Website Club home page Chairman Bruno de Carvalho | Ground Alcochete | |
Full name Sporting Clube de Portugal Youth and Academy | ||
Sporting Clube de Portugal has a football training facility (Academia Sporting in Alcochete), which accommodated Portugal during the Euro 2004 competition. Famous for its football youth academy system which features a range of well-equipped facilities and is one of the most renowned in the world, Sporting has continuously developed many world class footballers, such as Ballon d'Or recipients Cristiano Ronaldo and Luís Figo. The current squad for the 2015-2016 season has 11 players graduated from their youth ranks, including Rui Patrício, William Carvalho, João Mário, Adrien Silva, André Martins, Rúben Semedo, Carlos Mané, Ricardo Esgaio, Tobias Figueiredo, Gelson Martins and Matheus Pereira.
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Past youth academy players
The long list of players who developed their skills in the youth academy of the club include other noted footballers such as:
Sporting U19 team - Juniores
As of 7 September 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
Sporting U17 team - Juvenis
As of 23 August 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
Sporting U17 B team - Juvenis (Distritais)
As of 9 September 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
Sporting U15 team - Iniciados
As of 25 August 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
Sporting U15 B team - Iniciados (Distritais)
As of 9 September 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
The Academy
Sporting's Academy was also the first and only sports academy in Europe to receive the ISO9001:2008 – a quality certification awarded by EIC, a Portuguese anonymous society responsible for this type of reward, which is recognised both locally and internationally. This is a testimony to Sporting's excellence in several different areas, such as: their ability to raise up youngsters not only athletically, but also academically; Sporting responsibility towards ethical and social aspects, as well as their struggle to maintain the club values above everything else; quality of their infrastructures/facilities; their coaching and medical staff skills; scouting area.
Facilities
Budgeted around 2000$00 million (2 million contos), the construction of the academy commenced in August 1999 in the council of Alcochete, located on the outskirts of Lisbon on the southern bank of the river Tejo, and the inauguration was on June 21, 2002. The main building of the academy has two different areas, the professional football area and the youth area. In both sides there is medical center equipped with treatment rooms, gym, Turkish bath, Jacuzzi and bedrooms. In the youth area, there are also several study rooms. The Academy is equipped with a main field, four grass pitches for training, a synthetic field and a grassed area for goalkeepers training.
Sporting's youth academy was considered by Luiz Felipe Scolari (former Portugal national coach) and José Pekerman (former Argentina national coach) as one of the best sports academies in the world. It was also the home training ground for the Portugal national football team during Euro 2004. A number of European clubs choose the Sporting's Academia for training in the off-season.
World-Class Youth Program
Sporting CP is famous for its renowned youth program. The club created two FIFA World Player of the Year winners (Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo), two Ballon d'Or winners (Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo) and one runner-up (Paulo Futre), and one FIFA Ballon d'Or winner (Cristiano Ronaldo). The academy also produced six UEFA Champions League winners (Paulo Futre, Luís Figo, Nuno Valente, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Ricardo Quaresma) and a large number of players who represented their country at the full international level more than 50 times, including Miguel, João Moutinho, Miguel Veloso and Simão.
In 2010, the academy was the first and only sports academy in Europe to receive the ISO9001:2008 – a quality certification awarded by EIC, a Portuguese anonymous society responsible for this type of reward, which is recognised both locally and internationally. This is a testimony to Sporting's excellence in several different areas, such as: their ability to raise up youngsters not only athletically, but also academically; Sporting responsibility towards ethical and social aspects, as well as their struggle to maintain the club values above everything else; quality of their infrastructures/facilities; their coaching and medical staff skills; scouting area.