At the request of many, we decided not to wait until the end of the simulation to show what happened in our save. We will split it into quarter-millennia. In this first article we got carried away and reached 260 seasons.
First, some bad news for fans of chaos: the big three were never relegated and always stayed near the top, although they lost their dominance at times. Hold on, we will get to that.
Surprisingly, two more teams were never relegated: Sporting de Braga and Belenenses. But they were not the best teams after the big three.
Back to 2018
Just like in reality, FC Porto won the 2018 league. Years of alternating between the big three followed, until, between 2026 and 2034, the Avenida dos Aliados hosted the “nine-in-a-row” party: nine consecutive titles, the new national record.
Porto’s dominance continued, interspersed with the Eagles. But, after 28 years without a title, Sporting burst onto the scene: 15 titles in 18 years, highlighted by ten in a row between 2060 and 2069, which broke Porto’s record. At the same time, Vitória de Setúbal were starting to show what they were capable of.
Bruno de Carvalho’s descendants, of course, claimed the feat as their ancestor’s doing (even though he left in 2018).
Fried cuttlefish becomes the national dish
2070/71 season: the big three’s dominance finally ends. Vitória de Setúbal, who had already swapped the old Bonfim for the Arena Hélio Sousa, are national champions for the first time. Fishing on the Sado river stopped completely to celebrate the title of the club, by then bought by a Croatian tycoon.
Anyone who thought it would be a one-off was wrong. Four consecutive second places followed (always behind Sporting), two years off the podium and another title. And the best was yet to come.
Between 2081 and 2100, Vitória won 18 league titles, 11 of them in a row (a new record). The stock of fried cuttlefish ran out, with so many parties and free handouts to members and supporters.
And they were not the only ones rubbing their hands. Luís Filipe Vieira’s great-grandchildren, heirs to his construction business, were smiling at the tycoon’s constant investment in work on the stadium and the academy. He was even persuaded to build a new stadium, the Parque de Jogos Vítor Baptista, most likely fitted with an earring detector.
With Setúbal’s dominance over, Benfica began their first reign in 2111, with 12 titles in 14 years, only troubled by Vitória, who kept adding trophies.
Then came the return of Porto’s dominance, Braga’s first title in 2130 and a surprise in 2139: Rio Ave national champions. Afterwards, Benfica won eight titles in a row, between 2141 and 2148, one of the last great Benfica moments until the end of this simulation.
From 2150 onward
Sporting took advantage of FC Porto’s worst spell (2140-2173), 33 years without a title, to win 16 titles, as many as Benfica. The rest went to Vitória.
Up to 2200, the only highlight was Braga’s back-to-back titles in 2199 and 2200, followed by two more titles by 2278.
In that period, Benfica, now in the 110,000-seat Arena Cosme Damião, won only six titles, fewer than Vitória (seven). Most were split between Sporting, playing at the modest Parque de Jogos Fernando Peyroteu, and FC Porto, who built the Arena José Maria Pedroto in 2252.
But the team that took over was Nacional da Madeira. With podium finishes since 2247, they became champions for the first time in 2257 and, after a second place, won five titles in a row.
European success took time, but it came
Just like in real life, Real Madrid won their 13th Champions League in 2018. But that hardly matters here.
The first Portuguese team to lift the trophy was Sporting, in 2074, in a final against Manchester City in Amsterdam.
In 2081, a surprise: Vitória reached the final, in London, but lost to Everton. They got their revenge in 2090, beating Barcelona in the final.
Between 2105 and 2122 there were seven finals with Portuguese teams: two wins for FC Porto, two for Sporting and one for Benfica, the only one they managed in the entire simulation.
Up to 2170, an ordeal: seven consecutive finals lost. Until Sporting won the most coveted competition again, in a decade in which they won it once more and reached three other finals.
In the following decades came more lost finals for Sporting, Benfica, Vitória and even surprising Nacional. Only in 2216 did the “big ears” trophy return to Portugal, with FC Porto, who established themselves as one of Europe’s biggest names, with seven titles in just over 20 years.
Also worth noting: Nacional’s Champions League in 2257 (followed by three lost finals), Vitória’s in 2268 and two more titles for FC Porto in the final seasons of the simulation.
Portuguese success abroad went far beyond this, with several teams winning titles, as you will see in the ranking at the end of the article.
The national team
The end of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career was not the end of the trophies. It was, in fact, the start of a string of triumphs, albeit well spaced out in time.
Before the top 10, an honorable mention for Torreense, Gondomar, Odivelas and Leixões, for the many cups they won throughout the simulation.
The top 10
10. Cesarense: the biggest surprise on this list.
9. Rio Ave: one league title and several cups.
8. Vitória de Guimarães: lost in the Campeonato de Portugal (after already passing through the district leagues), but made a name for the club abroad.
7. Belenenses: three Europa Leagues and other cups.
6. Sporting de Braga: not even five league titles were enough to make the top 5.
5. Nacional: a very strong finish earned them a place among the top five.
4. Vitória de Setúbal: already a big club, at home and abroad.
3. Benfica: led the national title count for the first 100 years, but then went into free fall.
2. Sporting: were once some 25 titles behind their Lisbon rivals, but overtook them and look set to pull away.
1. FC Porto: out on their own, at home and abroad.
Want to know how your team did? Ask us in the comments on the Facebook post. And if you want to know what happened next, part II is already available.
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