SL Benfica

Formed: 1904 (club), 2001 (futsal team)
Nickname: As Águias (The Eagles)
UEFA Futsal Cup best performance: 2010 winners

Domestic honours (most recent)
• League title: 5 (2009)
• Portuguese Cup: 4 (2009)

Main round: bye
Elite round: MNK Nacional Zagreb 1-0, FC Time Lviv 2-1, KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac 5-2 (Group A winners)

History
• The famous name of Benfica entered the sport of futsal in 2001 and in their first Liga season they finished second having been unbeaten in their opening 19 games.

• The following campaign they became the first team to complete the Portuguese domestic double.

• That earned their UEFA Futsal Cup debut and they went all the way to the two-legged final in 2003/04, losing the first game 4-1 at Interviú Madrid and winning the return 4-3 to go down 7-5 on aggregate.

• They have remained dominant in Portugal with league titles in 2004/05, 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, and doubles completed in 2006/07 and 2008/09.

• In 2009/10 they went one better than six years earlier and lifted the UEFA Futsal Cup in front of 9,500 fans in Lisbon with a 3-2 extra-time defeat of Interviú. Arch-rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal took their national title yet both were to make the 2010/11 European finals.

Key players
Although Ricardinho left for Nagoya Oceans in the summer, plenty of last season's stars remain. Among them are Joel Queirós, Pedro Costa, Arnaldo, Gonçalo as well as the Brazilians Davi and César Paulo. Another man from Brazil, Diece, arrived in the summer and has impressed.

Coach: Paulo Fernandes

Date of Birth: 3 May 1965
Nationality: Portuguese
Coaching career: GD Bons Dias, Sporting Clube de Portugal, SL Benfica

Starting his coaching career as assistant to Orlando Duarte at Sporting in the 1990s, Paulo Fernandes had a spell in charge of GD Bons Dias before returning to the Lions. He became head coach there in the middle of the 2002/03 season.

With him at the helm, Sporting claimed three Portuguese championships, two Portuguese Cups, including the 2005/06 double, and two Super Cups. Having aided Sporting to victory in the 2009/10 league play-offs against UEFA Futsal Cup winners Benfica, Fernandes promptly crossed the city to replace André Lima.