SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF SPORTING

One hundred years in five thousand words
During the first century of the club's existence, the teams and the athletes of Sporting won 50 Olympic gold medals (Continental and Global), as well as many silver and gold medals and thousands of national and district titles. Few clubs in the world can boast such success, with their being no other at national level. Sporting is, after Barcelona, the club with more European titles across all of the disciplines in which the club competes.
 
During the founding period (1906), José Alvalade made known his wish to transform Sporting into a "....big Club, as big as the biggest in Europe." Today, one century later, the extraordinary record that Sporting boasts is the manifestation of José Alvalade's, as well as the other founders of the club's, principles, values, winning ethic and ambitious spirit of sportsmanship. Daring to clear pathways in a time when, in Portugal, sports were still activities in their developmental stages and comprised of mainly elitist characteristics, the first "Sportinguistas" managed to found a powerful collective that projects itself onto the global level in the form of the present day Sporting Clube de Portugal. As well as the many titles achieved by the club, Sporting Clube de Portugal also boasts more than three million fans spanning all continents: with 300 Supporters clubs, offices and delegations. This dynamic and successful environment speaks for itself.

In Detail: The pre-history
It started as a romantic idealisation during the turbulent times of the beginning of the 20th century (1902), when a group of holidaymakers in Belas, which was then a distant suburb of Lisbon, decides to found a club and hold a game of football in Seteais: integrated as part of the popular festival held in Sintra. It was a very lively game, and was considered as being apart from the festival, - with members of the royal family being present - contested between the Sports Club of Belas and a group from Sintra. Belas claimed a fine 3-0 victory, in a game where the Gavazzo brothers, Franciso and José Maria, along with other sportsman on display, where described as "elements of good families". The daily news reported that more than four thousand people attended in what was a busy and animated compact circle full of interest.

The Sports Club of Belas was a summer dream that gathered dust with the end of the holiday period. A dream however, that did not die. The game in Sintra, held on the 26th of August 1902, left a unique and living mark that motivated the players. The young holidaymakers, who where little more than adolescents, returned to Lisbon, dreaming of the status of sports abroad, principally in France and England, and maintained contact with each other as many lived in the same residential area in 'Campo Grande'. The young men frequently met in the Bijou pastry shop that still exists today on 'Avenida da Liberdade' (Liberty Avenue) and it was there that, two years after the experience in Belas, in 1904, the young men decided to return to their great love, sports, and found the Campo Grande Football Club. Other attendees of the events the 26th of August 1902 also followed their passion for sports and founded the Clube Internacional de futebol (International football club). The historical CIF is now situated in Monsanto.

The headquarters of the Campo Grande Football Club where situated on the second floor of the Manor of 'Pinto da Cunha', which is a building that continues to define the corner between 'Alameda das Linhas de Torres' and 'Campo Grande'. Amongst others, the Gavazzo brothers participated in the founding meeting, along with the Young men José Holtreman Roquette (José Alvalade), José Stromp and other sporting enthusiasts. The Viscount of Alvalade, José Alfredo Holtreman, grandfather of José Alvalade, who was nearing 70 years old and was the patriarch of the family, was appointed the president for his unselfish support and natural ability to understand and encourage the spirit and incentives of his grandson as well as his friends.
 
Football, fencing, tennis, running, jumping, social parties and picnics where the main activities that allowed the new club to gain momentum in its first two years of existence.

The founding
In 1906 the atmosphere in the club blurred as a division widened between members that defended the existence of the collective on the basis of social events and gatherings and others that defended the existence of the collective on the basis of dedication to the club's sporting aspects. Júlio de Araújo, who would later become the president of Sporting, a keen historian of the founding process of Sporting, noted that "day to day 2 trends where emphasised: That of the boys of Lisbon that claimed the current headquarters and that of the boys of Campo Grande that also laid claim to that spot, as was fair and advisable". Furthermore, Júlio de Araújo also notes that "the disagreement was not solely in regard to location, but also in regard to the objective of the club - with contrast between Campo Grande and those interested in the social aspects of the club rather than the sporting aspects".

