Sporting CP Youth Academy

The Sporting CP Youth Academy is the youth development division of Sporting CP and part of Academia Cristiano Ronaldo in Alcochete. Sporting CP's youth system, which counted for several decades with Aurélio Pereira among its scouting staff,^[1] helped develop footballers such as Paulo Futre, Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo.^[2]

Academia Sporting

Full name	Academia Sporting Clube de Portugal
Nickname(s)	Alcochete
Founded	1 July 1906
Ground	Academia Cristiano Ronaldo
Capacity	1,200
Chairman	Frederico Varandas
Head coach	João Couto
League	Various youth leagues
Website	escolasacademia.sporting.pt
Home colours Away colours

Youth Squads

Sporting U23 team

As of 4 October 2023^[3][4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  POR Salvador Gomes — GK  POR Francisco Silva — GK  POR Guilherme Pires — GK  POR Martim Botão — GK  POR Diogo Clara — DF  POR José Silva — DF  POR Gonçalo Braga — DF  POR Pedro Silva — DF  ESP Lucas Taibo — DF  POR Emanuel Fernandes — DF  POR Guilherme Silva — DF  GNB Malam Malú — DF  POR Tiago Parente — DF  POR Rodrigo Dias — MF  POR Henrique Arreiol — MF  POR João Assunção

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Tiago Octávio — MF  POR Rafael Besugo — MF  POR Marco Cruz — MF  POR Guilherme Santos — MF  ANG Manuel Kissanga — MF  CAN Lucas Dias — MF  POR Diogo Cardoso — FW  BRA Ewandro Santos — FW  POR Geovany Quenda — FW  POR Lucas Anjos — FW  POR Luís Gomes — FW  GNB Isnaba Mané — FW  POR Pedro Sanca — FW  POR Mauro Couto — FW  POR Francisco Canário — FW  BRA Rafael Melo

Staff

• Head coach: João Pereira
• First assistant coach: Tiago Teixeira
• Assistant coach: António Calça e Pina
• Assistant coach: José Caldeira
• GK Coach: Dário Ezequiel
• Fitness coach: Pedro Cardoso
• Analytics coach: João Ferreira

Sporting U19 team - Juniores

As of 5 October 2023^[5][6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  POR Miguel Gouveia — GK  POR David Ivanov — GK  POR Diogo Clara — GK  POR Tiago Leitão — DF  POR Konstantin Nikitenko — DF  POR Mamadu Queta — DF  POR Marlon Júnior — DF  POR Rafael Mota — DF  POR Francisco Machado — DF  GNB Malam Malú — DF  POR Rodrigo Dias — DF  POR Rayhan Momade — MF  NED Ivanildo Mendes — MF  POR Eduardo Felicíssimo

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR João Simões — MF  GNB Amadu Baldé — MF  ANG Manuel Kissanga — MF  POR Rodrigo Viola — FW  GNB Micael Sanhá — FW  POR Pedro Sanca — FW  POR Telmo Coimbra — FW  ANG Adair Kandala — FW  STP Winilson Lopes — FW  GNB Sérgio Matos — FW  BRA Luís Gustavo — FW  POR Diogo Martins — FW  POR Gabriel Silva — FW  POR João Infante

Staff

• Head coach: Pedro Coelho
• Assistant coach: Paulo Carvalho
• Assistant coach: Pedro Cruz
• GK Coach: Rodolfo Vieira
• Analytics coach: João Jorge
• Scout: César Fragoso
• Scout: André Figueiró
• Team Manager: Mariana Vaz Pinto

Sporting U17 team - Juvenis

As of 5 October 2023^[7][8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  POR Alexandre Tverdohlebov — GK  POR Tiago Leitão — GK  USA William Lodmell — GK  POR Tiago Gaeiras — DF  POR Daniel Costa — DF  POR Rodrigo Cabrito — DF  POR Atanásio Cunha — DF  POR Afonso Lee — DF  POR Diego Coxi — DF  POR Cristiano Palamarchuk — DF  POR Denilson Santos — DF  POR Joel Moura — MF  POR João Rodrigues — MF  POR Gonçalo Correia

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Sandro Nascimento — MF  POR Rafael Camacho — MF  POR Flávio Gonçalves — MF  POR Tomás Mendes — MF  CYP Argyris Christodoulou — FW  STP Winilson Lopes — FW  GNB Frederico Monteiro — FW  POR Salvador Blopa — FW  POR Afonso Moço — FW  POR Martim Peixoto — FW  POR Diogo Martins — FW  POR Miguel Almeida — FW  POR Rafael Melo

Staff

• Head coach: José João
• Assistant coach: Rafael Pinto
• Assistant coach: Diogo Souto
• GK Coach: Luís Caetano
• Analytics coach: André Gonçalves

