Ten reasons Sporting are 2024/25 champions of Portugal

At the start of the season Sporting fans were confident their team could win back-to-back titles for the first time in 71 years, and that is exactly what ended up happening.

However, what started out a seemingly straightforward, triumphal march to the trophy ended up a bumpy journey with multiple obstacles having to be negotiated along the way. Tom Kundert has 10 reasons why Sporting are the 2024/25 champions of Portugal. 

1. Ruben Amorim’s parting gift provides a head start… and a winning formula

Under Ruben Amorim Sporting won their first eleven Liga Portugal matches of the season. When the coach left to take over Manchester United, the Lions had a healthy five-point buffer at the top of the table over second-placed Benfica with one third of the season played.

Perhaps even more important was the inculcation of a system of play consolidated over five years under the outgoing coach. Amorim’s replacement João Pereira tried to tweak the 3-4-3 formation, Pereira’s replacement Rui Borges tried to introduce his preferred 4-4-2. Neither worked, and abundant were points lost during these periods of tactical experimentation.

Borges came to the realisation that the players were more comfortable using Amorim’s formation, and once reverting to the team’s muscle memory 3-4-3, Sporting regained their winning habit.

2. Gyökeres: a goal machine and an infectious assertiveness

39 goals in 33 matches is an extraordinary rate of scoring. Only once in the last 50 years has that number been bettered in Portugal’s top flight, when Mário Jardel netted 42 goals in 2001/02.

But it is not only his goals that makes the Swedish menace such a special player, or even the 8 assists provided for his teammates for an incredible 47 goal contributions overall. His hard-running fearlessness, brushing off the rough treatment meted out to him, engenders an infectious enthusiasm among the fans and without doubt is an attitude that percolates to the rest of the team.

When the going gets tough, just the fact that Viktor Gyökeres is on the pitch is enough to give Sporting reason for optimism. He will certainly be sold this summer, but two glorious seasons in Lisbon will ensure that he goes down as a Sporting great. 

3. Rui Borges’ calming influence in the eye of the storm

Upon leaving Vitória to take the job as Sporting’s head coach, Rui Borges was on a hiding to nothing. If Sporting did not win the championship after showing such superiority in the early part of the season, it would always be looked upon as “the title thrown away”. Yet Borges took command of a ship that had sailed out of fair weather into a ferocious storm in the blink of an eye.

Pereira’s disastrous spell, as well as frittering away Sporting’s lead at the top of the table, had evidently shattered the players’ confidence. From Borges’ very first match, the Lisbon derby at home to Benfica no less, it was obvious he had established a bond with his players that Pereira hadn’t as he steered them through the trauma of having abruptly lost their spiritual leader, an almost unprecedented injury crisis and the threat posed by a resurgent Benfica.

Even in the most high-pressure situations, Borges maintained his composure and focus. For the most part he skilfully sidestepped unnecessary controversies and distractions, which is no easy task in country where the multiple football media channels expend an inordinate amount of energy seeking the next polemic.

It was also clear to see Borges himself was learning on the job. Having steadily worked his way up the managerial ladder, starting in district football at his home-town club Mirandela, he was probably not counting on being hired at one of Portugal’s Grandes after just 7 years as a head coach. An overly conservative approach was noticeably replaced by bolder decisions in the business end of the season. The 43-year-old fully deserves the praise he is now receiving as a vital component of the championship triumph. 

4. Zeno Debast’s adaptation

Despite his brilliant work at Sporting, the composition of Amorim’s squad for 2024/25 had raised concerns owing to the paucity of midfield options. Morten Hjulmand, Hidemasa Morita and Daniel Bragança were basically the only three viable options for two midfield slots, with Pedro Gonçalves able to drop deeper to occupy one of the positions if need be. Those worries came home to roost as Pedro Gonçalves got hurt early in the campaign and was five months out of action, Bragança suffered a season-ending injury in February, Morita was plagued by fitness problems and spent most of the season on the sidelines, leaving captain Hjulmand the only fit first-choice midfielder – he himself missing some games through suspension.

Belgian centre-back Zeno Debast was converted by Borges into a holding midfielder in an identical adaptation he had overseen with spectacular results at Vitória with Manu Silva. Debast got better and better and has more than justified that the big transfer fee Sporting paid for him last summer. 