This period of turbulence would eventually result in a split between the two parties. José Gavazzo was amongst the first to resign from the original club, accompanied by around two dozen other members: One of which was José Alvalade, who proclaimed that "I am going to have my grandfather with me and he will give me the money to make another club".

The determination shown by these disgruntled players did indeed bear fruit. The Viscount of Alvalade granted the creation of the new club and placed in its hands a notable quantity of money, made available a playing field in one of his farms - Sporting continues to exist in the same place to this day - and became the chairman of the board as an "associate protector" of the new club. It was largely due to this that the young José Alvalade, shining as a ray of enthusiasm due to the success of his initiatives, delivered his famous quote "We want this Club to be a big club, as big as the biggest in Europe".

On the 14 of April 1906 the newly created collective adopted the provisionary name of "Campo Grande Sporting Club". On the 1st of July of the same year, it was suggested by António Félix da Costa Júnior that the Club adopt the name "Sporting Clube de Portugal". In July of 1920, as proposed by Nuno Soares Júnior, the General Assembly of the Club adopted the 1st of July 1906 as the official founding date of Sporting. It was these original 18 members that made that fateful decision that has now celebrated its Centenary.

The ambition and drive for victory
Sporting Clube de Portugal has already celebrated, adhering to historical accuracy, one hundred years of history and counting. Some suggest that the club is indeed older, using the founding dates of other institutions and ignoring long periods of inactivity during periods of ephemeral existence as criteria for the setting of a foundation date. Others suggest that Sporting Clube de Portugal's date of foundation be relative to the founding date of Sport Club de Belas (1902) or the Campo Grande Sporting Club (1904). However the date of foundation of Sporting Clube de Portugal is fixed as the 1st of July 1906.
 
The routes of the footballing tradition of Sporting can clearly be traced back to the founding period of 1906. However this was also an eclectic period for the multiple disciplines of athletics followed by the founders of the club. The founding members of the club where devoted athletes, as well as practitioners of the disciplines of football, tennis, tug-of-war, fencing, cricket, gymnastics and field hockey.
 
In 1907, D. Fernando de Castelo Branco (Pombeiro) authorised the use of the lion from his coat of arms, without its blue background. "Not with a golden gun of red on a blue field, as was Pombeiro's, but with a silver gun of black on a green field, that clearly affirms the intentions of the founders", notes Júlio de Araújo. The green exterior was in fact suggested by the Viscount of Alvalade, symbolising hope for the new club.
 
The 3rd of February 1907 witnessed the first game of football for Sporting. It cannot be said however that the club met with immediate success: losing 5-1, in the second division, in front of the black cross, in a greatly disputed game in Alcântara. However, some of the players from the winning side would later join sporting: Alípio da Motta Veiga, Octávio Teixeira Bastos, António das Neves Vital and others. D. João de Vila Franca scored the only goal for Sporting in the game: A goal that would be the first in the history of Sporting.

The 1st of December 1907 witnessed the birth of an eternal rivalry. Sporting Clube de Portugal and Sport Lisboa (that would only become known as Benfica the following year) contested a game of football on the pitch at Quinta Nova, in Seta Rios. Sporting, who dressed in white during its early years, debuted in a kit comprised of a striped green and white shirt and white socks. This is a kit that has been reproduced in celebration of Sporting's centenary. This kit became known as the "Stromp Kit", as homage to the very popular 'Sportinguista' Franciso Stromp: A brilliant footballer who was one of the best Portuguese sportsmen of all time. Sporting won the game against Benfica 2-1, with one goal being scored by Cândido Rosa Rodrigues, one the Catatau brothers and former player of Sport Lisboa. This would become the first goal for the "Lions" in the great rivalry between 2 giants of Portuguese sport. The 1907/1908 season would see Sporting finish as regional runner-up.

