Where the model comes from
Until the 2000s, Benfica were a club with a great history but poor finances. The European Cup triumphs of 1961 and 1962 were distant memories, debts were mounting, and youth development was fragmented across several sites in Lisbon.
Under President Luís Filipe Vieira, who took charge in 2003, the academy was completely reimagined. The decision to build a centralised campus had both a sporting and an economic rationale. On the pitch, Benfica could not keep pace with Porto, who dominated European football during the Mourinho era. Economically, the club realised that Portuguese talent commanded fees on the European transfer market that far exceeded the cost of investing in an academy.
The campus in Seixal opened in 2006. It includes several grass and artificial pitches, residential boarding facilities, a school, medical facilities, and the first team's training ground. All age groups and the senior professionals train at the exact same location.
Two further decisions defined the model. In 2012, the Portuguese FA permitted reserve sides to compete in the second division – Benfica B became the bridge between the youth setup and senior professional football. Additionally, Benfica established the Benfica Lab, a department for sports science, data analytics, and performance diagnostics that supports every squad across the club.
The structure
Everything in one place
The campus is the foundation. A twelve-year-old sees where the first team trains every single day. A senior pro sees where the next generation is coming from. Coaches across all age groups exchange ideas on a daily basis. This physical proximity is not a minor detail. It is the precise reason why the pathway to the first team works at Benfica, whereas at many other clubs it exists only on paper.
Scouting across Greater Lisbon
Benfica scout primarily in Greater Lisbon, which, with around three million inhabitants, accounts for roughly a third of Portugal's population. Children enter Benfica pre-academies and partner programmes early, and the most talented move into the academy between the ages of eight and twelve. The club competes directly with Sporting, whose academy in Alcochete is only a few kilometres away. The fierce battle for the same talent has driven both academies to become better.
Added to this is an extensive network across former Portuguese colonies – Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Brazil – channelling players to Seixal. Renato Sanches and Nélson Semedo are prominent examples of players from Lisbon suburbs with roots in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau.
The residential academy
Around 70 players reside on campus, many from northern Portugal, the islands, or abroad. Schooling, training sessions, nutrition, and pastoral care all take place on site. This is expensive, but it allows Benfica to bring in players from across the country without forcing entire families to relocate.
Benfica B as a bridge
This is the aspect that sets Benfica apart most distinctly from German clubs. Benfica B play in the Portuguese second division – against senior professional teams, competing for points in front of large crowds. An 18-year-old leaving the youth ranks spends one or two years playing senior men's football there before being considered for the first team or sold.
Bruno Lage coached Benfica B before taking charge of the first team in 2019 and winning the league title – with a squad featuring João Félix, Rúben Dias, and Florentino Luís, whom he brought through directly from the B team. Renato Paiva, Nélson Veríssimo, and others walked the exact same path.
Comparing this to Germany is somewhat unfair, as the fourth-tier Regionalliga is the highest permitted level for reserve teams there. Yet it explains why 20-year-old Portuguese talents often appear more mature than their German counterparts: they already have two full seasons of competitive second-division men's football under their belt.
Benfica Lab
The sports science department supports all age groups: performance diagnostics, load management, video analysis, nutrition, and psychology. For academy players, this means individual profiles from an early age. The club tracks how a player develops physically and adjusts training sessions and workloads accordingly.
What is well documented: Benfica place immense emphasis on individualisation. Every player has a development plan that is reviewed regularly. The academy employs psychologists who work directly with the players – not as crisis management, but as an integral part of player development.
How they train
Benfica do not publish an open curriculum. However, accounts from coaches and visitors consistently highlight the following principles:
A shared game model across all age groups. As with the other elite academies — La Masia, Ajax — all Benfica sides follow a related game model: building from the back, positional play, dominating possession, and pressing high up the pitch. A 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 serves as the base formation, but the primary focus is on core principles.
Technique as the foundation, decision-making as the goal. Portuguese youth development traditionally places great emphasis on technique under pressure. This is closely tied to futsal, which is widespread in Portuguese children's football – tight spaces, rapid decisions, and high numbers of ball touches. Many Portuguese professionals played futsal extensively before moving to the full-sized pitch.
Small-sided games. Children's football in Portugal stays on smaller pitches with fewer players for a long time: 7v7 up to U11, 9v9 up to U13. Inside the academy, game formats with four to seven players per side dominate training sessions.
Early position-specific training. Unlike Ajax, Benfica specialise earlier. From around U14 onwards, they deliberately hone position-specific skills, with individual training running parallel to team sessions.
Tactical Periodisation as the framework. Portugal is the home of Vítor Frade and Tactical Periodisation. Many coaches in Seixal studied at the University of Porto or Lisbon faculties where this methodology is taught. Weekly planning in the academy follows a similar logic: game-realistic drills instead of isolated fitness work, with each day having a distinct physical and tactical focus. How strictly this is implemented varies by coach.
