President Bruno de Carvalho and Cape Verde's Minister of sport, Fernando Elísio Freire de Andrade, celebrate deal

Alvalade hosted a contingent from Cape Verde this weekend, to sign an agreement with Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Bruno de Carvalho led the Sporting CP delegation at the ceremony and the Alvalade president was keen to highlight the importance of the protocol: "One of our main objectives is to strengthen our bond with Portuguese speaking countries. The relationship between Sporting CP and Cape Verde has been developing for years now and we are all very proud of what we have achieved. What we are doing now is strengthening our partnership even more. We will do what we now best and we really like to see sport developing in a country like Cape Verde, where we recently opened an academy. Now we have taken an important step with the Cape Verdean government and a club like Sporting CP has to have this kind of protocols with governments."

Cape Verde's Minister of sport, Fernando Elísio Freire de Andrade, also gave his backing to the protocol, affirming the role Sporting CP can play in the country: "This is an extraordinary protocol. Cape Verde wants sport to be open to our whole society. Sporting CP is a brand on the world stage, with a lot of influence in Cape Verde. It is a club that has enjoyed a lot of success in a lot of sports, particularly in the way the club integrates young athletes and helps them develop. That is what we want to happen in our country and I want to thank Sporting CP and president Bruno de Carvalho for their availability."

Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva hosted by Bruno de Carvalho

The Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, paid a visit to Estádio José Alvalade this week, as part of a delegation hosted by Sporting CP President Bruno de Carvalho, SAD administrator Guilherme Pinheiro and vice-president Carlos Vieira.

Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva explained how the opportunity came about: "This visit is the result of two things: firstly, I am a Sporting fan and wanted to come here. Secondly, I wanted to see Sporting CP from the inside. The club is massive in Portugal and in all Portuguese speaking countries. We are also here to look into developing a partnership with the club. We have been building up some solid relationships with other countries, particularly other Portuguese speaking countries and countries that have Portuguese speaking populations."

The Cape Verde leader also spoke about the proposed partnership with Sporting CP and some of the great Cape Verde names who have starred in Alvalade: "Sporting CP could be a good partner for our growth objectives in terms of sport in Cape Verde. We have two players in the Sporting CP squad right now and we have had others before, like Nani and Oceano. It is an honour for Cape Verde to be represented in this club."