Portugal to face Albania and France in September

The Portuguese national coach has included three Sporting players in his squad for the coming clashes with France and Albania.

Rui Patrício, Adrien and João Mário are the Alvalade trio who feature in a squad comprised of a staggering 13 out of 24 players who were produced at the Sporting Academy.

The Portuguese will take on France in Alvalade at 19h45 GMT on Friday the 4th of September, before travelling for the European qualifier against Albania at 20h45 CET on the 7th of September.

João Mário comments after penning new deal

Having arrived at Alvalade back in 2008 as a promising young talent, João Mário has now penned a deal that extends his stay at Sporting until 2020.

The up and coming midfielders proved happy with the contract extension and is more than ever hungry for titles: “This is really important for my career. I am really happy to be with Sporting for even longer. This is recognition of my work. It has always been a dream for me to play for the first team and luckily I am doing that.”

João Mário went on to speak about the season so far: “We have started the best way possible and it is always important to win titles like we did on Sunday. It gives us for confidence going into the Champions League playoffs.”

João Mário

Sporting Clube de Portugal, Futebol, SAD has reached an agreement with João Mário for the renewal of his contract until 2020, with a buy-out clause of 60,000,000.00€.

Sporting SAD wishes João Mário the best of professional and personal success.