting CP DenerPortimonense Shoya NakajimaPortimonense Vítor OliveiraPortimonenseDecember José SáPorto Jérémy MathieuSporting CP Danilo PereiraPorto Moussa MaregaPorto Sérgio ConceiçãoPortoJanuary Rui PatrícioSporting CP Alex TellesPorto FabrícioPortimonense JonasBenfica Rui VitóriaBenficaFebruary MatheusBraga Alex TellesPorto Nikola VukčevićBraga JonasBenfica Sérgio ConceiçãoPortoMarch Bruno VarelaBenfica Rúben DiasBenfica André HortaBraga JonasBenfica Abel FerreiraBragaApril Iker CasillasPorto Alex TellesPorto Héctor HerreraPorto Miguel CardosoTondela Sérgio ConceiçãoPorto
SJPF Young Player of the Month
MonthPlayerClubVote percentageAugust Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP 22.51%September Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP 18.78%October/November Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP 14.94%December Bruno Varela Benfica 14.00%January Gonçalo Paciência Vitória de Setúbal 19.01%February Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP 17.30%March André Pereira Vitória de Setúbal 24.09%April Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP 16.87%
SPJF Goal of the month
MonthScorerForAgainstStadiumDateVote percentageAugust Bruno Fernandes Sporting CP Vitória de Guimarães Estádio D. Afonso Henriques 19 August 201732.05%September André Sousa Belenenses Feirense Estádio Marcolino de Castro 24 September 201741.67%October Rodrigo Pinho Marítimo Tondela Estádio do Marítimo 28 October 201754.70%November Shoya Nakajima Portimonense Tondela Estádio Municipal de Portimão 25 November 201740.74%December Dráusio Marítimo Moreirense Parque Joaquim de Almeida Freitas 2 December 201737.78%January Fabrício Portimonense Rio Ave Estádio Municipal de Portimão 29 January 201833.33%February Shoya Nakajima Portimonense Feirense Estádio Marcolino de Castro 16 February 201847.06%March Nildo Petrolina Desportivo das Aves Portimonense Estádio do CD Aves 5 March 201844.44%April Héctor Herrera Porto Benfica Estádio da Luz 15 April 201837.04%May Kuca Boavista Belenenses Estádio do Bessa 12 May 201844.44%
Annual awards
Liga Portugal Player of the Season The Player of the Season was awarded to Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP).
Manager of the Season The Manager of the Season was awarded to Sérgio Conceição (Porto).
Goal of the Season The Goal of the Season was awarded to Rodrigo Pinho (Marítimo), against Tondela on 28 October 2017. Team of the Season
Team of the Year Team of the Year Goalkeeper Rui Patrício (Sporting CP) Defenders Alex Telles (Porto) Felipe (Porto) Sebastián Coates (Sporting CP) Ricardo Pereira (Porto) Midfielders Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP) Héctor Herrera (Porto) Pizzi (Benfica) Attackers Jonas (Benfica) Moussa Marega (Porto) Gelson Martins (Sporting CP)
Young Player of the Season The Young Player of the Year was awarded to Rúben Dias (Benfica).
Club Fair-Play Prize