Portugal. Primeira Liga 2026/27: Portuguese football from Morocco
The Primeira Liga is the top division of Portuguese football ⚽. Run by Liga Portugal and founded in 1934, it is playing its 93rd season in 2026/27. Since 2014/15 it has had 18 clubs, who meet home and away over 34 rounds, 17 in each half of the season. Three clubs come from Lisbon (Benfica, Sporting CP, Casa Pia), two from Guimarães (Vitória, Moreirense) and two from the island of Madeira (Marítimo, Nacional), while Santa Clara represent the Azores.
At the bottom, the clubs in 17th and 18th go straight down to Liga Portugal 2, while 16th plays a two-legged play-off against the third-placed side from the second tier. At the top, the season hands out the European places, including three for the 2027/28 Champions League, so the fight for third place carries real weight alongside the title race.
The 2026/27 calendar and the big fixtures
The fixture list was drawn on 2 July 2026 in Porto. The season opened on Friday 7 August 2026 with Estoril Praia against Famalicão, and round 34 is scheduled for the weekend of 15 and 16 May 2027. Each of the big three faces its two rivals twice, which means four headline games a season for each club. These meetings sit on the following weekends, which can still move once the league sets exact days and times:
Round | Fixture | Planned weekend |
|---|---|---|
12 | FC Porto v Sporting CP | 28 and 29 November 2026 |
16 | Benfica v Sporting CP, the Lisbon derby | 26 and 27 December 2026 |
29 | Sporting CP v FC Porto | 10 and 11 April 2027 |
33 | Sporting CP v Benfica | 8 and 9 May 2027 |
34 | final round | 15 and 16 May 2027 |
The season's first Clássico, FC Porto against Benfica, has already been played in round 7, on 19 and 20 September. One more calendar detail: Casa Pia, a Lisbon club, host their home games in Rio Maior, at the Estádio Municipal.
FC Porto, 2025/26 champions
FC Porto won the 31st title in their history in 2025/26, their first since 2021/22. They sealed it on Saturday 2 May 2026, in round 32, by beating Alverca 1:0 at the Estádio do Dragão with a Jan Bednarek header from a corner, with two rounds to spare. Top of the table from round 4 onwards, they never gave up first place. Their Italian coach, Francesco Farioli, won the first title of his career that day, and the club its first under president André Villas-Boas.
Final standings: Porto 88 points (28 wins, 4 draws, 2 defeats), Sporting CP 82, Benfica 80, Braga 59, Famalicão 56 and Gil Vicente 50. The champions scored 66 goals and conceded only 18, finishing six points clear of Sporting CP, who scored 89. The top scorer was Colombia's Luis Suárez of Sporting CP with 28 goals, ahead of Vangelis Pavlidis (Benfica, 22) and Yanis Begraoui (Estoril Praia, 20).
Moroccans in the Primeira Liga
Souffian El Karouani, a Morocco international, plays at left-back for Benfica on loan from Saudi club Al-Qadsiah until the end of 2026/27, with an option to buy; the move was announced on 1 September 2026. At Estoril Praia, Moroccan striker Yanis Begraoui, scorer of 20 goals last season, started against Arouca on 7 September 2026. Born in France, he won the 2023 U23 Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco.
Sporting CP signed Moncef Zekri from KV Mechelen, a left-back born in Brussels in 2008 who won the U17 Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco. Casablanca-born striker Mohamed Bouldini, who started out at Raja CA and Ittihad Tanger, joined Académico de Viseu in August 2026. Aymen Zouin, on loan from Parma at Casa Pia, and Zakaria Kessary, loaned to Alverca by Union Touarga, complete the list. In all, Moroccan players feature at six different clubs this season.
Promoted and relegated
Marítimo, champions of Liga Portugal 2, and Académico de Viseu, runners-up, replaced Tondela and AVS. Casa Pia, 16th, kept their place through the play-off against Torreense: 0:0 away, then 2:0 at home on 28 May 2026.
Betting on Portugal. Primeira Liga from Morocco
Every round opens its pre-match pages: 1X2, double chance, total goals, handicap and both teams to score. Games between FC Porto, Benfica and Sporting CP draw most of the attention, but the race for Europe and the play-off spot in 16th also give the end of the season something to play for. The next champion is available as an outright until 16 May 2027.
During games, live football takes over, and the Football section gathers the other leagues, from the Botola to Europe's big championships. The full pre-match programme lets you add a Portuguese fixture to an accumulator.
Payments are made in dirhams (MAD) 💳 through CIH Bank, Attijari with its L'bankalik service, Al Barid Bank, or cash deposited at Cash Plus. A 1xBet account is all it takes to follow Portugal's big three until the final round.