# 2007–08 Primeira Liga

The 2007–08 Primeira Liga was the 74th edition of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. It started on 17 August 2007 and ended on 11 May 2008, with the fixtures announced on 12 July 2007. Porto were the two-time defending champions, having won their 22nd title the previous season, and secured a third consecutive title for the second time in their history.
Porto and Sporting CP were both qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage; Benfica, Marítimo and Vitória de Setúbal qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup; in opposite, Boavista and União de Leiria were relegated to the Liga de Honra. Lisandro López was the top scorer with 24 goals.

## Promotion and relegation
### Teams relegated to Liga de Honra

* Desportivo das Aves
* Beira Mar
Desportivo das Aves and Beira-Mar were both consigned to Liga de Honra following their final classification in 2006–07.

### Teams promoted from Liga de Honra

* Leixões
* Vitória de Guimarães
Desportivo das Aves and Beira-Mar will be replaced by two promoted teams from the Liga de Honra. The first is Leixões, who clinched the second level title, and are returning to the top level since their last participation in 1989. The other was Vitória de Guimarães, who managed to return to the Liga after a brief spell in the Liga de Honra.

## Club information

| Club | Head Coach | City | Stadium | 2006–2007 season |
| Académica | Domingos Paciência | Coimbra | Estádio Cidade de Coimbra | 13th |
| Belenenses | Jorge Jesus | Lisbon | Estádio do Restelo | 5th |
| Benfica | Fernando Chalana | Lisbon | Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Estádio da Luz) | 3rd |
| Boavista | Jaime Pacheco | Porto | Estádio do Bessa – Século XXI | 9th |
| Braga | Jorge Costa | Braga | Estádio AXA (Estádio Municipal de Braga) | 4th |
| Estrela da Amadora | Daúto Faquirá | Amadora | Estádio José Gomes | 10th |
| União de Leiria | Paulo Duarto | Leiria | Estádio Municipal de Leiria Dr. Magalhães Pessoa | 7th |
| Leixões | Carlos Brito | Matosinhos | Estádio do Mar | 1st in the Liga de Honra |
| Marítimo | Sebastião Lazaroni | Funchal | Estádio dos Barreiros | 12th |
| Nacional | Predrag Jokanović | Funchal | Estádio da Madeira | 8th |
| Naval 1° de Maio | Ulisses Morais | Figueira da Foz | Estádio Municipal José Bento Pessoa | 11th |
| Paços de Ferreira | José Mota | Paços de Ferreira | Estádio da Mata Real | 6th |
| Porto | Jesualdo Ferreira | Porto | Estádio do Dragão | 1st |
| Sporting CP | Paulo Bento | Lisbon | Estádio José Alvalade – Século XXI | 2nd |
| Vitória de Guimarães | Manuel Cajuda | Guimarães | Estádio D. Afonso Henriques | 2nd in the Liga de Honra |
| Vitória de Setúbal | Carlos Carvalhal | Setúbal | Estádio do Bonfim | 14th |

