Sporting Clube de Portugal - Football - Facilities - Academia Sporting/Puma

Academia Sporting/Puma

Sporting also has a world-class 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. Some of its most notable home-bred footballers include Rui Patrício, Victor Golas, Daniel Carriço, Cédric Soares, Adrien Silva, André Martins, Bruno Pereirinha, Renato Neto and Wilson Eduardo in the current squad.

The long list of valuable players who developed their skills in the youth academy of the club include other noted footballers such as:

• Paulo Futre (retired)
• Luís Figo (retired)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)and former Manchester United winger
• Nani (Manchester United)
• Simão (Espanyol), former Barcelona, Benfica and Atlético Madrid player
• Ricardo Quaresma (Beşiktaş), former Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto and Internazionale player
• Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kyiv), former Genoa player
• João Moutinho (Porto)
• Hugo Viana (Sporting de Braga), former Newcastle and Valencia player
• Nuno Valente (former Porto Champions League winner and former Everton player)
• Dani Carvalho (retired), who played for Ajax
• Luís Boa Morte, former Arsenal and Fulham player
• Miguel (unattached, although he only played for the youth squads before moving to Estrela da Amadora)

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.

The Sporting Academy has been renamed Sporting/Puma Academy (Academia Sporting/Puma) to reflect the sponsorship and naming contract signed by the club and the sports brand Puma in 2006; the contract lasts until 2012.

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.

Sporting has achieved 39 titles in the category of Juniors, and Schools so far.

2011-12 saw the first season of UEFAs competition for U-19 teams - the NextGen Series. Sporting's u-19 team won the NextGen Series Group 2 way ahead of its opponents.