Skip to main content
Idioma: Português  • english

The Foundation, and the first steps

Football was introduced to Portugal by the Pinto Basto brothers when they returned from their studies in England, among the aristocrats. The story goes that the first game to be played was in Cascais in October 1888, and since then the fashion of the game spread all over the country.

In Lisbon, the aristocrats had the 'Clube Lisbonense', who played in Cascais in the summer, in Belas and Sintra in September, and in the capital for the rest of the year, but they didn't let younger people play.

The emblem of Sport Club de Belas. It has a blue belt with gold trim on a white background and golden SCB initials.

On the 26th of August, 1902, the Gavazzo brothers founded Sport Clube de Belas, but their existence was short, playing only in a 3-0 victory over Sintra. However, this game was honoured with the presence of the King, and consequently was featured in the press, who reported that the event attracted over 4,000 people, filled with enthusiasm and interest in the game, and thus identified the Belas as a young group with good families.

With the end of summer arriving and the return of the Lisbon team, Belas ceased to exist. Two years later, the idea to revive the team was conceived in Bijou Cake Shop, and almost all of the residents in the Campo Grande zone agreed to resurrect the club, under a different name of 'Campo Grande Football Club'
The headquarters of Campo Grande Football Club was situated in the mansion of Pinto da Cunha, in Campo Grande. The window on the second floor in the corner facing the camera was the bedroom of Francisco Gavazzo, where the HQ was based.

During the next two years, the Club developed intensely, and teams from other sports were formed as part of the club, such as Tennis and Athletics, but they mostly organised parties and festivals, which led to a split in the group, as one side said that the Club should only deal with sport.

The controversy reached its highest level during a picnic on 12th April 1906, which motivated a General Meeting for the next day. In this historic meeting, José Gavazzo, who was also representing his brother Francisco, absent and abroad, resigned from the group, because they had become known as The Dissidents, one of whom was José Alvalade who later stated "I will speak to my Grandmother and she will give me money to create a new club".

Doing what they said they would do, on the 15th of April, The Dissidents got together for the first time to form a new club, where the first headquarters was based in the Mansion of the Alvalades. The group was made up of a mixture of people, some of who had created Campo Grande Football Club, and the group, 36 strong, were considered the founders. By te end of the year, this group had increased to 45.

On the 8th of May, 1906, the first General Meeting is held, where Visconde de Alvalade is elected President, as his grandson José is elected Vice President, who served as a real boost towards the first years of the existence of Sporting. The rest of the positions are:

Later, José Stromp would replace Gavazzo as Secretary, when he moved to Paris.

It was in this General Meeting that the first club standards were set, as were privileges to 10 of the main founders. It was here the motto was set "We want a club as a big as the biggest in Europe". After the meeting, the HQ was changed to the second floor of the Palace of the Cunhas, in the mall of Linhas de Torres.

Initially, the club was to be called Campo Grande Sporting Clube, but in the General Meeting on the 1st of July, 1906, by a suggestion of António da Costa Júnior, the club took on the name Sporting Clube de Portugal. Tennis was initially going to be the priority sport, but the rapid growth in popularity of football changed that. In the follow year they also started to play Athletics, Gymnastics and Swordfighting.

The first kit was completely white, taken from the old Campo Grande FC. However, from 1908 they took on the green and white halves, which debuted on 25 October in a game against Benfica. The halved shirts were made in England and exported to Lisbon. The shorts were white until 1915, the year they adopted black shorts, suggested by one of the football players, Raul Barros.

The first emblem of Sporting Clube de Portugal

In 1907, the first emblem, featuring a roaring lion was worn on the shirt. The lion was taken from the coat of arms of D. Fernando Castelo Branco, and soon, the first flag was created, all green with the initials of the club in white and the lion. D. Fernando agreed to let Sporting 'borrow' the lion, under the condition that they do not use the colour of his coat of arms, which was blue. They opted for green because it was the colour of hope.

On 3rd February 1907, the very first game took place in Alcântara. They lost 5-1 against Cruz Negra, with D. João de Vila Franca Sporting the first goal of Sporting's history. In the second leg, they won 3-1. In the tie breaking game, they won 2-0. Unfortunatly, the trophy, apparently a work of art, went missing. They won the trophy properly against Estefânia, in the same year.

On the 4th July 1907, in Sítio das Mouras, Portugals best facility was opened. It had a big pavilion, changing rooms, showers and baths, games rooms, a kitchen, two tennis courts and an athletics pitch.

It was located in Alameda do Lumiar, (where the Mall in Linhas de Torres now is), on land that Visconde de Alvalade owned. It started to be used in May 1906. It cost 550,000 reis, which was a lot of money at the time. It is equivalent to €2700, or £2200. It was thanks to the fortune of the Alvalade family, and contributions from other members. During the construction period, Sporting used the facilities of the local Campo Grande FC, who had by now been dissolved.

On the 1st September 1907, the very first Derby with Benfica was held. It was the day in which a rivalry was born, and to this day goes strong. It ended in a 2-1 victory for Sporting, against Sport Lisboa, who later turned into Benfica.

On the 19th July 1807, the first constitution was written by the club, and approved 22nd August of the same year.

On the 25th October 1908, Sporting debuted their green and white halved shirts in Campo da Feiteira, in the first official game against SL Benfica. Sporting lost 2-0.

In the beginning of 1910, the second constitution of Sporting were approved with the introduction of an audit committee.

On the 4th January 1910, Visconde de Alvalade ends his reign as President and hands the role over to Luís Caetano Pereira. His time in the role was short, however and he left on 26 July and was replaced by a certain José Holtreman Roquete Alvalade, who was the clubs secretary at the time.

