Sporting Clube de Portugal

Sporting Clube de Portugal, OM, ComC, MHIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈspɔɾtĩŋ ˈkluβ(ɨ) ðɨ puɾtuˈɣaɫ]) (Euronext: SCP) or Sporting CP (colloquially known as Sporting in Lusophone countries, and often referred to as Sporting Lisbon in Anglophone countries) is a Portuguese sports club based in Lisbon. Sporting is best known for its association football team.

Founded in Lisbon on 1 July 1906, they are one of the "Três Grandes" (The Big Three) football clubs in Portugal. With over 120,000 club members, They are nicknamed Leões (English: Lions) and Verde-e-Brancos (English: Green and White). The club's anthem, "A Marcha do Sporting" (English: Sporting's March), was written in 1955, and was originally sung by the Portuguese singer Maria José Valério.

Sporting were a founding member of the Primeira Liga and, along with S.L. Benfica and FC Porto, have never been relegated from the top flight of Portuguese football since its establishment in 1934. Sporting are the third most successful Portuguese football club, with 46 titles in Portuguese competitions and one international title, the 1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup. Domestically, they have won 18 Primeira Liga titles, 16 Portuguese Cups (Taça de Portugal), four Championships of Portugal (a record tied with Porto) and eight Portuguese SuperCup titles.

FC Barcelona

Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔɫ ˈkɫub bərsəˈɫonə]), also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the second most valuable sports team in the world, worth $3.16 billion, and the world's second richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €560.8 million. The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.

Domestically, Barcelona has won 23 La Liga, 27 Copa del Rey, 11 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte and 2 Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, Barcelona has won five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a shared record five UEFA Super Cup, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and a record three FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Barcelona was ranked first in the IFFHS Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and currently occupies the second position on the UEFA club rankings. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico.

Sporting

Sporting may refer to:

It may also refer to a sporting club:

The term sporting was formerly used as a euphemism (during the 19th and early 20th centuries) to refer to

See also

All pages beginning with "Sporting"

Lionel Messi

Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi]; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and rated by many in the sport as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only football player in history to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or five times, four of which he won consecutively, and the first player to win three European Golden Shoes. With Barcelona he has won seven La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles, as well as three Copa del Rey titles. A prolific goalscorer, Messi holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga (299), a La Liga season (50), a calendar year (91), a Champions League match (five), and most Champions League seasons (five).

Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. At age 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona, who agreed to pay for his medical treatment. After a fast progression through Barcelona's youth academy, Messi made his competitive debut aged 17 in October 2004. Despite being injury-prone during his early career, he established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years, finishing 2007 as a finalist for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award, a feat he repeated the following year. His first uninterrupted campaign came in the 2008–09 season, during which he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football. At 22 years old, Messi won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award by record voting margins.