Benfica is marching through an extraordinary season - moving forward in Portugal without issues.

2026-04-08 20:29 © Reuters

"Benfica" has not lost in the Portuguese league this season in 28 matches and is edging closer to an extraordinary achievement; however, the achievement should be further reinforced by the fact that they might become "invincibles" without winning the league.

In 28 rounds, José Mourinho's team has secured 19 victories and drawn 9 times. With less than a quarter of the season remaining, Porto leads the Lisbon team in third place by 7 points.

Throughout the history of European football, there have been very few cases where a team completing a season as "invincibles" does not win its league. Indeed, the last time this occurred is quite recent.

During the 2024-25 season in Moldova, Tiraspol's "Sheriff" went through 24 rounds without a single loss, yet they were unable to win their league. Another such case happened quite a while ago.

Before "Sheriff," there was the 2007-2008 season of Belgrade's "Crvena Zvezda," where an undefeated team also ended up without the league title. At that time, the players of Partizan were stronger. In the 1998-1999 season in Yugoslavia, history repeated itself when "Obilić" went undefeated but did not contest the title.

In the top 5 leagues, history leans even further into the Stone Age. In 1978-79, "Perugia" did not win the title even after going through 30 matches without a loss. A year ago, it somewhat ironically happened to the "Benfica" team in Portugal, and they are again approaching this rare achievement.

The last famous "invincible" season in Europe was from Bayer Leverkusen when they had no equal in Germany in the 2023-24 season. Indeed, clubs like "Klaksvik," Kyiv's "Dynamo," "The New Saints," "Rangers," and PAOK have also demonstrated seasons in the last decade where they marched towards the country's champion title without stumbling. And in history, "invincibles" are, of course, most closely associated with Arsenal and their historic 2003-2004 season.