On the 27th February 1910, Sporting organized the first game in which people had to pay an entry fee in Lumiar. They lost 4-0 to Benfica.

On the 10th March 1910 they played a team from another country for the first time, against the Spaniards of Huelva, in a 2-0 victory.

It was during this year in which António Stromp (pole vault), Gabriel Ribeiro (high jump) and Alfredo Cemecelha (weightlifting) started to gain some victories in Athletics.

the 27th August 1910 is believed to be the day in which a team of players from Lisbon representing Portugal went to Spain to play Huelva. João Bentes captained the team, who on 4-0, with goals from Francisco Stromp and others from António Rosa Rodrigues. The team had other Sporting players; Augusto de Freitas, Francisco dos Santos, António Stromp e António Couto. The kit wore the green and white halves of Sporting, because it was considered the most beautiful.

There were those who thought Sporting was a club created by a group of aristocrats, with Republican roots, but this is not the case. José Alvalade made sure that politics would not enter the club. He was re-elected as President of the club, days before the Monarchy approved the right to demolish the Sítio das Mouras, to use in a construction of Stadium de Lisboa, another ambitious project. This did not sit happily with Sporting. José Alvalade wanted to continue taking the club in the right direction, however.

The first titles came in 1912, when Sporting won the Lisbon championships in the 4th tier, a league only youth players could play. The team won 21 out of 22 games, a feat they repeated the following year.

At this time, António Stromp became the first athlete from Sporting to represent Portugal at the Olympics, participating in the sprinting events in the 1912 Games, in Stockholm. He distinguished himself as an elite athlete, with talents not only lying in Athletics, but football too.

on 14th September 1912, Laranjeira Guerra wins the Porto-Lisbon Cycling race, a big achievement as he was the first Portuguese person to win the race.

On 2nd November 1912 Caetano Pereira returns as President of Sporting.

On 13th March 1913, the President of Portugal, accompanied by Afonso Costa, visits the facilities of Sporting, which appears in the weekly sports paper 'O Mundo'. They held an athletics competition which Sporting won with 8 1st places, 5 2nd places and 4 3rd places.

On 1st April 1913, a new emblem of Sporting was adopted. Morais Sarmento had bought badges from Germany and Sporting used these as inspiration.

6 of Sportings players flew to Brazil to represent the Football Association of Lisbon, in a competition held in the Summer of 1913.

On 5th October 1913 Mota Marques is elected President of Sporting. It was also in this year where Sporting changed their HQ to Chiado.

On 26th April 1914, the first game takes places between squads of Porto and Lisbon players. Hans Schoebel and António Stromp are the two Sporting players that represent Lisbon, who thrash Porto 7-0.

On 28th June 1914, the Stadium de Lisboa is inaugurated. The construction is overseen by José Alvalade. António Stromp wins the 100m sprint in the first competition held in the stadium.

The habit of winning

In the beginning of the 1914/15 season, Sporting aquires the services off Artur José Pereira, who was seen by many as the best player in Portugal at the time. He became the first Portuguese person to be paid to play football. It was in this season also in which, by suggestion of Raul Barros, Sporting adopts black shorts, instead of white.

On 16th Nobember 1914, Daniel Queirós dos Santos is elected President of Sporting

In the 1914/15 season, Sporting win the Lisbon Championship. This would become the first of 18 titles out of 37 possible. In the same season, Sporting win the first edition of the 'Taca de Honra', a cup competition.

On 12th June 1915, the 3rd Constitution is approved in the General Meeting.

In 1916, after the removal of José Alvalade from the club, the HQ relocates to the mall in Linhas de Torres.

On 29th July 1916 Daniel Queirós dos Santos is re-elcted as President of Sporting.

Sporting moved to Campo Grande, leasing the territories belonging to the Pinto da Cunha family, and on the 1st April 1917, new facilities were opened which continued to be the best in the country. The new HQ was moved here, too. These facilities, popularly known as the Estancia da Madeira and they housed Sporting for 30 years. This could only have been possible thanks to Mário Pistacchini, who financed the whole project, designed by architect António Couto.

The April 18, 1918 Mario Pistacchini chairs an Administrative Commission to take account of Sporting. A few months later, he is elected president after the departure of Soares Júnior.

On July 27th, 1918 António Soares Júnior is elected President of Sporting.

On 19th October 1918 José Alvalade dies of pneumonia.

On 29th December, 1918 Mário Pistacchini returned as President, again in front of an Administrative Commission, to be finally elected President of Sporting.

On 20th July, 1919 Sporting becomes Regional Champions for the second time, after a replay against Benfica.

On 1st May, 1920, as proposed by Nuno Soares Júnior, 'July 1, 1906' is adopted as the official creation date of Sporting, because it was then that the club became known as Sporting Clube de Portugal.

At the General Assembly in October 1920, the fourth Statute of Sporting Clube de Portugal is approved, where it was allowed to set up affiliates and delegations throughout the country.

In May 1921, the Nautical section of Sporting is created, by a group of dissidents from Clube Naval de Lisboa.

António Stromp sadly passes away on the 6th July 1921.

On July 25th, 1921 António Soares Júnior is elected for the second time to become President of Sporting.

On 10th October 1921, Jorge Vieira becomes the first Portuguese international football referee, and takes control of Spain v Belgium, in Bilbua

On 21st November 1921, Manoel Garcia Cárabae replaces Soares Júnior as president of Sporting.

On 18th December 1921, the first game of the National Team is held in Madrid. Portugal lost 3-1 to Spain, and Sporting was represented by Jorge Vieira and João Francisco, who thus become the first international footballers from Sporting.

Traduzido por LeaoMadeirense