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This article is about the association football team. For the other teams, see Sporting CP (disambiguation) Football club Sporting Clube de Portugal 🎅 (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈspɔɾtÄ©É¡ ˈkluβɨ ðɨ puɾtuˈɣal]), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as 🎅 Sporting Lisbon in other countries,[1][2][3] is a Portuguese sports club based in Lisbon. Having various sports departments and sporting disciplines,[4][5][6] 🎅 it is best known for its men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese 🎅 football. Founded on 1 July 1906,[a] Sporting is one of the "Big Three" clubs in Portugal that have never been relegated 🎅 from Primeira Liga, along with rivals Benfica and Porto. Sporting are nicknamed Leões (Lions), for the symbol used in the 🎅 middle of the club's crest, and Verde e Brancos (Green and Whites), for the shirt colour that are in (horizontal) 🎅 stripes. The club's anthem is called "A Marcha do Sporting" ("Sporting's March", written in 1955 and sung by Maria José 🎅 Valério) and its supporters are called sportinguistas. Sporting is the second largest sports club by membership in Portugal, with more 🎅 than 160,000 paying members, and the sixth in the world.[8] It is also among the top three Portuguese sports clubs 🎅 in number of non-affiliated fans.[9] Their home ground has been the Estádio José Alvalade, built in 2003, which replaced the 🎅 previous one, built-in 1956. The club's indoor arena is the Pavilhão João Rocha multi-sports pavilion.[10] Its youth academy has helped 🎅 produce footballers such as LuÃs Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo.[11] Sporting are the third most decorated Portuguese football team, with 54 major 🎅 trophies. Domestically, they have won 19 League titles, 17 Taças de Portugal, a joint-record of 4 Campeonato de Portugal, 4 🎅 Taças da Liga and 9 Supertaças Cândido de Oliveira.[12] In Europe, they won the 1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup and 🎅 were runners-up at the UEFA Cup in 2005. Sporting played in the first European Champions Cup match on 4 September 🎅 1955, by invitation,[13] and has participated in the most editions of UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League (32), a tournament in which 🎅 they have the second most matches played and won,[14] and where they are ranked 2nd in the all-time club ranking.[15] |