L'Équipe highlights Alvalade's contribution to the nation's Euro 2016 campaign

Not even Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or for that matter any other club in Europe has as many players representing the respective national team as Sporting does.

This dominance is of course reflection of the quality of the Sporting Academy, highlighted in an article published by L'Équipe this week.

In the 0-0 draw against Austria, coach Fernando Santos included no fewer than six players who learnt their trade at Alvalade: Rui Patrício in goal, William Carvalho and João Moutinho holding down the midfield and Ronaldo, Nani and Ricardo Quaresma leading the attack.

Also on the bench was Sporting products Adrien Silva, Cédric, João Mário and José Fonte.

Only Barcelona comes close, having provided a total of five of the players for the Spanish national team's 2-1 loss against Croatia.

Bruno de Carvalho speaks with L'Équipe on funds

The Sporting president, Bruno de Carvalho, gave an extensive interview with L’Équipe this week, focusing in on one of the hot topics un world football today: funds.

“Why have I declared war on funds? Well, I don't know if you could call it a war. We are fundamentally against the large-scale injection of money into football when we don't know where it comes from. Funds always make a profit, transferring both good and bad players. There is a minimum of three things that we want: to evaluate past and present experiences, so that we can stop football from going down this path without measuring the consequences; to know exactly who the partners of these funds are and where the money comes from; and that it be made clear that funds cannot interfere in the management of clubs in anyway whatsoever", opened the Alvalade leader.

Carvalho went on to warn of the dangers clubs spending beyond their means, fueled by funds: “Funds create a dependency. It is a bit like selling drugs, where your clients start to need more and more. You fall into a vicious cycle: more debt, more funds, more debt. Of course these are good and bad funds, but it needs to be made clear which are which. We can't invest three million euros in a player, only to find out later that we owe fifteen million. When I was elected president, 95% of our players belonged to funds and we were experiencing the worst returns in our history, with debts of 500 million euros. People thought we could survive three months. The following season we qualified for the Champions League again. After cuting our relationship with funds we improved on the pitch and we balanced the books."

Bruno de Carvalho also reflected on Sporting's case with Doyen: "Funds want to make money without taking any risks, but a true partner is one that shares the risks with you. For Doyen to be in partnership with us, they would have to change who is in change or where the money comes from. We are 100% right in the case, but there are a lot of innocent people behind bars and criminals on the street."