Portugal’s Sporting CP and FC Porto claim Iberian Cup titles
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The second edition of the Iberian Cup was a huge success for the Portuguese teams. The event was held simultaneously in Portugal and Spain, since Matosinhos and Las Palmas played host to the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively, where the titles were won by Sporting Clube de Portugal and Futebol Clube do Porto.
At the Centro de Desportos e Congressos de Matosinhos, European City of Sport in 2025, Sporting defeated reigning national champions Sport Lisboa e Benfica (3-1; 25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 25-22) to lift the 2024 Iberian Cup, the first to be won by a Portuguese team, after Club Voleibol Guaguas, from Spain had won the inaugural edition in 2023.
On Sunday, September 29, Sporting and Benfica are scheduled to meet again, this time for the Portuguese Super Cup in Santo Tirso. Edson Valencia (Sporting) with 23 points and André Aleixo (SL Benfica) with 14 were the game’s top scorers.
João Coelho, Sporting CP's coach, said: “It is an excellent start to the season. We have a team with character, showing that they have what it takes to decide these kinds of games in their favour. We played two very tough games, because even when we were leading, we suffered from our opponent’s reaction, but we still have a lot of room for improvement. The Super Cup will once again be a derby [two teams from the city of Lisbon], and a derby must be played with this level of emotion and intensity because the result is almost always unpredictable. Fortunately, we are managing to beat each other almost equally. Our aim is to win trophies, and our opponents, as you saw it in the last set, also have that desire and ambition, and, like us, they never give up, but I believe we have all what it takes to beat Benfica again.”
Marcel Matz, SL Benfica’s coach, acknowledged: “Our preparation for the season was to win the competition, but I think we lacked a bit more play through the middle, effectiveness on the high balls. We fought until the end, and I think that is very important. Our players gave everything, but it was not enough. Congratulations to Sporting, who played better and won. Now we have a very important and difficult game on Wednesday [with CV Guaguas, 1st Round of the Champions League]. We prepare to win, and that is what we are going to try to do on Wednesday in the Champions League and on Sunday in the Super Cup, again with Sporting.”
In the fight for the third place, the Spanish champions and winners of the 2023 Iberian Cup, Club Voleibol Guaguas, beat Grupo Herce Soria (Río Duero Soria), runners-up in the Spanish national league and home to Bruno Cunha, opposite of the Portuguese national team, 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-23). Juan Pablo Moreno (CV Guaguas), with 18 points, and José Villalba (GH Soria), with 13, were the game’s top scorers.
Sergio Miguel Camarero, coach of CV Guaguas, acknowledged: “It was a good game with a direct opponent in the Super League and for us to continue our preparation, especially given that we are playing on Wednesday [with Benfica]. I think we played better today than we did on Saturday with Sporting [1-3]. We are very happy with this third place.”
FC Porto lifts the 2024 Women’s Iberian Cup
FC Porto beat SL Benfica 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19) to win the 2024 women’s Iberian Cup played at the weekend at the Centro Insular de Deportes in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in Spain.
The teams will meet again next Saturday (September 28) in the Portuguese Super Cup.
Porto’s Victória Alves, with 26 points, Puck Hoogers, with 22, and Benfica’s Kyra Holt, with 21, were the top scorers in the final of the second edition of the Iberian competition.
In the match for third and fourth place, in a Spanish duel, the defending champions Hidramar Gran Canaria edged Avarca de Menorca (3-1; 25-19, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22). Like the Portuguese, the two Spanish teams will meet again next Saturday in the Supercopa de España.
Portugal was represented by Futebol Clube do Porto, reigning national champions, and Sport Lisboa e Benfica, winners of the last Portuguese Cup, while Spain’s champions were CV Hidramar Gran Canaria (Club Voleibol JAV Olimpico) and Avarca de Menorca (Club Voleibol Ciutadella), respectively national champions and finalists in the Iberdrola Superliga 2023/2024.
In 2023, CV Hidramar Gran Canaria beat Sporting CP 3-2 to become the first team to lift the Iberian Cup trophy, the inaugural edition of which was organised by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation with the collaboration of Viana do Castelo City Council at the Cultural Centre of Viana do Castelo, European City of Sport 2023.