Sporting U15 team - Iniciados

As of 5 October 2023^[9][10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  POR Valdir Nascimento — GK  POR Guilherme Alves — GK  POR Afonso Redondo — GK  POR Patrick Moreira — DF  POR Salvador Fortuna — DF  POR Paulo Rodrigues — DF  POR David Conceição — DF  BRA João Guerra — DF  POR Alexandre Rosado — DF  POR Mário William — DF  POR Gustavo Laginhas — DF  UKR Illia Iablonskyi — DF  GNB David Sá — DF  POR João Rijo — DF  POR Francisco Cabeçana — DF  POR Luís Balza

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Rodrigo Nogueira — MF  POR Francisco Simões — MF  POR Leonardo Varela — MF  POR Guilherme Rocha — MF  POR Igor Cabral — MF  POR Martim Diogo — MF  POR Martim Almeida — MF  POR Tiago Camargo — FW  POR Duarte Tomás — FW  POR José Lino — FW  POR José Garrafa — FW  POR Vítor Conceição — FW  POR Henrique Tavares — FW  POR Sandro Ferreira — FW  POR Rodrigo Correia — FW  POR Rafael Fial

Staff

• Head coach: Bernardo Bruschy
• Assistant coaches: Gonçalo Olim
• Assistant coaches: João Lourenço
• GK Coach: João Santos

The Academy

Sporting's 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 certification, which is recognised both locally and internationally.^[11][12]

Facilities

Budgeted at around 2,000,000,000$00 million (2 million contos), the construction of the academy commenced in August 1999 in the municipality of Alcochete, located on the outskirts of Lisbon on the southern bank of the river Tejo, and the inauguration was on 21 June 21 2002.^[13] 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.^[14]

Sporting's youth academy and the larger Sporting Academy in general was one of the training grounds 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.

Youth program

Sporting CP Youth Program helped produce 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).^[11]

Notable Academy graduates

List criteria

• Player has made 25 appearances or more for his country at full international level
• Player who has been at least nominated for a "world's best men's player" award (Ballon d'Or, FIFA World Player of the Year / The Best FIFA Men's Player or FIFA Ballon d'Or).

Name	Country	National Football Team		Best Result in Major Awards
		Apps	Goals	Ballon d'Or	FIFA World Player of the Year / The Best FIFA Men's Player	FIFA Ballon d'Or
Adrien Silva	Portugal	26	1	-	-	-
Augusto Inácio	Portugal	25	0	-	-	-
Beto	Portugal	31	2	-	-	-
Cédric Soares	Portugal	34	1	-	-	-
Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	184	115	1st (2008,2016,2017)	1st (2008, 2016, 2017)	1st (2013, 2014)
Eric Dier	England	45	3	-	-	-
Hugo Viana	Portugal	29	1	-	-	-
João Moutinho	Portugal	135	7	-	-	-
João Mário	Portugal	45	2	-	-	-
Jorge Cadete	Portugal	33	5	-	-	-
José Fonte	Portugal	46	0	-	-	-
Luís Boa Morte	Portugal	28	1	-	-	-
Luís Figo	Portugal	127	32	1st (2000)	1st (2001)	-
Marco Caneira	Portugal	25	0	-	-	-
Manuel Bento	Portugal	63	0	-	-	-
Mica Pinto	Luxembourg	27	1	-	-	-
Miguel Veloso	Portugal	56	3	-	-	-
Nani	Portugal	112	24	-	-	22nd (2011)
Nuno Valente	Portugal	33	1	-	-	-
Paulo Futre	Portugal	41	6	2nd (1987)	-	-
Rui Águas	Portugal	31	10	-	-	-
Rui Patrício	Portugal	97	0	12th (2016)	-	-
Ricardo Quaresma	Portugal	80	10	Nominee (2007)	Nominee (2006)	-
Silvestre Varela	Portugal	27	5	-	-	-
Simão	Portugal	85	22	-	-	-
Vítor Damas	Portugal	29	0	-	-	-
William Carvalho	Portugal	68	4	-	-	-
Bold denotes players still playing professional football. Caps and goals are correct as of 26 January 2022.

Academia Aurélio Pereira and Pólo EUL

The youth development division includes the Pólo EUL, Sporting Clube de Portugal's youth development campus at the Estádio Universitário de Lisboa (6 to 13 years old children),^[15][16][17] and the Aurélio Pereira Academy located at the football fields next to the Pavilhão João Rocha, within a short walking distance from the Estádio José Alvalade.^[18][19]

Escolas Academia Sporting

The Escolas Academia Sporting (EAS – Sporting Academy Schools) are football training schools affiliated with Sporting CP. Boys and girls aged 4 to 15 are eligible to get admission in the EAS, which are in operation in several locations across Portugal.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][excessive citations]} Angola, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Singapore, South Africa and Spain, among other countries,^[30] are foreign countries where the EAS have been founded.^{[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][excessive citations]}