The Club had, what was considered at this level, the best pitch in Portugal in the form of the Moorish site. Located then at 73 Alameda do Lumiar, today known as Alameda das Linhas de Torres, the pitch was located in terrain made available by the Viscount of Alvalade at his farm. The pitch was in use as early as May 1906 and was improved later in 1907. The pitch and surrounding sports complex housed a football pitch, athletics track, 2 tennis courts and a pavilion with showers, baths and a kitchen. A pavilion that was, at the time, a luxury.

1910 would also be an important year for Sporting, as its Tennis teams claimed titles in pole vaulting, shot put and long jump. This was also the year that José Alvalade would assume the presidency of the club: An office he would hold until 1916.

The initial triumphs
The direction of the club was now drawn: Drawn in Victory. Sporting would win its first Lisbon Championship in Football, fourth division, in 1912. Sporting would go on to win the honorary division in 1915, together with the Honourary Cup, with a victory over Benfica in the final (3-1). The Lisbon Championship in 1915 was the first in a long series that Sporting would claim. A series that saw Sporting claim 19 Championships between 1915 and 1947: when the championship came to an end. 1915 Also saw the teams of Sporting begin to use black socks to accompany the "Stromp" shirt.
 
Laranjeira Guerra would win the Porto-Lisboa cycling event in 1912: an event made more epic by the state of the roads traversed as well as the equipment used. This tournament would become the precursor of brilliant cyclists such as Alfredo Trindade, João Roque, Leonel Miranda, Marco Chagas and the greatest of all: Joaquim Agostinho. Success in the Tour de France, as well as a third and second in the Tour of Spain, not to mention many successes in Portugal, transformed Agostinho into one of the legends and symbols of Sporting.
 
In a sport that was very much in the vogue at the time, Tug-of-War, Sporting Achieved a level of immeasurable success in never being beaten in competitive meetings.
 
1912 would see more success for Sporting's Athletes as the highly versatile António Stromp would shine in the 100m (reaching the fourth round) and the 200m in the Olympic Games held in Stockholm: Games that proved fatal to the Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lázaro. António Stromp was Sporting's first Olympian and he would place Sporting on a path that would see Sporting as the most successful Olympic club of the country, both in the number of representatives the club has produced as well as the number of medals won. Also in 1912 Sporting would win its first in a long series of National Championships in Cross Country.
 
In 1917, Sporting relocated its facilities. José Alvalade allowed for the building of the Stadium de Lisboa in 1914; however a disagreement between the founder and director over the use of the stadium led to the Sportinguistas that held office to seek another solution. These Sportinguistas would lease a plot in the local vicinity in the form of the pitch at 412 Campo Grande, where a stadium would be constructed by the architect António do Couto: A stadium that would be the home of Sporting for the following 30 years. This however would not be the end of the stadium's life, as Benfica moved from Amoreiras and where granted use of the stadium by Sporting. This stadium was fondly known as the "office of wood" and was part of the land that now exists in the area south of Estádio José Alvalade.

The first Championship: A new kit
During the twenties, Sporting would win its first Championship of Portugal (1922/23): A competition attributed as the National title although it was contested as an eliminatory competition. The decisive game was contested in Faro on the 24th of July 1923, with a 3-0 victory against Académica de Coimbra. The Sporting team was at the time comprised of Torres Pereira, Jaime Gonçalves, Francisco Stromp, João Francisco Maia, Carlos Fernandes, José Leandro, Filipe dos Santos, Joaquim Ferreira, Cipriano dos Santos, Jorge Vieira and Henrique Portela. Joaquim Ferreira Scored two goals with Francisco Stromp: Leader of Sporting and Portuguese Sport as a whole, Pioneering athlete and one of Sporting's original figures scoring the other. Francisco Stromp would leave football the following year (1924).
 
The sections of swimming, water polo and rugby where also founded during this period. It was the historic leader and career athlete Salazar Carreira with the help of Sporting that first introduced Rugby to Portugal.