5. Important bit-part contributions

Even accounting for Debast’s successful conversion into a midfielder, Sporting weathered what president Frederico Varandas called “an unprecedented injury crisis” in that area of the pitch also thanks to the contributions made by youngsters João Simões and Eduardo Felicíssimo. Simões especially showed great promise, even shining in the Champions League, until he himself was struck down by a fractured metatarsal bone in February. 

6. Sporting true to their youthful DNA

Sporting are a club defined by their emphasis on youth. This latest title success is again underpinned by key contributions of players from the world-renowned Alcochete Academy. Foremost among them is Geovany Quenda. The exciting Guinea-Bissau born winger was so impressive in pre-season that Amorim made him a first-team regular aged 17. His unremitting excellence has subsequently earned him a €50 million transfer to Chelsea, and Quenda went on to break a club record as the youngest player to reach 50 senior appearances for Sporting.

As mentioned above, João Simões and Eduardo Felicíssimo, both 18 years old, did well when called upon, and although it seems like they have been around for ever, it should not be forgotten that two other academy products, Gonçalo Inácio and Eduardo Quaresma, are still 23 years old. Both enjoyed fabulous seasons, as did fellow centre-back Ousmane Diomande, just 21 years old and surely destined for a huge future in the game. Young Danish forward Conrad Harder has also enjoyed a highly creditable first season at Sporting, usually making the most of his necessarily limited opportunities given he is the backup for one of Europe’s best strikers. 

7. Goalkeeper Rui Silva brings stability between the posts

The goalkeeper position had been the subject of discussion among Sporting fans ever since Amorim’s first season when Spaniard Antonio Adán had been a vital piece of that title-winning team. Adán’s decline, the inconsistency of replacement Franco Israel, and the compromising displays of youth goalkeeper Diogo Pinto and Bosnian recruit Vladan Kovačević, had only accentuated the problem.

In January Sporting moved to rectify the situation, purchasing experienced goalkeeper Rui Silva, who had spent over seven seasons in Spain at Granada and Real Betis. Silva came straight into the team with strong showings from the get-go. His assured displays helped the defence in front of him up their collective game, and it comes as no surprise that Sporting have the meanest defence in the land, conceding just 27 goals in the 34 Primeira Liga games. 

8. Varandas quickly rectifies his mistake

When Ruben Amorim left for Manchester United, the appointment of João Pereira seemed a sensible idea. Pereira had played under Amorim in Sporting’s title-winning season in 2020/21, had coached Sporting’s U23 and B-team and was fully familiar with the side’s way of playing and squad. It rapidly became clear, however, that Pereira was in over his head. The team lost all semblance of a cohesive outfit as a previously unbeatable side started losing game after game.

President Frederico Varandas did not let sentiment get in the way of what had to be done. On Christmas Day João Pereira was sacked, Rui Borges was appointed, and the damage had been limited in time for Sporting to retain their title. 

9. Captain fantastic

He came, he saw, he conquered. The famous phrase alluding to Julius Ceaser perfectly sums up the impact made by Morten Hjulmand since he moved from Lecce in Italy to the Portuguese capital. Two seasons as the heartbeat of the team’s midfield, ascending to the captaincy after his brilliant debut season, Hjulmand is an authentic Lion. His monstrous man-of-the-match display in the decisive penultimate match of the season against Benfica showcased everything he brings to the team: aggression, intelligence, class. 

10. The moment –  Eduardo Quaresma’s stoppage time winner versus Gil Vicente

Benfica’s brilliant form in the second half of the season saw the Eagles draw level on points with Sporting. On matchday 32 Bruno Lage’s men temporarily hit the summit with victory over Estoril, ahead of Sporting’s game the following day against Gil Vicente. The Lions were not expected to have much trouble dispatching the Gilistas to reassume top spot, but a brilliant defensive display by the visitors saw them 1-0 up going into the final 10 minutes of the match. Maxi Araújo scored the equaliser, Sporting poured forward, but Gil held firm. Until the third of five minutes of stoppage time when Eduardo Quaresma scored a brilliant and dramatic winner.

The crowd erupted. Sporting’s players went wild. Quaresma broke down in tears. There was still work to do but that was the moment – right there – that Sporting won the league.