The 2015–16 season was FC Porto's 106th competitive season and the 82nd consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football. It started on 15 August 2015 and concluded on 22 May 2016. For the second consecutive season, Porto failed to win any of the official competitions it was involved. The last time the team had two successive trophyless seasons was from 1979–80 to 1980–81.
As in the previous season, Porto did not begin their campaign by playing the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, as they failed to qualify for the 2015 edition by not winning the 2014–15 Primeira Liga title (retained by Benfica) or the 2014–15 Taça de Portugal (won by Sporting CP). Their 2015–16 Primeira Liga debut match was a 3–0 home win against Vitória de Guimarães, with Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar scoring the team's first official goal. Porto finished the league in third place with 73 points, 15 points behind three-time champions Benfica and 13 points behind runners-up Sporting CP, thus failing to win the title for the third successive season, which had not happened since the 2001–02 season.
Besides the league, Porto competed in other domestic competitions. In the 2015–16 Taça de Portugal, they reach the final, five years after their last appearance, but were defeated 5–4 on penalties by Braga, after a 2–2 draw at the end of extra time. The team also participated in the 2015–16 Taça da Liga, but were eliminated in the starting round after finishing last in their third-round group, with three defeats.
In UEFA competitions, Porto started the season in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, having qualified directly for the group stage for the 20th time, a competition record shared with Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid. Having finished third in their group, Porto were demoted to the 2015–16 Europa League; they lost to Borussia Dortmund with a 3–0 aggregate score and were eliminated in the round of 32.
Players
Squad information
Transfers
In Pos.NameNationalityAgeTransferred fromWindowFeeFWRayo Vallecano (Spain)Summer2020MFPaços de FerreiraSummer2020MFVitória de GuimarãesSummer2019MFMarseille (France)Summer2020MFPortimonenseSummer2019GKReal Madrid (Spain)Summer2017DFBenficaSummer2018FWSouthampton (England)Summer2016FWTwente (Netherlands)Summer2020FWVitória de SetúbalWinter2020FWMarítimoWinter2020GKMarítimoWinter2020
Loan in Pos.NameNationalityAgeLoaned fromWindowDFAston Villa (England)Summer30 June 2016DFWatford (England)Summer30 June 2016
Loan return Pos.NameNationalityAgeReturned fromWindowFWParma (Italy)Summer2018
Out Pos.NameNationalityAgeTransferred toWindowFeeDFReal Madrid (Spain)SummerMFAl-Hilal (Saudi Arabia)SummerFWBeijing Guoan (China)SummerFWAtlético Madrid (Spain)SummerFWBeşiktaş (Turkey)SummerDFFC Augsburg (Germany)SummerDFJuventus (Italy)SummerDFMarseille (France)SummerFWGençlerbirliği (Turkey)SummerFWAtlético Paranaense (Brazil)WinterFWBoca Juniors (Argentina)WinterMFStoke City (England)Winter
Loan out Pos.NameNationalityAgeLoaned toWindowDFFenerbahçe (Turkey)Summer30 June 2016GKFenerbahçe (Turkey)Summer30 June 2016FWLevante (Spain)Summer30 June 2016MFBursaspor (Turkey)Summer26 January 2016FWVitória de GuimarãesSummer30 June 2016FWVitória de GuimarãesSummer30 June 2016GKGranada (Spain)Summer30 June 2016DFReal Sociedad (Spain)Summer30 June 2016FWAkhisar Belediyespor (Turkey)Summer30 June 2016GKClub Brugge (Belgium)Summer30 June 2016FWAcadémica de CoimbraSummer30 June 2016MFMarítimoSummer30 June 2016GKVitória de SetúbalSummer30 June 2016FWVillarreal (Spain)Summer30 June 2016MFRennes (France)Summer30 June 2016FWOlympiacos (Greece)Summer30 June 2016FWNice (France)Summer30 June 2017DFSporting Gijón (Spain)Winter30 June 2016MFBragaWinter30 June 2016FWSão Paulo (Brazil)Winter31 December 2016GKUnião da MadeiraWinter30 June 2016DFSão Paulo (Brazil)Winter30 June 2016
End of loan Pos.NameNationalityAgeReturned toWindowMFSampdoria (Italy)SummerMFAtlético Madrid (Spain)SummerMFReal Madrid (Spain)SummerDFAston Villa (England)WinterFWBarcelona (Spain)Winter
Pre-season and friendlies The pre-season started on 6 July 2015 and included seven preparation matches, six of which played outside Portugal. From 10 to 18 July, the team was based at Horst, Netherlands, and played two matches against Dutch and German opposition. Season preparations continued at Marienfeld, Germany, from 23 to 31 July, where Porto staged two more matches against top-flight German teams before competing at the inaugural Colonia Cup tournament on 1–2 August. The pre-season ended on 8 August with a match against Napoli at the Estádio do Dragão, integrated in the team's presentation.
