SL Benfica celebrate historic women’s Super Cup triumph

Sport LISBOA e Benfica's claimed this past weekend the 2024 edition of the women’s Super Cup organised by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation (FPV) after recording a 3-1 (16-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-15) victory in their matchup with FC PORTO at the Santo Tirso Municipal Sports Pavilion. 

This was the first win for the club from Luz in the women’s competition, which pits the reigning national champions against the winners of the Portuguese Cup. American Kyra Holt and Türkiye’s Cansu Çetin, with 19 and 15 points, respectively, were Benfica’s top scorers and of the match as well. Ecuadorian Erika Mercado Chavez, a naturalised Argentinean, with 13, and Brazilian Victória Alves, with 12, were the most prolific players for FC PORTO. 

After breaking a 50-year drought in the Portuguese Cup earlier this year, women’s Volleyball has now won the first Super Cup title for the club from Lisbon as well.

Rui Moreira, SL Benfica coach, emphasised: “It was a trophy the club had been chasing for a long time. In March of this year, we made history by winning the Portuguese Cup, a competition that the club had not won for 50 years in the women’s game. And today we made history by winning the Super Cup, the trophy that had never been won by Benfica in women’s Volleyball. We are building a culture of historic achievements at the club, within the team, which has a lot of young people who have to get used to winning. The work of our team psychologist was very important to secure this triumph and has been excellent. Women’s Volleyball is a very emotional game. We have managed to get that emotional side under control, and that is the work of our psychologist, who adds quality to the work we do every day, as coaching staff and players. Analysing the match itself, FC PORTO came out very strong with their serve, making good use of the transitions resulting from it. We ended up emotionally on top of the game and never relaxed, totally dominating from the second set onwards.” 

Miguel Coelho, FC PORTO coach, said: “We got into the game well, but the truth is that, as we said in the preview, consistency is the key in the game we are playing. There is not much point in a team playing very well for a set or a set and a half. It is about who plays better most of the time. We were good in the first set and then at times, and when that is the case, you do not deserve to win. Benfica managed to be better for longer and took advantage of our mistakes. Service errors, attacking errors, and not enough patience to play more transitions. Even in the first set, which we won, we missed eight serves.” 

Later this week, FC Porto are due to make their debut in the elite CEV Champions League Volley where they play Spain’s Hidramar GRAN CANARIA for a spot in the group stage.