It is inevitable in any Liga NOS campaign that os três grandes of Benfica, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Porto will lead the way. Only twice in the competition’s history has a club outside this trio won the title.
Benfica have become used to defying the odds in recent seasons - they were most people’s third-favourites for the title last season, even as defending champions - and will have to do so again to a certain extent, despite their undeniable excellence and three straight Liga wins.
They were so unfancied last season after a slew of departures, and coach Rui Vitória will have to cope with more of the same, having lost two major components of last season’s side. Nico Gaitán has finally left the club after six glorious seasons, joining Atlético Madrid. Having laid on 15 goals for his teammates last season - a career-high - he’ll be missed.
Renato Sanches, who signed for Bayern Munich, is perhaps an even bigger loss. Even at 18, he was the heart and lungs of Vitória’s team, playing more than any outfield player in Portugal’s top division last season. Including games for Benfica B and in the UEFA Youth League, Sanches totalled 4,144 minutes, and the 22 Liga NOS games Sanches started resulted in 20 wins, a draw and a defeat.
The upside is that they’ve managed to hold on to top scorer Jonas (32 goals) and have signed Kostas Mitroglou (20 goals), his strike partner from last season, to a permanent deal. If we add into the mix winger André Carrillo, signed on a free from Sporting, academy product Gonçalo Guedes and bright teenage midfielder André Horta - signed from Vitória Setúbal and influential in pre-season - then it looks like As Aguías are the team to beat again.
Sporting will, of course, have something to say about that. In the early stages of the 2015/16 season, it seemed clear that Jorge Jesus had taken the magic with him from the Estádio da Luz to the Alvalade when he made his highly controversial move across Lisbon. By autumn, Sporting were nine points ahead of the champions.
It’s not as if Sporting did too much wrong in the second half of the campaign, winning their last nine Liga games but still falling short of their Lisbon rivals. Jesus’ problems for the new campaign are twofold. Hanging onto 27-goal Islam Slimani and star midfielders João Mário, Adrien Silva and William Carvalho will be tough. Secondly, Portugal’s midfield stars have had an extended post-Euro break and may begin the season slowly
Porto are in a phase of reconstruction, again, having fired José Peseiro. They suffered five of their seven defeats in last season’s Liga under Peseiro, even though he only took over in January. New boss Nuno will continue the club’s direction of having a more Portuguese core to the team, and young centre-forward André Silva epitomises that. The 20-year-old scored twice in last season’s Taça de Portugal final, and has been unstoppable in pre-season.
Miguel Layún might remain their best attacking weapon, however, having made his loan move from Watford permanent. Playing at left-back for the majority of the 15/16 campaign, the versatile Mexico international matched Gaitán for assists, providing 15 in Liga NOS action alone.
Braga, now coached by Peseiro for a second spell after Paulo Fonseca joined Shakhtar Donetsk, are the next best. The Taça winners have lost key defender Willy Boly to Porto but - for now - have held onto playmaker Rafa along with regular goalscorers Nikola Stojiljković and Ahmed ‘Kouka’ Hassan.
Os Arsenalistas’ bitter rivals, Vitória Guimarães, could flourish under new boss Pedro Martins, who is fresh from guiding Rio Ave to European qualification. Despite losing the influential Dalbert and Cafu, there is reason for hope for the club’s famously passionate fans, with recruits including Moussa Marega, on loan from Porto.
Over half of the clubs in Liga NOS have stadium with sub-10,000 capacities, and this limits their ability to stay the course. Entering his sophomore year as a professional coach, and his first at elite level, Nuno Capucho has a lot of work on his hands at Rio Ave, as evidenced by the team’s early elimination from the Europa League.
Arouca are fresh from a heroic 5th-placed finish - and Europa League qualification - in their first season under coach Lito Vidigal, and only the club’s third top-flight campaign in their history. Retaining goalkeeper Rafael Bracalli is a definite plus as they seek to replicate their status as the division’s 5th-best defence (38 conceded last season).
Belenenses did wonderfully well to avoid last season’s relegation scrap while coping with the demands of a Europa League group stage campaign, and have a decent spread of talent led by the ex-Benfica pair of Carlos Martíns and Hassan Yebda.
Others have again been stripped of top talent. For Estoril, the loss of top scorer Leo Bonatini to Al-Hilal (only Jonas, Slimani and Mitroglou scored more than his 17 Liga goals) will be hard to compensate for. Moreirense are in the same boat, with 16-goal Rafael Martins having returned to parent club Levante. Paços de Ferreira experienced the double blow of losing striker Bruno Moreira and prolific young midfielder Jota - the latter went to Atlético Madrid - who combined for 26 of the northerners’ 43 goals last time out, as they finished 7th.
Newly-promoted pair Chaves and Feirense will be the favourites of many to go straight back down - Porto’s B team won the title ahead of them, but Liga rules prevent them from being promoted to the same level as their senior team.
Last year’s strugglers may be in the mix again. Vitória Setúbal, due to financial difficulties, were only allowed to formally register players from the third week of July onwards. A clutch of loan players have been ushered in, including Sporting’s Ryan Gauld, hailed as the ‘Scottish Messi’ when he arrived from Dundee United in 2014, but yet to make a Liga start for the senior team.
Madeiran neighbours Marítimo and Nacional are unlikely to trouble the top six, while Boavista, coached by club legend Erwin Sanchez, and Tondela, led by Petit, Sanchez’s predecessor at the Bessa and his teammate in the 2001 title winning side, will be happy to just to escape the drop.
Who do you think will come out on top in the coming Liga NOS season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
