Sporting C.P. Youth and Academy
| Full name | Sporting Clube de Portugal Youth and Academy |
|---|---|
| Ground |
Sporting/Puma Academy Alcochete |
| Chairman | Bruno de Carvalho |
| Website | Club home page |
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. Some of its most notable home-bred footballers include Rui Patrício, Victor Golas, Tiago Ilori, Eric Dier, Cédric Soares, Zézinho, João Mário Eduardo, Adrien Silva, André Martins, Ricardo Esgaio, Bruma and Betinho in the current squad.
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:
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and former Manchester United winger
- Luís Figo (retired), former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Internazionale player
- Nani (Manchester United)
- Paulo Futre (retired), former Porto and Atlético Madrid player
- Simão (Espanyol), former Barcelona, Benfica and Atlético Madrid player
- Ricardo Quaresma (Porto), former Barcelona, Chelsea, Besiktas and Internazionale player
- Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kyiv), former Genoa player
- João Moutinho (AS Monaco), former Porto player
- Yannick Djaló (Toulouse), former Benfica player
- Carlos Martins (Benfica), former Recreativo and Granada player
- Silvestre Varela (Porto)
- Bruno Pereirinha (Lazio)
- Hugo Viana (Braga), former Newcastle United and Valencia player
- Custódio (Braga), former Dynamo Moscow player
- Beto (Sevilla)
- Daniel Carriço (Sevilla)
- André Santos (Deportivo La Coruña)
- Marco Caneira (Videoton FC), former Internazionale, Bordeaux and Valencia player
- José Fonte (Southampton), former Crystal Palace player
- José Semedo (Sheffield Wednesday), former Cagliari and Charlton Athletic player
- Rui Fonte (Benfica B), former Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Espanyol player
- Nuno Valente (former Porto Champions League winner and former Everton player)
- Dani (retired), who played for Ajax and Atlético Madrid
- Luís Boa Morte, former Arsenal, Fulham and West Ham United player
- Paíto (Skoda Xanthi), former Sion, Neuchâtel Xamax and Vaslui player
- Miguel (unattached, although he only played for the youth squads before moving to Estrela da Amadora and known for playing for Benfica and Valencia)
- Emílio Peixe (retired), who played for Sevilla
- Hugo Porfírio (retired), who played for West Ham, Racing Santander and Benfica
- Jorge Cadete (retired), who played for Celtic
- Beto (retired) former Bordeaux and Recreativo player
- Carlos Xavier (retired), who played for Real Sociedad
- Paulo Torres (retired), who played for Salamanca and Rayo Vallecano
- Hugo Porfírio (retired), who played for West Ham, Racing de Santander and Nottingham Forest
- Freire (retired), who played for Celta
- Houssine Kharja (Al-Arabi), former Roma, Siena, Genoa, Internazionale and Fiorentina player
- Nenê (Al-Gharafa), (although he only played for the youth squads before moving to Corinthians and known for playing for AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain
Youth Squads
Sporting U19 team - Juniores
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Staff
- Head Coach: Luís Boa Morte
- Assistant Coach: Filipe Pedro
- GK coach: Tiago Ferreira
Sporting U17 team - Juvenis
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Staff
- Head Coach: Telmo Costa
- Assistant Coaches: João Vargas
- GK coach: Nuno Almeida
Sporting U17 B team - Juvenis (Distritais)
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Staff
- Head Coach: Pedro Gonçalves
- Assistant Coaches: João Gonçalves
- GK coach: Nuno Almeida
Sporting U15 team - Iniciados
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Staff
- Head Coach: Pedro Venâncio
- Assistant Coaches: Paulo Poejo
- GK coach: Ricardo Leite
Sporting U15 B team - Iniciados (Distritais)
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Staff
- Head Coach: Tiago Fernandes, Tiago Capaz
- Assistant Coaches: Marco Santos, Gonçalo Cruz
- GK coach: João Spínola
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.[1][2]
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.[3] 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's 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.[4]
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 Portuguese 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 Clube de Portugal is famous for its renowned youth program. The club created two FIFA World Player of the Year winners (Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo), two Ballon d'Or winners (Luis 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 full international level more than fifty times, including Miguel Monteiro, João Moutinho, Miguel Veloso and Simão Sabrosa.
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.[5][6]
Notable Academy Graduates
- List criteria
- Player has made 25 appearances or more for his country at full international level, or
- Player has won an official FIFA / UEFA award or achievement.
| Name | Country | National Football Team | Notable Individual Achievements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Ballon d'Or (1956–2009) | FIFA World Player of the Year (1991–2009) | FIFA Ballon d'Or (2009–present) | |||||
| Augusto Inácio |  Portugal |
25 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| Beto | Portugal |
31 | 2 | - | - | - | |||
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal |
116 | 51 | 1 (2008) | 1 (2008) | 2 (2013 - 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or) | |||
| Hugo Viana | Portugal |
29 | 1 | - | - | - | |||
| João Moutinho | Portugal |
74 | 2 | - | - | - | |||
| Jorge Cadete | Portugal |
33 | 5 | - | - | - | |||
| Luís Boa Morte | Portugal |
28 | 1 | - | - | - | |||
| Luis Figo | Portugal |
127 | 32 | 1 (2000) | 1 (2001) | - | |||
| Marco Caneira | Portugal |
25 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| Manuel Bento | Portugal |
63 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| Miguel Monteiro | Portugal |
59 | 1 | - | - | - | |||
| Miguel Veloso | Portugal |
53 | 2 | - | - | - | |||
| Nani | Portugal |
81 | 15 | - | - | Nominee in 2011 | |||
| Nuno Valente | Portugal |
33 | 1 | - | - | - | |||
| Paíto |  Mozambique |
38 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| Paulo Futre | Portugal |
41 | 6 | 2nd place in 1987 | - | - | |||
| Rui Águas | Portugal |
31 | 10 | - | - | - | |||
| Rui Patrício | Portugal |
34 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| Ricardo Quaresma | Portugal |
37 | 4 | Nominee in 2007 | Nominee in 2006 | - | |||
| Silvestre Varela | Portugal |
26 | 5 | - | - | - | |||
| Simão Sabrosa | Portugal |
85 | 22 | - | - | - | |||
| Vítor Damas | Portugal |
29 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| Bold denotes players still playing professional football. Caps and goals are correct as of 20 October 2014. | |||||||||
References
- ↑ "Academia Sporting is the best in Europe" (in Portuguese). DN. 2010-01-18.
- ↑ "Quality Academy" (in Portuguese). Record. 2010-01-18.
- ↑ "O futuro começa hoje" [The future begins today]. Record (in Portuguese). June 21, 2002. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
- ↑ "A Academia" [The Academy]. Record (in Portuguese). June 21, 2002. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
- ↑ "Academia de Qualidade" [Quality Academy]. Record (in Portuguese). January 18, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
- ↑ "Academia Sporting é a melhor da Europa" [Sporting academy is the best in Europe]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). January 18, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2011.