Competitions
Overall record +Performance by competitionCompetitionStarting roundFinal position/roundFirst matchLast matchPrimeira Liga 3rd 15 August 2015 14 May 2016Taça de Portugal Third round Runners-up 17 October 2015 22 May 2016Taça da Liga Third round Third round (4th) 29 December 2015 27 January 2016UEFA Champions League Group stage Group stage (3rd) 16 September 2015 9 December 2015UEFA Europa League Round of 32 Round of 32 18 February 2016 25 February 2016
+ Statistics by competitionCompetitionPrimeira LigaTaça de PortugalTaça da LigaUEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Europa LeagueTotal
Primeira Liga
League table
Results by round
Matches
Taça de Portugal
Third round
Fourth round
Fifth round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Taça da Liga
Third round
UEFA Champions League
Group stage
UEFA Europa League
Round of 32
Statistics
Appearances and discipline PlayerPrimeira LigaTaça de PortugalTaça da LigaEuropeTotal1GKHelton2 (0) 0 0 07 (0) 2 0 03 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 012 (0) 2 0 02DFMaxi Pereira32 (0) 10 0 03 (0) 1 0 00 (0) 0 0 07 (0) 4 0 042 (0) 15 0 03DFBruno Martins Indi23 (0) 5 1 04 (1) 1 0 00 (0) 0 0 07 (0) 2 0 034 (1) 8 1 04DFMaicon14 (3) 3 0 02 (0) 1 0 03 (0) 1 0 03 (0) 2 0 022 (3) 7 0 05DFIván Marcano22 (0) 6 0 04 (0) 1 0 01 (0) 0 0 06 (0) 1 0 033 (0) 8 0 06MFRúben Neves22 (9) 5 0 06 (4) 0 0 02 (0) 0 0 08 (1) 1 0 038 (14) 6 0 07FWSilvestre Varela22 (13) 2 0 06 (0) 0 0 03 (0) 0 0 03 (1) 1 0 034 (14) 3 0 08MFYacine Brahimi33 (4) 6 0 04 (1) 1 0 00 (0) 0 0 07 (1) 0 0 044 (6) 7 0 09FWVincent Aboubakar28 (4) 3 1 05 (2) 0 0 01 (1) 0 0 08 (4) 1 0 042 (11) 4 1 010FWDani Osvaldo7 (5) 1 0 12 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 03 (3) 0 0 012 (8) 1 0 111FWCristian Tello11 (7) 0 0 03 (1) 0 0 01 (0) 0 0 05 (3) 0 0 020 (11) 0 0 011FWMoussa Marega9 (9) 0 0 02 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 02 (0) 0 0 013 (9) 0 0 012GKIker Casillas33 (0) 1 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 07 (0) 0 0 040 (0) 1 0 013MFSérgio Oliveira9 (1) 3 0 05 (1) 0 0 03 (0) 1 0 01 (0) 0 0 018 (2) 4 0 014DFJosé Ángel7 (1) 0 0 04 (1) 0 0 03 (0) 0 0 02 (0) 1 0 018 (2) 1 0 015MFEvandro11 (10) 2 0 05 (0) 1 0 01 (0) 0 0 04 (2) 2 0 021 (12) 5 0 016MFHéctor Herrera29 (2) 4 0 03 (1) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 06 (3) 0 0 038 (6) 4 0 017FWJesús Corona28 (2) 3 0 01 (1) 0 0 02 (2) 0 0 04 (2) 1 0 035 (7) 4 0 019FWAndré Silva10 (5) 1 0 02 (1) 1 0 03 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 015 (6) 2 0 020MFAndré André27 (7) 6 0 03 (3) 0 0 01 (0) 0 0 06 (2) 0 0 037 (12) 6 0 021DFMiguel Layún27 (0) 7 0 06 (0) 1 0 00 (0) 0 0 08 (1) 0 0 041 (1) 8 0 022MFDanilo Pereira33 (5) 6 0 05 (1) 1 0 00 (0) 0 0 07 (1) 3 0 045 (7) 10 0 023FWAlberto Bueno4 (3) 0 0 04 (1) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 08 (4) 0 0 024DFIgor Lichnovsky0 (0) 0 0 02 (0) 0 0 01 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 03 (0) 0 0 025MFGiannelli Imbula10 (2) 2 0 03 (1) 0 0 13 (1) 1 0 05 (1) 1 0 021 (5) 4 0 126DFAlex Sandro1 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 01 (0) 0 0 028DFAly Cissokho2 (0) 2 0 01 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 03 (0) 2 0 039FWSuk Hyun-jun9 (5) 0 0 01 (0) 0 0 02 (0) 0 0 02 (2) 1 0 014 (7) 1 0 042DFVíctor García0 (0) 0 0 02 (0) 0 0 03 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 05 (0) 0 0 047FWIsmael Díaz0 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 01 (1) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 01 (1) 0 0 048MFFrancisco Ramos3 (3) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 01 (1) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 04 (4) 0 0 063DFChidozie Awaziem10 (0) 2 0 02 (0) 1 0 01 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 013 (0) 3 0 071GKRaúl Gudiño0 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 00 (0) 0 0 0Total 80 2 1 12 0 1 4 0 0 20 0 0 116 2 2
Goalscorers RankPlayerPrimeira LigaTaça de PortugalTaça da LigaEuropeTotal 19FW1311318 28FW7101916MF90009 417FW80008 520MF3102621DF5001622MF60006 84DF2001313MF2100319FW120037FW30003 1223FW020025DF2000239FW110026MF1100211FW01012 1763DF0100113MF1000111FW0100110FW100012DF10001 Total 66 13 1 9 89
References