Sporting was the club bankrolled by the Viscount of Alvalade and coaxed Benfica players across the capital by promising better facilities. Benfica prides itself as the people's club  something encapsulated perfectly by fans helping to build Estadio da Luz in the 1950s.

FC Bayern Munich is the soccer club with the largest number of partners worldwide, according to a ranking published in September 2024. With over 320 thousand associates, the German club surpassed SL Benfica from Portugal and FC Barcelona from Spain, by more than 30 thousand and 90 thousand members, respectively.