In 1928 Sporting first appeared in its famous shirts with horizontal white and green strips: A move provided, largely, by the Rugby team. This change occurred while on a tour of Brazil, the first for a Portuguese team, and was largely due to the facts that the kits used by the rugby team where cooler and in better condition than those used by the football team (White and Green shirt with black socks). It is from these fortunate circumstances that the present day, world famous, kit has evolved through history: A kit that is much sought after for its originality. The design of horizontal stripes used by the rugby team was a design of Salazar Carreira and was inspired by his time with the French club Racing de Paris, although Racing de Paris used red and white. Upon returning from Brazil the football team did however return the kits to the Rugby team. However, in October 1928 the football team played a game against Benfica, only to emerge in the second half of the game wearing the shirts of the rugby team. Sporting won the game and so was born....A new kit.

The series of victories in the Portuguese Football Championship continued into the thirties with Portugal claiming titles in 1933/34, 1935/36 and 1937/38. During this decade Sporting also claimed success in the sports of tennis, cycling, rugby (regional level), shooting, roller-hockey (victory in the National Championship in 1937/38 - the first season of the competition), ice-skating, gymnastics and fencing.

Alfredo Trindade, already with a variety of titles in numerous cycling disciplines, won the Tour of Portugal in 1933: The first individual and collective victory for Sporting in the most important event of the Portuguese cycling calendar. Trindade became an infamous figure not only for his personal successes but also for his intense rivalry, although tempered with respect and friendship, with the Benfiquista José Maria Nicolau. Their epic duels even then, without the presence of the media dynamic that exists today, excited Portugal.  José Albuqerque, known as "Sparky", won the Tour of Portugal in 1940.
 
The legendary centre-forward Fernando Peyroteo, who debuted for Sporting in 1937, emerged as the leading scorer of the League 1 Championship with 34 goals. He would be a central figure in the golden years still to come.

The Golden Years
The forties and fifties had where fabulous years for Sporting. Ten of 18 National Football Championships where won during these 20 years, along with four of 13 Portuguese cups that figure in the clubs role of honour. From the 1946/47 season to the 1953/54 season Sporting won seven of the eight championships contested, including becoming tri- and tetra-champion, losing only in the 1949/1950 season. This was the age of the famous "Five Violins" that became infamous on both the national and international levels. The "Five Violins" comprised of the players José Szavo, Kelly, Galloway, Cândido de Oliveira, Armando Ferrira, Enrique Fernandez and others. The name "Five Violins" was attributed to the journalist and trainer Tavares da Silva and a forward line comprised of Jesus Correia, Vasques, Peyroteo, Travassos and Albano. These men where said to play as an orchestra together in the manner of their collective spirit and efficiency on the field. During these years Sporting scored 123 (almost 5 per game!) in a championship comprised of 26 days, eight less than today. This is certainly a record that will be hard to beat.

As well as the numerous National Championships and Portuguese Cups, the teams of Sporting also claimed victories in the sporting initiatives known as "The Century" Cup. This competition came to an abrupt end after the "Lions" won the first two monumental trophies as well as the Imperial Cup.
 
These times witnessed success beyond measure and as a result Sporting, although not national champions at the time, was invited to participate in the first edition of the Cup of the Clubs of the European Champions. It was unfortunate that UEFA had not launched this competition earlier, as history notes that Sporting inaugurated the cup in a game with Partizan Belgrade (3-3), held at Estádio Nacional (National Stadium). It was indeed João Martins that scored the first goal of this now multi-million Euro competition.
 
Sporting's tetra-championship, the first in Portuguese football, finds its roots in the 1950/51 season with the players: Mário Wilson, Juca, Jesus Correia, Manuel Passos, Juvenal, Vasques, Galileu, Verissimo, Travassos, Martins, Tormenta, Carlos Gomes, Leandro, Caldeira, Barros, Canário, José Travassos, César Nascimento, Anacleto, Manuel Marques, Pacheco Nobre, Mateus e Pacheco. The Coach was the Brit Randolph Galloway, with Fernando Vaz as his deputy.
 
In 1955, José Travassos became the first Portuguese footballer to be selected for the European XI. He played in Belfast against the team of Great Britain, in a performance that saw him greatly praised by the international media: Therefore being named forever thereafter as "Zé da Europa" ("Zé of Europe").
 
