# 1996–97 Primeira Divisão

The 1996–97 Primeira Divisão was the 63rd edition of top flight of Portuguese football. It started on 25 August 1996 with a match between Benfica and Braga, and ended on 15 June 1997. The league was contested by 18 clubs with Porto as the defending champions.
Porto won the league and qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League group stage, along with Sporting CP, who qualified for the second round, Boavista qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round, and Benfica, Braga and V. Guimarães qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Cup; in opposite, Espinho, União de Leiria and Gil Vicente were relegated to the Liga de Honra. Mário Jardel was the top scorer with 30 goals.

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

* Felgueiras
* Campomaiorense
* Tirsense
Felgueiras, Campomaiorense and Tirsense, were consigned to the Liga de Honra following their final classification in 1995–96 season.

### Teams promoted from Liga de Honra

* Rio Ave
* Vitória de Setúbal
* Espinho
The other three teams were replaced by Rio Ave, Vitória de Setúbal and Espinho from the Liga de Honra.

## Teams
### Stadia and locations

| Team | Head Coach | City | Stadium | 1995–96 finish |
| Belenenses | Quinito | Lisbon | Estádio do Restelo | 6th |
| Benfica | Paulo Autuori | Lisbon | Estádio da Luz | 2nd |
| Boavista | Zoran Filipovic | Porto | Estádio do Bessa | 4th |
| Braga | Manuel Cajuda | Braga | Estádio Primeiro de Maio | 8th |
| Chaves | José Romão | Chaves | Estádio Municipal de Chaves | 15th |
| Espinho | Zinho | Espinho | Estádio Comendador Manuel Violas | 3rd in Divisão de Honra |
| Estrela da Amadora | Fernando Santos | Amadora | Estádio José Gomes | 13th |
| Farense | Paco Fortes | Faro | Estádio de São Luís | 10th |
| Gil Vicente | Bernardino Pedroto | Barcelos | Estádio Adelino Ribeiro Novo | 11th |
| Leça | Rodolfo Reis | Leça da Palmeira | Estádio do Leça FC | 14th |
| Marítimo | Marinho Peres | Funchal | Estádio dos Barreiros | 9th |
| Porto | António Oliveira | Porto | Estádio das Antas | 1st |
| Rio Ave | Henrique Calisto | Vila do Conde | Estádio dos Arcos | 1st in Divisão de Honra |
| Salgueiros | Carlos Manuel | Porto | Estádio Engenheiro Vidal Pinheiro | 12th |
| Sporting | Robert Waseige | Lisbon | Estádio José Alvalade | 3rd |
| União de Leiria | Vítor Manuel | Leiria | Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa | 7th |
| Vitória de Guimarães | Jaime Pacheco | Guimarães | Estádio D. Afonso Henriques | 5th |
| Vitória de Setúbal | Mário Reis | Setúbal | Estádio do Bonfim | 2nd in Divisão de Honra |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| União de Leiria | Vítor Manuel | 20 October 1996 | 17th | Eurico Gomes | 21 October 1996 |
| Belenenses | Quinito | 27 October 1996 | 15th | Vítor Manuel | 28 October 1996 |
| Marítimo | Marinho Peres | 17 November 1996 | 12th | Manuel José | 18 November 1996 |
| Boavista | Zoran Filipovic | 19 November 1996 | 10th | João Alves | 20 November 1996 |
| Gil Vicente | Bernardino Pedroto | 1 December 1996 | 17th | Fernando Festas | 2 December 1996 |
| Sporting | Robert Waseige | 12 December 1996 | 3rd | Octávio Machado | 20 December 1996 |
| Rio Ave | Henrique Calisto | 22 December 1996 | 18th | Carlos Brito | 23 December 1996 |
| Boavista | João Alves | 12 January 1997 | 10th | Mário Reis | 27 January 1997 |
| União de Leiria | Eurico Gomes | 19 January 1997 | 16th | Quinito | 20 January 1997 |
| Benfica | Paulo Autuori | 19 January 1997 | 2nd | Mário Wilson | 20 January 1997 |
| Marítimo | Manuel José | 26 January 1997 | 12th | Rui Vieira | 27 January 1997 |
| Benfica | Mário Wilson | 26 January 1997 | 3rd | Manuel José | 27 January 1997 |
| Vitória de Setúbal | Mário Reis | 26 January 1997 | 7th | Mourinho Félix | 27 January 1997 |
| Marítimo | Rui Vieira | 16 February 1997 | 11th | Augusto Inácio | 17 February 1997 |
| Vitória de Setúbal | Mourinho Félix | 10 March 1997 | 11th | Manuel Fernandes | 11 March 1997 |
| Gil Vicente | Fernando Festas | 23 March 1997 | 18th | José Marconi | 24 March 1997 |
| Espinho | Zinho | 11 May 1996 | 16th | Edmundo Duarte | 12 May 1996 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Porto (C) | 34 | 27 | 4 | 3 | 80 | 24 | +56 | 85 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 34 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 55 | 19 | +36 | 72 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Benfica | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 49 | 30 | +19 | 58 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Braga | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 39 | 40 | −1 | 55 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Vitória de Guimarães | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 53 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Salgueiros | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 49 | 48 | +1 | 52 | |
| 7 | Boavista | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 62 | 39 | +23 | 49 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 8 | Marítimo | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 47 | |
| 9 | Estrela da Amadora | 34 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 47 | |
| 10 | Chaves | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 39 | 45 | −6 | 46 | |
| 11 | Farense | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 42 | |
| 12 | Vitória de Setúbal | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 40 | |
| 13 | Belenenses | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 37 | 50 | −13 | 40 | |
| 14 | Leça | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 33 | 42 | −9 | 36 | |
| 15 | Rio Ave | 34 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 35 | 42 | −7 | 35 | |
| 16 | Espinho (R) | 34 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 27 | 56 | −29 | 33 | Relegation to Segunda Divisão de Honra |
| 17 | União de Leiria (R) | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 25 | 53 | −28 | 30 | Relegation to Segunda Divisão de Honra |
| 18 | Gil Vicente (R) | 34 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 29 | 74 | −45 | 19 | Relegation to Segunda Divisão de Honra |
* ↑ Boavista qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as Portuguese Cup winners

