Portugal I Division

First Division. Three-team race for the title and at the opposite end of the table – another three teams competed for the safe 12th place. The last 4 were relegated and 2 of them were outsiders.

Sporting Covilha was last and out with 17 points.

FC Penafiel – 15th with 18 points and relegated.

Vitoria Setubal was really down on their luck – they ended with 22 points, the same as their two other rivals, and had better goal-difference than them, but… head-to-head record plunged them down to 14th position and relegation. Quite a surprise – Setubal was not an usual candidate for relegation.

CD Aves managed to finish ahead of Setubal, but head-to-head record placed them behind Maritimo – if goal-difference was counted, they again would have been behind Maritimo, but also a place lower. No escape… they were relegated.

CS Maritimo was lucky and survived with 22 points, but best head-to-head record – 12th.

SC Salgueiros – 11th with 25 points.

Academica Coimbra – 10th with 25 points.

Sporting Braga – 9th with 26 points.

CF Belenenses – 8th with 28 points. Masters of ties – 14 out of 30 games total, the league record.

Portimonense – 7th with 28 points.

GD Chaves – 6th with 29 points. Rarely successful season – may be a bit lucky to be there, but only final positions count.

Boavista – 5th with 36 points. Well, they were too small of a club to be able to rub shoulders with the grands for long, but they were still of a much higher level than most of the league.

Vitoria Guimaraes – 4th with 40 points. Consistent, but forming somewhat a second category with Boavista of clubs too weak to challenge the leaders, yet, too strong for the rest of the league.

Sporting Lisbon eventually lost the race and settled at third place with 46 points.

Benfica bested their city rivals by a point, but still ended behind the enemy from Porto – 2nd with 47 points.

FC Porto clinched the title with 49 points – 2 points ahead of Benfica. It was a matter of single match difference: they won 1 game more than Benfica, which lost 1 game more than FC Porto. It was tough battle, nobody giving up and Porto was a bit luckier than Sporting and Benfica. Which, if anything, suggested further reinforcement of the squad – and that was done after the title was won. It was second consecutive title and 12th altogether.