Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portugal)

Last modified: 2001-12-13 by antonio martins
Keywords: sport lisboa e benfica | eagle (golden) | wheel: bicycle | ball | s.l.b. | slb | scroll | e pluribus unum | no name boys | nn | ii |
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• About the flag
• Fan flags
• No Name Boys

• Portuguese sport flags
• Lisbon municipality
• Portugal

It’s a red flag with the club symbol centered: a pointy shield over a bicicle wheel proper, the shield with a white border and vertically partitioned in red and white, charged with a golden old-style foot ball in the center and with a counter bend, blue, with the club’s initials ("SLB" — standing for Sport Lisboa e Benfica, that is, Sport Lisbon and Benfica, Benfica being a neighborhood in Lisbon) in gold on it, all topped by a golden eagle holding a green and red scroll with the club’s motto in black: "E PLURIBUS UNUM".
Jorge Candeias, 28 Jan 1999

This flag can be seen at the clubs HQ and stadium in Lisbon and in many other locations throughout the country. The Benfica flag described by Adolf Durand in [drn92], with white background and thin red stripes top and bottom, is not the official flag but one of many often variations.
António Martins, 26 Jul 1999

Triband (often variant)

Other variations exist and are often used by the supporters, notably horizontal tribands of red-white-red with the club badge centered (or with two club badges in the white stripe, or with several inscriptions) and the same, but with the another stripe, white, added to the top and the bottom of the flag.
Jorge Candeias, 28 Jan 1999

A Benfica fan flag, probbably an one off flag, not the flag of any fan organization.
Jorge Candeias, 26 Jul 1999

(Generic flag pattern)

A youth Benfica supporter group, “No Name Boys” (yes, name in in english), uses a badge containing two reversed "N"s, arranged like an interdition traffic sign: black letters on a white disc with a red border. I think that the use of cyrillic "i" has nothing to do with russian players, it is just a “radical” or “rebel” way to write "NN". If I recall correctly, theier leaflets, graffittis and banners used always cyrillic "I" instead of "N", much in the same way many anarchist groups (at least in Portugal) spell "anarquia" and other "qu" or "c" words with "k" instead.
António Martins, 04 Oct 1998

“No Name Boys” was later disbanded for violent behaviour and neonazi envolvements (something that was vexillographically obvious from the start), but it appears to be active again — or at least some other youth supporter group is using the same name and badge (and flags). The neonazi envolvement may now be something of the past, as I have seen mixed race hooligan groups sporting this badge on flags, scarves and shirts, but the general neonazi flag design was kept.
António Martins, 26 Jul 1999 and 27 Nov 2001

Variations

• white
• black
• white with two narrow vertical stripes at the fly and hoist ends
• red, with a thin black line separating the background from the ring
• gyronny of black and white (local branches from Lisbon municipality)
• gyronny of black and red, with a thin black line separating the background from the ring (local branches from Barreiro municipality)