Taça da Liga

Organising body	Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional
Founded	2007
Region	Portugal
Number of teams	36 (2021–22 season)
Current champions	Porto (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Benfica (7 titles)
Television broadcasters	SIC (final) Sport TV
Website	Taça da Liga
2023–24 Taça da Liga

The Taça da Liga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtasɐ ðɐ ˈliɣɐ]), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the Primeira Liga and Liga Portugal 2.^[1] Unlike Portugal's other domestic cup competition, the Taça de Portugal, the winners of the Taça da Liga do not qualify for European competitions.

The Taça da Liga was established in the 2007–08 season, thus becoming the third official competition for professional clubs in Portugal,^[1] after a proposal by Sporting and Boavista was approved by LPFP members on 28 November 2006. For sponsorship reasons, it is currently known as Allianz Cup (with the English word cup).

Benfica are the most successful team in the competition, having won seven trophies (four of which consecutively between 2008 and 2012). The current holders are Porto, who defeated Sporting CP in the 2023 final to secure their first title.

Format

The Taça da Liga format has suffered changes throughout the competition's history in order to increase the number of matches and also revenue for both clubs and LPFP. Starting in the 2021–22 season, the format is the following:

• First round – One-legged ties between all Segunda Liga teams (except reserve or B teams), the ten Primeira Liga teams ranked 7th–16th in the previous season, and the two teams promoted from the Segunda Liga, with the winner advancing to the next round.
• Second round – One-legged ties between the first-round winners and the two Primeira Liga teams ranked 5th and 6th in the previous season. The winners advance to the next round.
• Third round – Four groups of three teams played in a single round-robin format, each containing two second-round winners and one of the four top-placed Primeira Liga season teams of the previous season. The group winners advance to the next round.
• Knockout phase – Semi-finals and final played as one-legged fixtures played in a neutral ground.

For 2022–23, due to fixture congestion surrounding the 2022 FIFA World Cup, all Segunda Liga and Primeira Liga teams (except reserve or B teams) were placed into 8 groups (6 groups of 4 teams and 2 groups of 5 teams), with the group winners advancing to the knockout phase, consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. All knockout stage games are one-legged fixtures, with the semi-finals and finals still played in a neutral ground. All group stage games and the quarter-finals were played during the international break surrounding the World Cup.

Finals

Participating clubs

Players statistics

Appearances

As of 2022–23 season^[2]

Rank	Nat.	Player	Apps	Goals	Years	Clubs
1		Jardel	43	1	2009–2021	Estoril, Olhanense, Benfica
2		Tarantini	41	5	2007–2021	Portimonense, Rio Ave
3		Filipe Gonçalves	36	3	2007–2020	Vitória Setúbal, Paços Ferreira, Trofense, Moreirense, Estoril, Oliveirense
		Gilberto Silva	36	3	2007–	Boavista, Covilhã
5		Ricardo Pessoa	35	7	2007–2018	Portimonense, Moreirense
		João Pedro	35	4	2007–2022	Beira-Mar, União de Leiria, Oliveirense, Naval, Braga Belenenses, Moreirense, Académica
7		Jorge Pires	34	7	2008–2020	Portimonense, Desportivo das Aves, Feirense, Moreirense, Penafiel
		Hélder Guedes	34	9	2007–2018	Penafiel, Paços de Ferreira, Rio Ave, Vitória Setúbal
		Ukra	34	3	2007–2022	Varzim, Olhanense, FC Porto, Braga, Rio Ave, Santa Clara
		Paulinho	34	20	2012–	Trofense, Gil Vicente, Braga, Sporting CP

Bold = Still active and playing in Portugal

Goalscorers

All-time top scorers

As of 2022–23 season^[3]

Rank	Nat.	Player	Goals	Games	Years	Clubs
1		Paulinho	20	34	2012–	Trofense, Gil Vicente, Braga, Sporting CP
2		Tozé Marreco	12	25	2010–	Desportivo das Aves, União da Madeira, Naval, Tondela, Académica
3	/	Liédson	11	13	2007–2013	Sporting CP, Porto
4		Jonas	10	15	2014–2019	Benfica
5		Hélder Guedes	9	34	2007–2018	Penafiel, Paços de Ferreira, Rio Ave, Vitória Setúbal
		Lima	9	16	2009–2015	Belenenses, Braga, Benfica
		Rabiola	9	16	2007–2015	Porto, Desportivo das Aves, Penafiel
	/	Dyego Sousa	9	21	2010–2019	Leixões, Tondela, Portimonense Marítimo, Braga
		Edinho	9	22	2007–2020	Marítimo, Académica, Braga, Vitória de Setúbal, Feirense
		Miguel Rosa	9	25	2008–	Estoril, Carregado, Belenenses, Cova da Piedade, Estrela da Amadora
		Clemente	9	27	2007–2019	Chaves, Oliveirense, Santa Clara

