Brazilian team was travelling to Colombia for the Copa Sudamericana final

A airplane carrying the Brazilian football team Chapecoense was involved in an accident on Monday night in Cerro Gordo. The team from the city of Santa Catarina, where former Alvalade keeper Marcelo Boeck now plays but was not travelling with the squad, were on the way to Medellin for the the Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional.

The Brazilian club have made the following announcement: "In light of contrasting news which is being announced from various sources in relation to an accident with the airplane transporting the Chapecoense team, Associação Chapecoense de Futebol, through its vice-president, Ivan Tozzo, will await an official statement from the Colombian authorities. May God be with our athletes, directors, journalists and everyone travelling with the delegations."

Sporting CP is with Chapecoense and all of the families of those travelling on the flight at the extremely difficult time.

Alvalade and Dortmund mascots backing fair-play

Jubas, the Sporting Clube de Portugal mascot, and Emma, his Borussia Dortmund equivalent, haven taken it on themselves to back the spirit of fair-play.

On the 1st of November Sporting CP travelled to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund and it was the perfect occasion for the two mascots to meet. Jubas of course made the most of the chance to visit the city, guided by Emma.

Emma thanked Jubas for his visit by giving him an official Borussia Dormund shirt.

Domingos Duarte, Tobias, Geraldes, Podence, Mané and Iuri Medeiros also feature

Rúben Semedo features in Rui Jorge's under-21 Portugal squad for the coming friendlies with the Czech Republic (11th of November at 18h15) and the Netherlands (15th of November at 18h30).

Also included in the squad are fellow Sporting players Domingos Duarte, Tobias Figueiredo, Francisco Geraldes, Daniel Podence, Carlos Mané and Iuri Medeiros.

Squad list in full:

Goalkeepers: Joel Pereira (Belenenses), Bruno Varela (Vitória) and Rui Silva (Nacional);

Defenders: Domingos Duarte (Belenenses), Edgar Ié (Villarreal), Fernando Fonseca (FC Porto), Rebocho (Moreirense), Rúben Semedo (Sporting CP) and Tobias Figueiredo (Nacional);

Midfielders: André Horta (Benfica), Bruno Fernandes (Sampdória), Francisco Geraldes (Moreirense), João Carvalho (Benfica) and Rúben Neves (FC Porto);

Forwards: Bruma (Galatasaray), Daniel Podence (Moreirense), Diogo Jota (FC Porto), Gonçalo Guedes (Benfica), Ricardo Horta (Braga), Carlos Mané (Estugarda), Iuri Medeiros (Boavista) Kevin Rodrigues (Real Sociedad) and Simão Azevedo (Braga).

Rui Patrício, Adrien, William and Gelson all given the green light for Lithuania

National team coach Fernando Santos released his squad list for the coming World Cup 2018 qualifier against Lithuania this week.

A total of four Sporting players feature in the squad of 24 Rui Patrício, Adrien, William Carvalho and Gelson Martins.

Squad list in full:

Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Marafona (Sp. Braga) and Rui Patrício (Sporting CP);

Defenders: Bruno Alves (Cagliari), Antunes (Dynamo Kiev), João Cancelo (Valencia), José Fonte (Southampton), Luís Neto (Zenit), Nélson Semedo (Benfica) and Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund);

Midfielders: André Gomes (Barcelona), Adrien Silva (Sporting CP), Bernardo Silva (Monaco), Danilo Pereira (FC Porto), João Mário (Inter de Milão), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich) and William Carvalho (Sporting CP)

Forwards: André Silva (FC Porto), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Éder (Lille), Gelson Martins (Sporting CP), Pizzi (Benfica), Nani (Valencia) and Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas).

Agreement for contract extension with Pedro Marques

Sporting Clube de Portugal – Futebol, SAD has reached an agreement with Pedro Marques for the renewal of the athlete's contract, now valid until 2023 and with a buy-out clause of 60,000,000.00€.

Sporting SAD wishes Pedro Marques the best of professional and personal success.

Crowd turns out at team hotel ahead of encounter with Nacional

Dozens of Sporting fans made their way to Hotel Meliá in Madeira this afternoon, eager to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars. Goalkeeper Azbe Jug was on hand to oblige, posing for photos and signing shirts.

Sporting will take on Nacional in Estádio da Choupana, at 21h00.

Estádio José Alvalade on the verge of yet another mega crowd

Sporting is set to fill Alvalade with over 40,000 fans for the 12th consecutive official match this weekend, with the hosting of Tondela. The average crowd over the last 11 matches was 44,868 which is 90% of full capacity.

2015/2016 SEASON

SL Benfica | 49,699 spectators

Arouca | 46,014 spectators

Marítimo | 44,230 spectators

União da Madeira | 44,719 spectators

Vitória de Setúbal | 43,827 spectators

2016/2017 SEASON

Marítimo | 42,577 spectators

FC Porto | 49,399 spectators

Moreirense | 44,393 spectators

Estoril Praia | 41,994 spectators

Legia Varsóvia | 40,094 spectators

Borussia Dortmund | 46,609 spectators

The average crowd for Liga NOS encounter this season has been 44,591 so far, making Alvalade the most packed stadium in Portugal:

SPORTING CP | average crowd of 89.09% of capacity

SL BENFICA | average crowd of 86.20% of capacity

FC PORTO | average crowd of 71.64% of capacity

Sales information for the Portuguese Cup 3rd round and Liga NOS matchday 8

Sporting Clube de Portugal will begin sales of tickets for Famalicão and Tondela on Wednesday the 12th of October as follows:

FAMALICÃO | PORTUGUESE CUP
Tickets are priced at 5€ and are exclusively on sale for Sporting Clube de Portugal members with September 2016 fees paid. Sales will be from 10:00 to 20:00. Kick-off is scheduled for 20:15 on Thursday, in the Famalicão Municipal Stadium.

TONDELA | LIGA NOS
Tickets start from 5€ for members and 22€ for fans. Family Tickets will be available for 21€ and are valid for 3 people (one of which must be a club member). Kick-off is scheduled for 18:15 on Saturday the 22nd of October.

Supporters group looking to raise awareness on the efforts made by the Sporting faithful

The Directivo Ultra XXI supporters group visited the Sporting Academy last week, as part of an initiative with the club's youngster athletes to raise awareness about the importance of the fans and their daily efforts to support the club's teams.

Over 100 CD's were given out to the starlets with all of the songs which normally echo through Alvalade.

Alvalade dominates national call up

Beatriz Conduto, Carolina Monteiro, Inês Macedo and Joana Martins all feature in the latest under-17 female Portuguese squad for two friendlies against the Czech Republic.

The quartet make Alvalade the most represented club representing the nation.