Charity event returns to the Portuguese capital

Estádio José Alvalade will once again host Football Aid this year, this time taking place on the 26th of May with two matches.

Football aid is a charity initiative in partnership with the English Premier League and has already organised around 500 events with teams including Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Barcelona.

As usual fans will have the chance to play in Alvalade for a fee that will be fully donated to charity.

More than 5500 fans attend open session in Estádio José Alvalade

The Sporting Foundation took the lead in promoting a charity training session this Wednesday, with the professional football team being put through their paces in front of 5500 fans in Estádio José Alvalade. The fans responded in kind to the gesture, contributing 8000 presents for those most in need.

"Thank you for participating today, as part of the Sporting family. Happy holidays and a happy new year", said coach Jorge Jesus to the fans after the session.

Alvalade beach soccer legend, Madjer, was also in Alvalade. "We made a point of bringing a little something along today. Attitudes off the pitch are what make the difference", said the beach soccer skipper.

Alvalade to host yet another good cause in the run up to Christmas

The Sporting Foundation has once again teamed up with charity as part of the festive season, this time organising the collection of donated goods.

The initiative gets underway on the 12th of December and will run through until the 18th of December.

You can donate your items to the Sporting Foundation from 16h00 to 20h00, in the Alvalade Multisport Centre.

Alvalade tennis star supporting Champs Academy with the auction of his top-100 ATP racket

In an effort to raise funds for the Champs Academy, a charity which works with around 150 youths from the age of 6 to 18, Gastão Elias will auction off the racket which he used to earn a place in the ATP World top-100.

"It was one of those ideas that just comes out of nowhere. I asked Gastão to work with us by donating something with has a historic meaning for Portuguese tennis. Only five rackets have broken into the male top-100 in Portugal, so it means a lot. Gastão accepted straight away", affirmed the auction organiser Pedro Carvalho.

Bids can be made through the website www.esolidar.com.

Passing the 600€ mark is one of the organisation's objectives, affirmed Carvalho: "Right now the highest bid is at 350€. In our last auction, just before the Millennium Estoril Open, we raised around 600€ with a signed shirt from the Davis Cup team. We would like to beat that this time."

Alvalade President leads presentation ceremony

Although the Sporting Foundation was actually founded back on the 20th of December 2011, it was with the election of Bruno de Carvalho for the leadership of the club that the Foundation found a new lease of life, helping the parts of society that most need our support.

After the Charity Training event that saw more than 8,000 presents donated to a children's home, the Sporting Foundation has now launched an innovative new product: the Friends of the Sporting Foundation Card. Costing just 10€ for a season, this is a fantastic way to contribute to the lives of the more than 20,000 youths and 200 associations that the Foundation works with.

Speaking at the launch of the initiative, President Bruno de Carvalho laid down signing up for the card as an obligation for all Sporting fans: "Foundations like this one exist to give opportunities and experiences to people and it is important that we all think about the work that the Sporting Foundation does. It has been one of the most important vehicles for showing the human element of the club and we want Sporting to be much more than just a sports institution. We think that the Sporting Foundation will be able to reach out to even more people with the help of the Friends of the Sporting Foundation Card, which is at the heart of what the Foundation was created to do."