Supporters of Sporting CP

Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting CP) is a Portuguese sports club based in Lisbon and founded in 1906. Sporting CP have won 20 championships, 17 Taça de Portugal, 4 Taça da Liga, 9 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, 4 Campeonato de Portugal and 1 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in men's football, and through its athletics department was responsible, respectively, in 1984 and 1976, for Portugal's first Olympic gold and Olympic silver medals ever,[1][2] as well as for other titles in other men's and women's sports, disciplines and competitions throughout its history.[3][4][5][6] Being a multi-sports club, Sporting CP has described itself as Portugal's "biggest sporting powerhouse" (a maior potência desportiva nacional)[7] due to the number of titles won by its teams and athletes in several sports and sport disciplines, including in the Olympic Games, where they do not represent the club.[8][9][10][11]

The supporters of the club, who are called Sportinguistas, have played an important part in the club's growth during its 118-year existence. One of those cases was the raising of money for the construction of the club's first indoor arena in 1976[12] and the João Rocha Pavilion in 2016, when supporters donated money to pay the building works.[13][14] The club has about 150,000[15] affiliated members (called sócios) and research studies have suggested it has a number of fans ranging from 1,100,000 to 2,700,000 in Portugal alone – which makes it the second or third most supported sports club in Portugal, depending on the study.[16][17][18][19] Like the other two Portuguese Big Three sports clubs, Sporting CP has also a sizable number of foreign fans in other Portuguese-speaking countries beyond Portugal itself and supporters among the Portuguese expatriate community.[20][21][22]

Since shortly after the foundation of the sports club in 1906, Sporting CP and its supporters have established official centres (núcleos), branches (filiais) or delegations (delegações) of the club across Portugal and abroad.[23][24][25]

Organised autonomous groups of supporters (claques) also exist. Sporting has 4 ultras groups: Juventude Leonina, founded in 1976, Torcida Verde, founded in 1984, Directivo Ultras XXI, founded in 2002 and Brigada Ultras Sporting, founded in 2004.[26]

  1. ^ "100 Olympic Tidbits: Portugal's First Gold Medalist". Yahoo News. 21 July 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Visão | Há 40 anos: a medalha olímpica que mudou Portugal". Visão (in European Portuguese). 26 July 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  3. ^ Roseiro, Bruno. "Sporting chega aos 38 títulos internacionais e reforça estatuto na Europa. 40% foram nas últimas cinco épocas". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Um palmarés de fazer inveja: Sporting soma 39 títulos internacionais". SAPO Desporto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Sporting gasta 20 milhões de euros por ano em todas as modalidades". SAPO Desporto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Palmarés | Site oficial do Sporting Clube de Portugal". www.sporting.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Sporting Clube de Portugal | LinkedIn". pt.linkedin.com (in Portuguese). Retrieved 23 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Curiosidades". www.sporting.pt (in European Portuguese). 26 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Gostava de trabalhar no Sporting mas não sabe jogar à bola? Não há problema, esta vaga é para si - Forever Young" (in European Portuguese). 13 March 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  10. ^ Abola.pt (6 August 2023). "Sporting Estádio José Alvalade, 20 anos: três testemunhos importantes | Abola.pt". Abola.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  11. ^ ""Há muito que somos considerados a maior potência desportiva nacional"". SAPO Desporto (in Portuguese). Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  12. ^ Roseiro, Bruno. "Sporting. Como se construía um pavilhão na década de 70?". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  13. ^ "Sporting: 22 mil adeptos contribuíram para a Missão Pavilhão". Maisfutebol (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Sporting informa que 10 700 sócios já doaram dinheiro para a Missão Pavilhão". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Sporting tem quase 150 mil sócios | Abola.pt". Abola.pt (in Portuguese). 7 March 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Sporting ultrapassa os 160 mil sócios". www.record.pt (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  17. ^ Observador. "Quase metade dos portugueses é do Benfica. Porto e Sporting em segundo e terceiro lugar". Observador (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  18. ^ ZAP (8 August 2023). "Afinal, o Benfica tem quantos adeptos? (não, não são 6 milhões)". ZAP Notícias - Atualidade, mundo, ciência, saúde, desporto (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Saiba Quantos Adeptos Portugueses têm cada clube de Portugal". www.jogadores.pt (in European Portuguese). 1 July 2022. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  20. ^ "O Futebol também é Soft Power português em África". www.dn.pt (in European Portuguese). 3 June 2023. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  21. ^ Silva, Gonçalo Viegas e Costa Marques da (2013). Internacionalização da marca Sporting Clube de Portugal (masterThesis thesis). Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  22. ^ "Emigrantes assistem à Taça de Portugal" (in European Portuguese). Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  23. ^ "Filiais do Sporting". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  24. ^ "Clube de Portugal nas bancadas: 51 núcleos do Sporting vão estar representados esta noite em Alvalade". www.record.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Roseiro, Bruno. "Claques. Como nasceram, de que forma evoluíram, no que se tornaram (com polémicas e violência pelo meio)". Observador (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 29 February 2024.