### Managerial changes

| Club | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Ref |
| Benfica | Fernando Santos | 20 August 2007 | José Antonio Camacho | 20 August 2007 | [1] [2] |
| Académica | Manuel Machado | 10 September 2007 | Domingos Paciência | 11 September 2007 | [3] [4] |
| Naval 1° de Maio | Francisco Chaló | 16 September 2007 | Ulisses Morais | 4 October 2007 | |
| Benfica | José Antonio Camacho | 9 March 2008 | Fernando Chalana | 10 March 2008 | |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Porto (C) | 30 | 24 | 3 | 3 | 60 | 13 | +47 | 75 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 46 | 28 | +18 | 55 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Vitória de Guimarães | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 35 | 31 | +4 | 53 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Benfica | 30 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 45 | 21 | +24 | 52 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Marítimo | 30 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 39 | 28 | +11 | 46 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Vitória de Setúbal | 30 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 37 | 33 | +4 | 45 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Braga | 30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 32 | 34 | −2 | 41 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round |
| 8 | Belenenses | 30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 35 | 33 | +2 | 40 | |
| 9 | Boavista (R) | 30 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 32 | 41 | −9 | 36 | Relegation to Liga de Honra |
| 10 | Nacional | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 23 | 28 | −5 | 35 | |
| 11 | Naval 1º de Maio | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 26 | 45 | −19 | 34 | |
| 12 | Académica | 30 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 31 | 38 | −7 | 32 | |
| 13 | Estrela da Amadora | 30 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 29 | 41 | −12 | 31 | |
| 14 | Leixões | 30 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 27 | 37 | −10 | 26 | |
| 15 | Paços de Ferreira | 30 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 31 | 49 | −18 | 25 | |
| 16 | União de Leiria (R) | 30 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 25 | 53 | −28 | 16 | Relegation to Liga de Honra |
* ↑ Porto were docked 6 points due to attempted bribery of referees in the 2003–04 season. However, the Council of Justice of the Portuguese Federation returned them in 2017.
* ↑ Belenenses were docked 3 points for fielding an ineligible player.
* ↑ Boavista was relegated to Liga de Honra for next season due to bribery of referees in the 2003-04 season. They were reinstated back to the top league, from the 3rd tier, in 2014
* ↑ Paços de Ferreira were originally relegated but stayed in the league because of Boavista being relegated over the bribery scandal.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ACA | BEL | BEN | BOA | EST | LEI | MAR | NAC | NAV | PAÇ | POR | SCP | BRA | ULE | VGU | VSE |
| Académica | | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Belenenses | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 5–0 |
| Benfica | 0–3 | 2–0 | | 6–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Boavista | 0–0 | 2–4 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–3 |
| Estrela da Amadora | 3–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 0–1 |
| Leixões | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| Marítimo | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Nacional | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Naval 1º de Maio | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 |
| Paços de Ferreira | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Porto | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Sporting CP | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 |
| Braga | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 |
| União de Leiria | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 4–1 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Vitória de Guimarães | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–5 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 1–1 |
| Vitória de Setúbal | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | |
* ↑ Belenenses 0–3 Naval was awarded after Belenenses was punished for fielding ineligible player

## Season statistics
### Scoring

* First goal of the season: Derlei for Sporting CP against Académica (17 August 2007)
* Fastest goal in a match: Kanú (2 minutes) for Marítimo against Boavista (26 August 2007)
* Goal scored at the latest point in a match: Udo Nwoko (90'+3') for Leixões against Benfica (18 August 2007)
* Widest winning margin: Porto 6–0 Estrela da Amadora (28 April 2008)
* The first hat-trick: by Lito in Académica 3–3 Estrela da Amadora (4 November 2007)
* Most goals in a match:
** Benfica 6–1 Boavista (11 November 2007)
** Boavista 4–3 Paços de Ferreira (3 February 2008)

### Cards

* First yellow card: Pedro Roma for Académica against Sporting CP (17 August 2007)
* First red card: Rodrigo Silva for Nacional against Estrela da Amadora (18 August 2007)

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Lisandro López | Porto | 24 |
| 2 | Óscar Cardozo | Benfica | 13 |
| 3 | Weldon | Belenenses | 12 |
| 4 | Wesley | Paços de Ferreira | 11 |
| 4 | Liédson | Sporting CP | 11 |
| 4 | Roland Linz | Braga | 11 |
| 7 | Marcelinho | Naval | 10 |
| 8 | Lito | Académica | 9 |
| 9 | João Paulo | União de Leiria | 8 |
| 9 | Jorge Ribeiro | Boavista | 8 |
| 9 | Ricardo Quaresma | Porto | 8 |
| 9 | José Pedro | Belenenses | 8 |
Source: Footballzz

## Awards
### Footballer of the Year

| Name | Team | League Stats | League Stats | League Stats |
| Name | Team | Apps | Goals |
| Lisandro López | Porto | 27 | 24 |

### Monthly awards
#### SJPF Fair Play Award

| Month | Club |
| September | Sporting CP |
Source: sjpf.pt (Portuguese)