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Australian stars Nestory Irankunda and Alessandro Circati will grace the Portuguese stage for two of the country’s biggest clubs in 2026-27. Irankunda now calls Sporting CP home on the back of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with the Socceroos, while Aussie teammate Circati has been lured to Lisbon by Portugal’s most successful club Benfica. Sporting forked out $24.5million AUD to lure Irankunda from EFL Championship outfit Watford, while Circati became the joint most expensive Australian footballer of all-time – alongside Hull City’s Lucas Herrington – after swapping Serie A’s Parma for Benfica in a $33million AUD transfer. Aussies in Portugal? How to watch the Primeira Liga after Irankunda and Circati’s big-money moves Who are Sporting CP Sporting CP are one of Portugal’s most successful and historic clubs, standing alongside Benfica and Porto as Portugal’s “Big Three”. Founded in 1906 and based in Lisbon, Sporting have won 21 league championships among 58 major honours, while their crowning achievement on the continental stage remains the 1964 European Cup Winners’ Cup. What truly sets Sporting apart, however, is their remarkable record of developing world-class footballers. Few academies anywhere in the world can match their production line, having nurtured the likes of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Nani, Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho, William Carvalho, Joao Palhinha and Nuno Mendes. Ronaldo’s journey began at Sporting, where he progressed through every youth level before earning a move to Manchester United as a teenager after catching Sir Alex Ferguson’s attention in a pre-season friendly. Sporting have also been home to some of football’s most influential figures off the pitch. Laszlo Boloni handed Ronaldo his senior debut, while Ruben Amorim restored the club to the summit of Portuguese football by ending a 19-year league title drought before leading them to two league championships. Combined with a philosophy centred on developing players rather than simply buying them, Sporting have established themselves as one of Europe’s premier talent factories and one of the continent’s most respected football institutions. Rui Borges is the current head coach of Sporting, having replaced Amorim in 2024. The club finished second in 2025-26, six points behind champions Porto. Who are Benfica Benfica are a name synonymous, not only with Portuguese football but the global game. Founded in 1904, Benfica are Portugal’s most successful club, and one of the historic giants of European football with a record 38 Portuguese league titles, alongside 26 Portuguese Cups, 10 Super Cups and eight League Cups. Their greatest era came during the 1960s, when legendary Hungarian coach Bela Guttmann led Benfica to consecutive European Cups in 1961 and 1962, beating Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Benfica reached seven European Cup finals between 1961 and 1990, cementing their place among Europe’s traditional heavyweights. At the heart of that golden era was the iconic Eusebio – the 1965 Ballon d’Or winner and one of football’s greatest-ever players. The Mozambique-born superstar became synonymous with Benfica, while the club’s rich history also features long-serving Brazilian captain Luisao, Rui Costa and Angel Di Maria. Some of European football’s most renowned coaches have also passed through the Estadio da Luz, including Guttmann, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Jorge Jesu and Jose Mourinho up until 2025-26 before being hired by LaLiga giants Real Madrid. That history has been complemented by one of Europe’s great modern talent factories. Benfica’s academy has helped produce Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Joao Felix, Renato Sanches, Goncalo Ramos and Antonio Silva, among others. The pathway has created an environment for players to develop while also regularly contending for silverware. Former Fulham boss Marco Silva is the new boss in 2026-27 after Mourinho’s departure. Benfica went unbeaten last season but still finished third behind champions Porto and Sporting. The Sporting and Benfica rivalry It is known as the Derby de Lisboa and it is a rivalry that dates back to 1907. Only a few kilometres in Lisbon separate Sporting and foes Benfica in one of Europe’s great city rivalries – shaped by more than a century of battles for trophies, players and bragging rights. Benfica and Sporting make up two of Portugal’s “Big Three” alongside Porto. This rivalry also has roots in Sporting’s early history, when several Benfica players defected to the newly established club. Since then, generations of Portuguese greats have played in the derby, turning the green-and-white of Sporting against Benfica’s red into one of the defining fixtures of Portuguese football. In total, there have been 327 meetings between the two clubs. Benfica have won 140 games, compared to Sporting’s 116 across all competitions. The history of the Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga has been around since 1934, when it known as the Campeonato da Liga da Primeira Divisao. The Primeira Liga has changed considerably since its foundation when just eight clubs contested an experimental national league. A major restructure followed in 1938, while in 1946-47 Portugal moved away from qualification through regional championships and established a proper national pyramid with promotion and relegation. The top flight gradually expanded from 14 teams to 16, briefly as high as 20 before eventually settling into its modern structure. It returned to an 18-club competition in 2014-15, a format that remains today. As for the format, 18 teams play each other home and away across 34 rounds. The bottom two are automatically relegated to the second tier, while 16th enters a promotion/relegation play-off. The top five positions, meanwhile, secure European football. Over 70 teams have competed in the top flight, but only five have been crowned champions – Benfica (38 wins), Porto (31) and Sporting CP (21) as well as Belenenses (1945–46) and Boavista (2000–01). Benfica last reigned supreme in 2022-23, while Sporting were crowned champions in 2024-25. In 2025–26, Benfica finished the season without defeat for a third time (23 wins and 11 draws), becoming the first team to do so in an edition with 34 matches and setting the record for the longest unbeaten run in a single season. Meanwhile in 1990-91, they set the record for the most wins in a single season – 32 (from 38 games). This season, Benfica, Sporting, Porto, Arouca, Maritimo, Nacional, Santa Clara, Gil Vicente, Estrela da Amadora, Braga, Academico de Viseu, Famalicao, Alverca, Estoril Praia, Moreirense, Vitoria de Guimaraes, Rio Ave and Casa Pia are competing in the Primeira Liga.