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Belenenses vs Benfica: The Game That Shouldn’t Have Happened
In one of football’s strangest games, Belenenses were forced to start with 9 players and ended with just 6 against Benfica, causing the match to be abandoned. Discover the chaotic story behind Portugal’s most bizarre football moment.
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Football gives us last-minute screamers, heroic underdog wins, and the occasional pigeon interrupting play. But sometimes, it delivers something so ridiculous, it feels like a fever dream cooked up during a hangover.
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Belenenses vs Benfica
Let’s rewind to November 27, 2021, for one of the most absurd football matches ever: Benfica vs Belenenses SAD. It started as a league match and ended as a full-blown circus.
When You Barely Have a Squad
Belenenses were hit with a brutal COVID outbreak that ruled out 17 players. Yes, seventeen. That’s not a selection headache, that’s a full-blown crisis.
Still, instead of postponing the game, the league went full chaos mode and gave the green light. So Belenenses showed up with just nine players. Not subs, not a backup plan. Just nine warm bodies and hope.
Even better (or worse), two of them were goalkeepers. One had to play midfield. He probably hadn’t touched the halfway line in years.
The Match That Shouldn’t Have Happened
Benfica, with a full squad and ambitions to stay top of the table, didn’t go easy. And why would they? This was a gift-wrapped three points.
Within 45 minutes, it was 7–0. It looked less like a football match and more like a training drill. Benfica were scoring at will while fans, players, and commentators all wore the same confused expression.
Second Half? Barely That
Belenenses limped back out for the second half with seven players the minimum allowed by FIFA rules. But only a few minutes later, two more “got injured”. And let’s be honest, they weren’t faking it. Their legs were done, their pride was fraying, and their midfield goalkeeper was probably begging to go back in net.
With just five players left, the referee had no choice but to call it off.
Not because of the weather. Not because of a brawl. Just because they ran out of players.
Even Belenenses’ president later admitted they were forced into playing and called the situation “a dark day for Portuguese football.”
Why We Still Talk About It
From tactical masterclasses to world-class goals, football has no shortage of drama. But it’s the random, off-the-wall stories like this that live rent-free in our heads.
Because no one forgets the day a top-flight professional football match ended with only six players on one side.
The Belenenses vs Benfica match wasn’t about who won. It was about how the heck it even kicked off in the first place.
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