Portugal Liga denouement: title, European qualification and relegation decided on last day | OneFootball

It’s a big weekend in Portugal. The country goes to the polls again on Sunday barely a year after the last general election, but the day before another kind of right wing, left wing and race to the finish line will dominate the headlines.

The curtain comes down on 2024/25 Primeira Liga season tomorrow, Saturday 17 May, with practically all the major consequences of the season to be decided when the final set of matches kick off simultaneously at 6pm local time.

PortuGOAL runs through what’s at stake for whom in the race to win the title, qualify for Europe and avoid relegation.

Who will be crowned champions of Portugal?

Sporting’s date with history

Sporting are well-placed after the 1-1 draw against their city neighbours and title rivals Benfica at the Estádio da Luz last weekend. To lift the trophy the Lions must get the same number of more points at home against Vitória than Benfica do away at Braga.

Sporting will be without captain Morten Hjulmand, the Danish midfielder picking up a yellow card in the derby, ruling him out of this game. The Guimarães team are weakened too, midfielder Tomás Handel and centre-back Filipe Relvas also suspended. Vitória are currently fifth, the last position that provides European football next season, level on points with Santa Clara, so both teams will be desperate for the points.

Should Sporting finish the day where they start it – top of the pile – it will be the first time the famous Lisbon club has won back-to-back league titles since their heyday 70 years ago.

Benfica still believe

Although not depending on themselves, Benfica have not given up hope of snatching the title at the death. “We are very confident we can win and still be champions,” said coach Bruno Lage today in the pre-match press conference ahead of their trip to Braga.

Carlos Carvalhal’s side cannot realistically catch Porto in third place anymore. Will the lack of pressure for their opponents be favourable or not for Benfica? For a detailed preview of Braga v Benfica click here.

SC Braga v SL Benfica, 6.00 pm, Estádio Municipal de Braga

Europe

Santa Clara eye Conference League berth

Whoever wins the league will go directly into the Champions League proper, while the runners up will go into the qualifying phase of next season’s competition. Porto and Braga will compete in the Europa League in 2025/26. That leaves one berth to be decided. Whoever finishes fifth will be Portugal’s representative in the UEFA Conference League: either Vitória or Santa Clara.

Vitória currently occupy fifth, level on points with Santa Clara but ahead of the Azorean outfit thanks to the head-to-head record. Therefore, for the islanders to overtake Luís Freire’s side they must obtain more points away at Farense than Vitória do tomorrow at Sporting. Looking at the table it looks feasible, but Farense will be fighting for their life as they desperately try to avoid relegation.

Farense v Santa Clara, 6.00 pm, Estádio de São Luís

The fight to avoid the drop

Estrela, AVS, Farense, Boavista: two doomed, one in the playoff, one survives

With no club mathematically down yet, four teams go into the final matchday harbouring hopes of retaining their top-flight status for next season. The teams finishing in the bottom two are relegated automatically, while the team finishing 16th will play a relegation/promotion playoff against the club that finishes third in the Second Division – currently Vizela.

Boavista, three points adrift at the foot of the table, have the toughest task. For the Porto side to have a chance of staying up they have to win away at Arouca and hope that Farense lose at home to Santa Clara and AVS lose at home to Moreirense. That set of results will see the Axadrezados finish in the playoff spot, with Arouca and Farense dropping to the second tier.

For Farense to survive they have to get more points against Santa Clara than AFS do against Moreirense. If the Algarve team win and AVS don’t, they will take the playoff spot and could even avoid that if Estrela da Amadora fail to beat Estoril Praia.

A win for AVS will guarantee a playoff spot at worse, and could mean guaranteed survival in the Primeira Liga if Estrela lose at Estoril. Estrela da Amadora must win at Estoril Praia to absolutely guarantee their top-flight status.

It promises to be a tense night.