Bold = Still active and playing in Portugal

Goalscorers by seasons

Season	Player	Country	Club	Goals
2007–08	Matheus	Brazil	Vitória de Setúbal	5
2008–09	Liédson	Brazil	Sporting CP	4
2009–10	Carlão	Brazil	União de Leiria	3
2010–11	Hugo Vieira	Portugal	Gil Vicente	5
2011–12	Baba Diawara	Senegal	Marítimo	4
	Rodrigo	Spain	Benfica
	Miguel Rosa	Portugal	Belenenses
2012–13	Fabrício	Brazil	Sporting da Covilhã	5
	Josué	Portugal	Paços de Ferreira
	Rafael Porcellis	Brazil	Santa Clara
	Rabiola	Portugal	Desportivo das Aves
2013–14	Tozé Marreco	Portugal	Tondela	3
	Jackson Martínez	Colombia	Porto
	Moreira	Portugal	Leixões
	Ricardo Pessoa	Portugal	Portimonense
	Wágner	Brazil	Moreirense
2014–15	Jonas	Brazil	Benfica	5
2015–16	Raúl Jiménez	Mexico	Benfica	4
	Talisca	Brazil	Benfica
2016–17	Welthon	Brazil	Paços de Ferreira	4
2017–18	Gonçalo Paciência	Portugal	Vitória de Setúbal	5
2018–19	Paulinho	Portugal	Braga	4
	Dyego Sousa	Portugal	Braga
2019–20	Ricardo Horta	Portugal	Braga	4
	Soares	Brazil	Porto
2020–21	Paulinho	Portugal	Braga	3
2021–22	Gustavo Sauer	Brazil	Boavista	4
2022–23	Paulinho	Portugal	Sporting CP	8

Sponsorship

Since its inception (except in the period between 2011 and 2015) the Taça da Liga has had the following naming sponsors meaning it has been known by different names:

Records

As of 30 January 2020^[4]

• Most tournament wins (team): 7 wins, Benfica
• Most final appearances (team): 8, Benfica
• Most tournament wins (individual): 7, Luisão for Benfica; Rúben Amorim for Benfica (5) as a player, and for Braga (1) and Sporting CP (2) as a manager
• Most final appearances: (individual): 6, Luisão for Benfica (2009–11, 2014–16)
• Most matches (team): 62, Benfica
• Most matches (individual): 43, Jardel
• Most game wins (team): 40, Benfica
• Most goals (team): 123, Benfica
• Highest goalscorer (career): 12 goals, Tozé Marreco & Paulinho^[5]
• Highest goalscorer (season): 5 goals, by Matheus for Vitória de Setúbal (2007–08), Hugo Vieira for Gil Vicente (2010–11) and Jonas for Benfica (2014–15)
• Most goals scored in a match (individual): 4 goals, by Rabiola for Desportivo das Aves vs Trofense, 29 July 2012
• Biggest win: Sporting CP 6–0 União da Madeira, third round, 20 December 2017
• Biggest win in a final: Marítimo 2–6 Benfica, 20 May 2016
• Highest scoring game: 8 goals, Belenenses 5–3 Leixões, first round, 7 August 2011 and Marítimo 2–6 Benfica, final, 20 May 2016
• Most penalties in a deciding penalty shoot-out: 20 – Vitória de Guimarães 6–7 Sporting CP (27 September 2007)
• Youngest goalscorer in the final: Bruno Pereirinha, 20 years and 19 days, for Sporting CP vs Benfica, 2009
• Youngest player in the final: Nuno Mendes, 18 years, 7 months and 5 days for Sporting CP vs Braga, 2021
• Youngest captain in the final: João Moutinho, 21 years, 6 months and 14 days for Sporting CP vs Vitória de Setúbal, 2008

See also

• Taça de Portugal
• Taça Ribeiro dos Reis (unofficial predecessor organized by the Portuguese Football Federation)
• Taça Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (another predecessor organized by the Portuguese Football Federation)
• List of association football competitions in Portugal
• List of Taça da Liga winning managers

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Taça da Liga.

• Official website (in Portuguese)
• Portugal – List of League Cup Finals, RSSSF.com