By this time the famous Sporting academy had already carved its place into the pages of history: Winning the first National Junior Championship, held in 1938/39 with the last running of the competition being held in 1960. Sporting would repeat this feat in 45/46, 47/48 and 55/56.
 
In athletics, Sporting began the journey that would see it become the unrivaled champion of Portuguese athletics: Winning 12 championships between 1940/1960 with cross country claiming ten victories during this period.
 
Francisco Inácio claimed the Tour of Portugal in 1941; however the amount of national track and road titles that he won reaches well beyond this.
 
In 1945, Sporting founded the first swimming school in Portugal, the "country of sailors", where people, still, however where poor swimmers. Sporting was already the most pioneering club in the field of nautical sports however, claiming victories in water polo in the twenties.
 
In 1941 Sporting won its first of what would be come many titles in handball, with a victory in the Regional Championships of the variant of the game using 11 players (that existed at the time and was played on football fields). The series of 18 national victories that Sporting claims began in 1951/52: A Collection of championships that is unrivaled.
 
In the fifties, aside from the major titles won by Sporting, victories where also claimed in the sports of pool, shooting, table tennis (28 championships won up until present day!), badminton and motor racing. Sporting also claimed its two first national championships in volleyball (53/54 and 55/56) and its first national basketball championship in 1956. Sporting would go on to win seven titles in basketball until the Sport was no longer played at competitive level by the club. In volleyball, which is also no longer played by the club, Sporting claimed four more titles up until 1993/94.

In 1956, on the 10th of June, Sporting inaugurated Estádio José Alvalade (José Alvalade stadium): an achievement that was testament to the great level of vitality of the club. The dynamic ability and capacity of the the club to undertake such a project was an affirmation of the sacrifices of the associates that made the constructing of such a magnificent stadium possible. Sporting had initially returned to its origins in returning to the Estádio do Lumiar in 1937: Which had been rented out, in very good condition, until its renovation in 1947. This stadium had been the home of the infamous teams of the "Five violins" however the stadium was quickly becoming inadequate as Sporting approached its first half-century of life and the necessity of constructing a new stadium was becoming apparent. This necessity was complimented with the construction of a new stadium, based largely on the site of the old stadium. The stadium was baptised with the name of the founder that had always occupied himself with the quality of the facilities of Sporting: José Alvalade. This name had in fact already been adopted before the construction of the new stadium, with the renovation of the Estádio do Lumiar in 1947. The member holding membership number 1 of Sporting at the time of the inauguration of the new grandiose stadium was José Maria Gavazzo: One of the founders of the club and one of the original young holidaymakers in Belas in 1902.

Later, in 1983, under the supervision of the president João Rocha, the ambition of many Sportinguista's was realised with the "closing" of the stadium for the construction of a new seated terrace, that replaced the old standing terrace on the stadium's precinct.
 
On the 6th of June 1960, Sporting was declared an institute of public utility.
 
Manuel Faria, a patron of great prestige, predecessor of Manuel de Oliveira, Carlos Lopes, Fernando Mamede and of the Castro brothers, won the famous race of São Silvestre de São Paulo in 1957 and 1958 which was, until then, the best achievement in Sporting athletics history; along with the 4th place of Alvaro Dias in the long jump at the European Championships.

European Glory
During the sixties, Sporting reached a high point of European success in winning the Cup Winner's Cup in 1963/64 in a campaign lasting 3 games that saw a spectacular 5-0 win over Manchester United and a goal-fest against Apoel de Chipre: With Sporting winning 16-1, which is still the record of most goals scored in a European match. This victory by a management team largely lacking fame, which few believed would be possible at the outset, was largely due to the togetherness and psychological strength of the team. A team led principally by Gentil Cardoso, later by the architect Anselmo Fernandez and other great names of "Lions" and national football such as Carvalho, Pedro Gomes, Lino Alexandre Batista, José Carlos, Hilário, Fernando Mendes (The Great Captain), Geo, Pérides, Osvaldo Silva, Figueiredo, Mascarenhas and João Morais: scorer of the infamous goal directly from a corner in Antwerp that would prove to be the winning goal of the match.
 