## Results

| Home \ Away | BEL | BEN | BOA | BRA | CHA | ESP | EST | FAR | GVI | LEÇ | MAR | POR | RAV | SAL | SCP | ULE | VGU | VSE |
| Belenenses | | 1–0 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Benfica | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 5–1 |
| Boavista | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 7–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Braga | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Chaves | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 5–2 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Espinho | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–5 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–3 |
| Estrela da Amadora | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–5 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Farense | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Gil Vicente | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 3–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Leça | 3–2 | 1–5 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 2–4 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Marítimo | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 |
| Porto | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Rio Ave | 4–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 3–4 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Salgueiros | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | | 0–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 |
| Sporting CP | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 |
| União de Leiria | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 2–3 | 0–0 |
| Vitória de Guimarães | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | 3–0 |
| Vitória de Setúbal | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 | |

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Mário Jardel | Porto | 30 |
| 2 | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | Boavista | 20 |
| 3 | Gaúcho | Estrela da Amadora | 16 |
| 4 | Constantino Jardim | Leça | 15 |
| 4 | Nuno Gomes | Boavista | 15 |
| 6 | Karoglan | Braga | 14 |
| 7 | Gilmar | Vitória de Guimarães | 13 |
| 8 | Edmilson | Marítimo | 12 |
| 9 | Edmilson | Porto | 11 |
| 10 | Marcos Severo | Salgueiros | 10 |
Source: Footballzz

## Footnotes

* ↑ "Teams". Footballzz. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
* ↑ "Primeira Divisão 1996-97 – Top Scorers". Footballzz. Retrieved 22 May 2015.