Portugal - Campeonato Nacional Feminino

About Campeonato Nacional Feminino

Campeonato Nacional Feminino History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (also known as the Liga BPI or CNF) is the top tier of women’s professional football in Portugal. It was created in 1993 and is organized by the Portuguese Football Federation. Like many other leagues in Europe and elsewhere, the Liga BPI operates on a relegation-promotion system, meaning that the worst-performing team is demoted to the Campeonato Nacional II Divisão Feminino (second tier), while the top team from the second tier is promoted to the top flight. There are also a series of relegation-promotion play-off matches featuring teams from the top and second tiers to determine who stays and who is either relegated or promoted from their respective tiers.

Teams competing in the Liga BPI are eligible to take part in several domestic cup competitions, including the Taça de Portugal, Taça da Liga, and the Supertaça. In addition, the winner of the Liga BPI also is eligible to take part in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

1º de Dezembro and Boavista are among the most successful teams in Campeonato Nacional Feminino history. In recent years, Benfica has also won multiple titles, along with Sporting CP.

Broadcasts of Campeonato Nacional Feminino matches have varied over the decades, with public TV broadcaster RTP providing coverage from the mid 1990s until the mid 2010s. Paid-TV broadcaster Sport TV first acquired TV rights in the mid 2010s, before Eleven Sports secured TV broadcast and live-streaming rights in a multi-year deal in the early part of the 2020s.