With the ending of the Cup Winners's Cup after the 1998/99 season and its subsequent reshaping into the UEFA cup, Sporting became the only Portuguese club to win this historic title.
 
Between 1960 and 1999, Sporting's football team would win a further seven National Championships including the 1981/82 championship, and seven more Portuguese Cups, including the 1994/95 Cup: A victory that would mark the return to the top of the national podium after a prolonged absence. The juniors would also enjoy success: winning six championships, with the juvenile teams also winning eight titles. Sporting's children would also win three National Cups: A cup which ran during the nineties.
 
In 1974, with 46 goals, Hector Yazalde, Winger of Sporting, won the golden boot of the Champions of Europe. His record still stands to this day. In 2002, Mário Jardel became the second sporting player to win this European title of distinction.

In roller hockey, Sporting enjoyed a wave of success between 1965 and 1990: winning a European Champions Cup, which placed them as the best team in the world at the time, three Cup Winner’s Cups and one CERS Cup. The athletics teams of Sporting continued to enjoy success and were a constant source of pride for Sporting, with Carlos Lopes winning 3 cross country World Championships and a one gold and one silver medal at Olympic level. The corridors of Sporting also guided the country to a victory in the marathon in the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. The trophies won by these athletes formed a precursor to the other Olympic, World and European titles that Sporting can today boast.

Fernando Mamede became the world record holder for the 10,000 metres, which was a record that stood for 5 years and an amazing 15 years as the European record. Sporting has won, to this date, 14 European Champions Cups and 46 national titles in cross country, 43 national titles across all male events combined and 37 female national titles on the track.

In 2000, Sporting’s athletics team enjoyed success in the European Champions Clubs Cup on the track: making Portugal the only team to defeat Russia, who remains to this day as one of the athletics powers of the world. This Glorious victory was further consolidated as Portugal finished third in three other events. These victories where further evidence of Sporting’s ability to maintain its Olympic athletes at the highest level: Confirming its place of excellent as one of Europe’s premier Athletics clubs. Athletes such as Carlos Lopes, the Castro brothers, Fernando Mamede, all of whom are international medal and record winners, Rui Silva, Naide Gomes, Francis Obikwelu (Europe’s fastest man), Yuri Bilonog and Ionela Tirlea are all athletes of Sporting's centenary generation that expresses and interprets Sporting’s drive for success on all fronts.

In Handball, another Sport with a special place at the heart of Sporting, Sporting’s teams spurred to an amazing penta-championship between 1968/69 and 1972/73, a record still unbeaten in Portugal.

João Roque, Leonel Miranda, Joaquim Agostinho and Marco Chagas, among others, all shone in cycling in Portuguese as well as foreign events, with Agostinho achieving an impressive third place in the Tour de France, Second place in the Tour of Spain and three victories in the Tour of Portugal – dying on the 10th of May 1984 in a crash caused by a dog while he was racing in his yellow jacket in the Algarve on behalf of Sporting. His name is forever immortalised, as the epic climb of Alpe D’Huez in the Tour de France is now named after this infamous Portuguese cyclist and Sportinguista.

Sporting’s table tennis teams also recorded an insurmountable series of victories, winning 11 consecutive titles between 1984/85 and 1994/95. The teams have won an astounding 28 titles across all levels in the forty-year history of the sport in Portugal.
 
In billiards, Sporting’s representatives also shone on the European levels in both individual and team events.

A new cycle
In 1996, Sporting began a new lease of life, with the actions of José Roquette and other determined characters and leaders entering Sporting into a period of dynamic transformation. Leaders such as Miguel Galvão Teles, Dias da Cunha and Ernesto Ferreira da Silva. These man played their part in approving new statutes that where fit to face the modern age and would lay the foundations for a business group and Society of Soccer Sports (SAD) that would be admitted into the Portuguese Stock Exchange in 1998. In addition to this sweeping transformation, the club also promoted various measures to encourage transparency in the business relationships of the Club, as well as in tax and social security matters.

