page_title: S.L. Benfica in international football competitions
hierarchical_section_title: S.L. Benfica in international football competitions
caption_attribution_description: English: The 1960-61 and 61-62 European Cup's
context_page_description: Sport Lisboa e Benfica is a Portuguese professional football club based in Lisbon, whose involvement in European competition dates back to the 1950s. As champions of Portugal, Benfica were supposed to participate in the inaugural edition of the European Cup in 1955, but they were not invited by the organizers. Two years later, they made their European debut against Sevilla in the European Cup, on 19 September 1957.
  Benfica won their first European title in 1961, defeating Barcelona to win the European Cup, and successfully retained the title in the following year after defeating Real Madrid. After that, they appeared in five more finals – 1963, '65, '68, '88 and '90 – but failed to reconquer the title. These consecutive final losses have been attributed to a famous curse by Hungarian manager Béla Guttmann in 1962. Benfica have also played in three UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League finals – 1983, 2013 and '14 – losing all three.
  With 2 titles, Benfica are the second most decorated Portuguese team in UEFA competitions, and hold the Portuguese record for most appearances in finals of UEFA competitions, with 10 appearances.
context_section_description: Sport Lisboa e Benfica is a Portuguese professional football club based in Lisbon, whose involvement in European competition dates back to the 1950s. As champions of Portugal, Benfica were supposed to participate in the inaugural edition of the European Cup in 1955, but they were not invited by the organizers. Two years later, they made their European debut against Sevilla in the European Cup, on 19 September 1957.
  Benfica won their first European title in 1961, defeating Barcelona to win the European Cup, and successfully retained the title in the following year after defeating Real Madrid. After that, they appeared in five more finals – 1963, '65, '68, '88 and '90 – but failed to reconquer the title. These consecutive final losses have been attributed to a famous curse by Hungarian manager Béla Guttmann in 1962. Benfica have also played in three UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League finals – 1983, 2013 and '14 – losing all three.
  With 2 titles, Benfica are the second most decorated Portuguese team in UEFA competitions, and hold the Portuguese record for most appearances in finals of UEFA competitions, with 10 appearances. Additionally, the 39 participations in the Champions League (formerly the European Cup) are only surpassed by Real Madrid and they occupy, as of 11 March 2020, the eighth place at the competition's all-time ranking. 
  Benfica's biggest European win was 10–0, which came against Stade Dudelange of Luxembourg for the 1965–66 European Cup, and their 18–0 aggregate win constitutes a European Cup record. Brazilian defender Luisão holds the club record for appearances in Europe, with 124 matches, while former Portuguese striker Eusébio is the club's leading European goalscorer, with 56 goals.
caption: The 1961 and '62 European Cup trophies on display at Museu Cosme Damião
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