SL Benfica W

1904–1960

On 28 February 1904, after a football training session that day, the Catataus Group and members of Associação do Bem met at Farmácia Franco on Rua Direita de Belém with the goal of forming a social and cultural football club called Sport Lisboa, composed of Portuguese players only. Twenty-four people attended the meeting, including Cosme Damião. In that meeting, José Rosa Rodrigues was appointed club president, along with Daniel dos Santos Brito as secretary and Manuel Gourlade as treasurer. The founders decided that the club's colours would be red and white and that the crest would be composed of an eagle, the motto "E pluribus unum" and a football. Sport Lisboa played their first ever match on 1 January 1905, scoring their first goal. Despite important victories, such as the ones against Carcavelos and then-rivals Internacional, the club suffered from poor operating conditions, namely the football dirt field of Terras do Desembargador. As a result, eight players moved to Sporting CP in May 1907, threatening Sport Lisboa's existence, and later starting the rivalry between the two clubs.

On 13 September 1908, Sport Lisboa acquired Grupo Sport Benfica by mutual agreement and changed its name to Sport Lisboa e Benfica. Despite the merger, they continued their respective club operations. For Sport Lisboa, they maintained the football team, the shirt colours, the eagle symbol and the motto. For Grupo Sport Benfica, they maintained the field Campo da Feiteira, the main directors and the club's house. Both clubs determined that the foundation date should coincide with Sport Lisboa's because it was the most recognized club and quite popular in Lisbon due to its football merits. In regard to the crest, a bicycle wheel was added to Sport Lisboa's to represent cycling, the most important sport of Grupo Sport Benfica. Furthermore, the two entities of the newly named club had simultaneous members who helped stabilize operations, which later increased the success of the merger.

However, problems with the club's rented field (Campo da Feiteira) remained. Benfica moved to their first football grass field, Campo de Sete Rios, in 1913. Four years later, after refusing an increase in rent, they relocated to Campo de Benfica. Finally, in 1925, they moved to their own stadium, the Estádio das Amoreiras, playing there fifteen years before moving to the Estádio do Campo Grande in 1940. The Portuguese league began in 1934, and after finishing third in its first edition, Benfica won the next three championships in a row (1935–36, '36–37, '37–38) – the club's first tri, achieved by Lippo Hertzka. Throughout the 1940s, Benfica would win three more Primeira Liga (1941–42, '42–43, '44–45) and four Taça de Portugal (1940, '43, '44, '49), with coach János Biri achieving the first double (dobradinha) for the club in 1943.

Benfica's first international success happened in 1950, when they won the Latin Cup (the only Portuguese club to do so), defeating Bordeaux with a golden goal from Julinho at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, with Ted Smith as coach. It was the first international trophy won by a Portuguese club. They reached another final of the competition in 1957 but lost to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. With the election of president Joaquim Ferreira Bogalho in 1952 and the arrival of coach Otto Glória in 1954, Benfica became more modernized and professional and moved into the original Estádio da Luz, with an initial seating capacity of 40,000; expanded to 70,000 in 1960. During the 1950s, Benfica won three Primeira Liga titles (1949–50, '54–55, '56–57) and six Taça de Portugal (1951, '52, '53, '55, '57, '59). Despite being Portuguese champions in 1955, Benfica were not invited to the inaugural European Cup by the organizers, thus making their UEFA debut in 1957–58 against Sevilla.