Competition as a developmental tool. Benfica youth teams play to win silverware. The U19s won the UEFA Youth League in 2022. Unlike at Ajax, match results are not treated as secondary – Benfica view learning how to win as an essential part of development.
The sales model
Benfica develop players to sell them. The club state this openly. João Félix moved to Atlético Madrid in 2019 for around €126 million at the age of 19, after just one season in the first team. João Neves joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2024 at 19, and Gonçalo Ramos moved to the same club in 2023. Rúben Dias, Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo – all sold before turning 25.
The logic is simple: a player sold for €100 million at 19 funds the entire academy for a decade. Benfica reinvest the money into scouting, infrastructure, and coaching staff. The model is sustainable because it is self-funding.
The price: over the last 15 years, Benfica have never kept a team together for long. Every strong generation is sold off after one or two seasons. The club win domestic championships, but in Europe they rarely progress beyond the quarter-finals.
Criticisms
Early sales cut development short. As with Ajax, players often leave the club before their final development phase is complete. João Félix never quite matched the performance levels of his single season in Lisbon after departing Benfica. Renato Sanches was sold to Bayern Munich for €35 million at just 18 and saw his career stall rather than develop as anticipated. That is not Benfica's fault – but it underlines the limits of the model.
The academy serves the business. Developing talent to sell is a legitimate model, but it shifts priorities. A player with significant market value may be treated differently from one without. This criticism is voiced loudly within Portugal itself.
The rivalry with Sporting. Both academies scout the same pool of children in the same metropolitan area. While this drives quality, it also increases pressure on young players and their families. Reports of premature signings, signing incentives, and disputes between the two clubs are frequent.
Sparse documentation of methodology. Benfica's greatest strength lies in structure, not method. There is no textbook or published doctrine you can study. What is truly transferable is their organisational blueprint.
Application: What you can take from this
This section represents our interpretation.
Benfica are a masterclass in structure. For an individual coach, there is little that translates directly. For a club, however, there are several key lessons.
Turn the transition to senior football into a structured project
The greatest drop-off in talent in amateur football happens between U19 and the senior team. Benfica have an entire squad dedicated to this stage. An amateur club can at least establish a clear plan: which U19 players will train with the senior squad from the winter break onwards? Who will play for the reserve side? Who oversees this transition? Without a plan, players leave for a neighbouring club or quit football altogether.
Treat futsal and small-sided games as core development, not a substitute
Portuguese players spend their childhood playing in tight spaces. In winter, play futsal rather than indoor football with dasher boards. Indoors, organise 3v3 instead of 6v6. Touches per player increase dramatically, as does the speed of decision-making.
An individual development plan for every player
Benfica Lab relies on infrastructure that no amateur club possesses. Yet the core idea is entirely transferable: give every player a profile that is updated twice a season, with one or two specific areas to work on. That requires time, not technology.
Winning and development do not have to be mutually exclusive
Benfica challenge the traditional Ajax dogma. The academy plays for titles while still developing top talent. The difference lies in how they win: staying true to the playing philosophy, fielding players in their developmental positions, and rotating playing time – rather than relying on long balls to an early physical developer.
One location, continuous dialogue
When all squads train at the same ground, coaches talk to each other. If the youth teams train on a pitch three kilometres away, they don't. Wherever possible: coordinate training times, organise joint coaches' meetings, and establish a shared football language.
What you should remember
- Benfica Seixal has been a central campus for all age groups and the senior squad since 2006. Physical proximity is the foundation of their pathway to the first team.
- Benfica B in the second division serves as the bridge: two years of competitive men's football between youth level and the first team.
- Benfica Lab provides individual profiling and load management right from the early youth stages.
- Scouting focuses on Greater Lisbon and the Portuguese-speaking world, in direct competition with Sporting.
- The model is a sales-driven operation that pays for itself. The trade-off is early departures and squads that never stay together for long.
- What you can apply is the structure: treating the transition to senior football as a project, utilising small-sided games and futsal, maintaining development plans, and keeping everyone at one facility.
A player's development history in Coach OS automatically carries over when moving up to the next age group – so the new coach immediately sees what was worked on previously. That is the grassroots equivalent of what Benfica achieve across all age groups through their Lab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources and further reading
- CIES Football Observatory: Reports on training clubs and transfer revenues, where Benfica have consistently featured at the top.
- Feature articles and reports on the Benfica Campus and Benfica Lab in Portuguese and international sports media.
- Interviews with Bruno Lage, Renato Paiva, and former academy directors regarding the youth pathway and the role of Benfica B.
- UEFA technical reports on the Youth League and European academies.
- On the role of futsal in Portuguese player development: interviews with Portuguese international players and official FPF documents.
Note on factual sources: Benfica do not publish an official curriculum. The description of their training methods is based on accounts from coaches, observers, and club media. Transfer figures represent reported base amounts and may vary depending on the source.