FC Porto have won all 11 of their Primeira Liga games under Francesco Farioli, and the numbers are no longer just a fast start — they are history in the making. Sunday's 2-1 win at Vitoria Guimaraes made Porto only the sixth team ever to open a Portuguese top-flight season with 11 straight victories, five points clear of Benfica and nine clear of Sporting.
Porto did not dominate in Guimaraes, and they still won — which is precisely why this run feels different. Borja Sainz put the leaders ahead in the 38th minute from Alberto Costa's cross, his sixth goal of the season, already one more than he managed in the whole of last season. Vitoria refused to fold, levelled through substitute Alanzinho in the 77th minute, and for nine minutes the perfect record was hanging by a thread.
Then Martim Fernandes struck. Introduced from the bench and shifted between wide and full-back roles during the game, he hammered in Pepe's pass in the 86th minute for his first league goal of the campaign. As VAVEL's full-time report showed, it was a win Porto had to rescue late rather than control from the start — and Farioli admitted as much afterwards.
A test Porto passed the hard way
"Sometimes you have to know how to win like this," Farioli said, calling his team's reaction "excellent" and admitting it was driven "more by generosity and commitment than by organization." That honesty matters. Porto have scored 27 goals and conceded only five in those 11 games, but Guimaraes exposed the other side of the streak: injuries on the flanks forced Farioli to rework his system mid-game, with Fernandes starting his shift wide and finishing it at full-back.
The win also came at a cost. Portuguese outlet Fora de Jogo reported that Gabriel Mec picked up a muscle injury in the game, while Jan Bednarek needed treatment after a head knock — both reported, neither yet given an official timeline by the club. With two weeks until the next league game, Farioli at least has time he would not have had in a normal week.
Two records are now within reach
The historical company is elite. Per zerozero's Playmaker data, cited in El Futbolero's analysis of the streak, the only previous teams to start 11 from 11 include Sporting in 2024-25 and 1990-91 and Benfica in 1982-83 and 1972-73 — and that 1972-73 Benfica side still holds the league record with 23 straight wins. Of the five previous teams to do it, only the 1990-91 Sporting side failed to go on and win the title.
Porto head into the international break on 33 points, with Benfica second on 28 after Benfica's 3-2 win at Estrela and Sporting third on 24. That gap is the real prize of the perfect start: Farioli's side can afford one bad afternoon and still lead the league, a luxury neither rival currently owns.
So what happens next?
Next up, after the break, is the game the whole run has been building towards: Sporting at the Dragao. Win it, and Porto become the first team in 54 years to start a Portuguese season 12 from 12 — and move one victory away from equalling the club record of 13 straight wins set in 1939-40. Lose it, and Sporting cut the gap to six points and puncture the aura at exactly the moment the title race was starting to look like a procession.
Sporting, who beat Moreirense 1-0 last weekend, are the rival most desperate to stop the run, and the only one of the big three yet to face Farioli's side this season. The international break helps Porto's injured wide players recover, but it also gives Sporting two full weeks to plan for one game.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Eleven from eleven is not a title, but it is a statement Portugal has only heard six times in its history — and Farioli's Porto are winning the ugly games as well as the pretty ones, which is what champions do. The Dragao meeting with Sporting will not decide the title, but it will decide whether this start is remembered as a streak or as the foundation of a championship. Can Sporting be the first team to stop Farioli's Porto, or will the record run roll on to 12? Let us know in the comments.
