SC Braga go into the trip to FC Copenhagen with a record that has travelled well across the last decade. They have won six of their last eight European openers, and this is their fifth match against Danish opposition. Friday's 1-3 defeat in Minho is the immediate backdrop, but the more relevant story is how often Braga have begun European campaigns on the front foot.
Braga's opening record
The six wins have come in eight qualified seasons over the last decade. Their only exceptions were a 1-2 defeat in Belgrade against Red Star in 2021/22 and a 1-1 home draw against Gent in 2016/17. The rest of the run is a straightforward set of strong starts, including victories against Feyenoord, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Malmo, AEK, Wolverhampton and Hoffenheim.
That is a decent platform for a team sitting eighth in the Primeira Liga with 11 points from seven games. Braga's last five league results read L-D-W-L-W, so the European trip offers a cleaner stage than the domestic run has provided.
Horta and the recurring thread
Ricardo Horta has been part of that pattern before. He scored in Braga's European starts in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2022/23, while Fran Navarro sealed the opening win in 2025/26 and Bruma did the same the season before.
Horta has made four league appearances this season, which is not a huge amount of domestic output to lean on, but his name keeps turning up when Braga begin in Europe. The club have not earned any guarantee from that history, and FC Copenhagen vs SC Braga is still a difficult away test, especially after Copenhagen's league defeat at Midtjylland ended a run of seven straight wins.
Braga have done this often enough to treat it as a habit rather than a one-off. Whether it holds in Denmark will be decided on the pitch, but their record is clear enough: six wins in eight European openers, and another one is now on the line in Copenhagen.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