The ambitious process of transformation in this period guided Sporting down a path of modernisation of its practices and infrastructures that began long before the Candidature to host Euro 2004 in Portugal was organised.
 
The reshaping of Sporting during this period became known as the "Roquette Project", which was generally understood as being a program of dynamic modernisation of the club on three fronts: Sports, through the rationalisation and optimisation of resources available via the updating of the clubs functionality; Patrimonial aspects, that provided the club with a multi-functional and profitable elements; And finally the modernisation of the clubs organisation, characterised by an invigorated form that combined dedication and professionalism in a manner that was ready to deal with the present without mortgaging the future of the club.
 
Also in 1998, Sporting began the idealisation and construction of the stadium of a new generation. A stadium that would stand amongst the best in the world and would be inaugurated on the 6th of August 2003 in a ceremony that would be emotionally charged and truly a unforgettable night for all Sportinguistas.

In complimenting the new stadium, a new Alvalade XXI complex would also be built that would only work to further strengthen the mulitifuctionality of the clubs latest achievement. The area where Sporting was born continued to live and was revitalised with the building of the Viscount of Alvalade building: A building that would serve as the housing for the clubs companies. A new shopping centre called Alvaláxia would also be opened that would operate as a cultural and entertainment centre for everyday, as well as matchday, use. A medical clinic, a health club and a day-centre would all also be opened in this mammoth expression of the solidarity of the "Lions of Portugal" and the inauguration of the clubs museum offered the chance for all Sportinguistas to submerge themselves in the fabulous, living, tail that is Sporting Clube de Portugal.

In 2000, in a campaign followed closely by the passionate supporters and members of Sporting, Sporting would reconquer the National Football Championship after 17 long years in absence. The final game of the season saw a sweeping 4-0 victory on the fields of Salgueiros, which would be followed by a nationwide party that reached out to all Sportinguistas across the world who had been starved of this prestigious title. The title however would again return to Sporting in 2002. A Portuguese cup and a Super Cup of Portugal also reinforced the new footballing dynamic that now existed in Sporting: A dynamic that would drive Sporting all the way to the final of the prestigious UEFA Cup Final. The atmosphere at Estádio José Alvalade was electric as Sporting hosted the final. Sporting would lose the game 1-3 to CSKA Moscow after 14 games that expressed Sporting's excellent European pedigree. This loss however did nothing to deduct from the importance of this campaign in the hearts of all Sportinguistas.

Throughout its long history, the football team of Sporting has enjoyed much European success, reaching 2 European finals and 2 European semi-finals: once in the Cup winner´s Cup in 1974 and the other in the UEFA Cup in 1994, in both cases losing to the eventual winner of the competition.

At the start of its second century, Sporting was in no doubt in an enviable state of health: reinforced by the excellence of the work completed by the teams of Sporting in the previous decades; teams that continue to bear fruit and win titles.
Sporting has long held an advantage over its opponents, boasting the best athletics, futsal, table tennis and women's swimming teams, with recent titles also reinforcing again Sporting's dominance in athletics and handball. Sporting also holds most titles in futsal: a relatively new discipline in which Sporting has enjoyed national, as well as international success.

At the same time, Sporting's athletes have been fighting for victory on all fronts. As Sporting commemorates its centenary, the efforts to keep the club in pole-position on all fronts continue: Ensuring that the club is well prepared to deal with the present, as well as the future. The drive to maintain Sporting as Portugal's premier club consistently, as well as one of the best in Europe, continues.
 
It was Sporting's founding fathers that created the drive to maintain Sporting as on of Europe's biggest clubs: A drive that traces its roots all the way back to the ephemeral Sport club da Belas and the fateful match against the group from Sintra. The work of all Sportinguistas has been characterised over the past 100 years by endless dedication, passion and ambition. Regardless of who carries the baton out front for Sporting, one thing remains certain: Sporting is the greatest sports club in Portugal and one of the best in Europe.