Ambitious Tier-5 club Sport London e Benfica Ladies FC are ready to give the Adobe Women's FA Cup everything they've got ahead of Saturday's second round qualifying tie at Tunbridge Wells Foresters.
Chairman and manager José Viana is a key figure at a club that was first founded in 1981 as a London supporters' group for European giants Benfica – the clue is in the name – with the women's side existing since 2018.
Viana is targeting the FA Cup as both an opportunity for football success and crucial funding to keep pushing the club forward.
He said: "The FA Cup is really important for women's teams. It means not having to worry about the cost of facilities, training, referees and everything else that comes with running a club.
"It's hugely competitive because it's dependant on winning a match against another club that wants that just as much as we do. It means if you sign the right players and train properly you will be rewarded. We will always expect a difficult game."
Progression in the cup would be a continuation of the team's trajectory since it was first established five years ago.
Viana said: "We started in the Greater London Women's Football League Division 3 and have moved up the leagues since.
"The intention is to climb the pyramid as much as we can and last year we were promoted from Division One North in the London & South East Regional
Women’s Football League, competing against the likes of Brentford. We beat them to promotion by one point, which was really an impossible achievement.
"Obviously we have a disadvantage in terms of facilities. Some clubs are more established than us and we went practically the whole of last season without an 11-a-side pitch to train on.
"Our players come from all over London so we need to find somewhere central. We grab the odd hour at Paddington Recreation Ground to do set-plays but generally we go without a big pitch so the progress we've made is something to be proud of."
The club are attempting to re-establish its original links with Benfica, though the women's team founded more recently is independent, explains Viana.
He said: "We obviously have the Portuguese link. I am second generation Portuguese, as is the club secretary Duarte Santana. Duarte was in the Benfica reserves when Graeme Souness went there as manager.
"The original links with Benfica in 1981 have become a bit more fluid but they remain in our club name and we have had meetings to see if we can do something on the grassroots side.
"Our women's team is a totally different entity so that's run separately."
So immediate focus turns to Tunbridge Wells Foresters, who sit two tiers below Sport London e Benfica but will be determined to spring a surprise.
Viana said: "We've done our homework on them. They're a free-scoring team and they’ve just signed a midfielder and a winger but as they're not in our league we don't know loads about them.
"It's not so much worrying about the opposition for us. We want to make sure our football's good enough to take us through to the next round."
