The club from Lisbon see the Europa League as a chance to give their fans a moment of joy
Sporting Clube de Portugal is one of the most important and most successful sporting entities of Spain’s neighbouring country. Under the slogan of ‘Effort, dedication, devotion and glory’, the Lisbon side is considered, alongside FC Porto and SL Benfica, one of the three ‘Grandes’ of Portuguese football.
Founded in 1906, the ‘Lions’ have a massive trophy collection, including 22 leagues and 16 Portuguse Cups. Their most successful period took place in the ‘40s and ‘50s, where they won 20 league titles. On a continental level, their biggest successes are the European Cup Winners’ Cup, which they lifted in 1964, and reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2005, which took place ta their own stadium. They were unable to taste victory at home then though, falling 1-3 to CSKA Moscow.
Sporting CP is a multisports club, which, as well as football, has teams in other disciplines, such as handball, futsal, hockey, table tennis and athletics. Furthermore, is is one of the few multisport clubs that has nine Olympic medals.
Another of the distinctive features of the Portuguese side is its commitment to young players. Their academy is considered as the best in Portugal and one of the most prolific. World-class talent often graduates from the academy, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Luís Figo and Paulo Futre.
European aims to get back on track
Fourth in the league and nine points off the leaders, Sporting CP are looking to the UEFA Europa League to give their fans something to cheer about.
The tie against Villarreal sees two experienced teams in the second-biggest continental competition in Europe meet. The Portuguese side have been involved in eight of the ten seasons since the Europa League took up its current format, while the Yellows are the team involved in the most matches (68) and have scored most goals (116) in the current format, having been involved on seven different occasions.
There are no previous meetings between the two sides. The Yellows have faced two Portugese sides in competitive fixtures before, FC Porto (Europa League 2010/11 semi-finals) and SL Benfica (Champions League 2005/06 group stage), beating each of them once, drawing against the ‘Eagles’ and losing once to the ‘Dragons’.
The side from Lisbon have faced Spanish teams in 26 competitive fixtures, getting seven victories, five draws and 14 defeats.
José Alvalade, a five-star stadium
The Estádio José Alvalade is a modern ground, with a capacity of 50,095. It was opened on 6th August 2003, and was built to be one of the main stadiums for Euro 2004, which took place in Portugal.
Categorised by UEFA as an elite stadium, it can host European finals. In 2005, it hosted the UEFA Cup final, which Sporting CP took part in, losing 1-3 to CSKA Moscow.
