SPORT LONDON E BENFICA FC

Sport London e Benfica was founded on the 15th of May 1981. The club is affiliated (No.22) to Sport Lisboa e Benfica, the most widely supported football club in the world, as acknowledged by the Guiness Book of Records in November 2006. The club has always had great ambitions but has never had a structure in place that would enable it to fulfil these ambitions. SLB is presently recruiting volunteers to join in the building of this sleeping giant of a club.

In the 2005/06 season Sport London e Benfica (SLB) changed their Senior Side from Sunday to Saturday League, joining the Cherry Red Books Middlesex County Football League, under the management of José Viana. As part of the National League System, SLB have taken a step in the right direction towards their ambition of reaching the dizzy and distant heights of professional football.

In their first year of National League System football, Sport London e Benfica became CHAMPIONS of Division 1. A great deal of gratitude is owed to Hanwell Town FC, who granted Sport London e Benfica the opportunity to ground share with them in the following season and gave the senior side the chance to climb the football pyramid. The team progressed into the Premier Division where they were to be crowned CHAMPIONS once again, for the second season running!

2007/2008 sees Sport London e Benfica playing semi-pro football, having now been promoted to The Moltens Spartans South Midland Football League, Division 1.

The importance of this achievement cannot be under-estimated as the success of the senior side gives something for the youth team players to aspire to.

In 2006, two youth teams were launched as part of the club’s local community initiative. Ivan Evaristo took on the important job of organising these two teams, with João Neves who volunteered to share the responsibility. Both are owed a great deal of gratitude for their hard work in getting this youth-based project off the ground. The teams were entered into the Camden & Regents Park Football League and in their first test season had decent successes. One such success was the winning of a QPR tournament held in Wormwood Scrubs!

This coming season will see the youth section increase to 4 teams with 1 team added on either end of the age scale. Partnerships have been made with local organisations to help with the overall progress of the youth section. During the coming season, the club is aiming to build on these by adding more teams and we are ever on the look out for more volunteers.

SLB’s philosophy stays the same and the ambition gets even greater. How far can Sport London e Benfica go? With your support, only time will tell! Please take some to think how you can support our initiative. All support is welcome, no matter how big or small, whether it be coming to watch one of our games to taking an interest in one of our sponsorship packages.