Numbers don't lie: Sporting are slipping behind Porto and Benfica | OneFootball

After a year below the targets set by the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy, Sporting are currently carrying out a restructuring of their training centre. In recent years, the Alvalade club have followed a strategy aimed at speeding up the development of their most promising youngsters by placing them in higher-level competitions, a decision that has ultimately cost them several titles.

The 2025/26 season was marked by Porto’s total dominance across the various youth football age groups. The Dragons won the national under-19, under-17 and under-15 championships, further proof of the trend already mentioned.

Looking at the last decade, Benfica are the club with the most trophies won. Adding together the junior, youth and beginner titles, the Eagles have 13 trophies: four at under-19 level, five at under-17 and four at under-15. Sporting are in second place, with six, while Porto have four, if the under-15 title is confirmed on Sunday in Alverca, threatening to break the two rivals’ dominance in the coming years.

In an attempt to reverse this trend, the Lions’ structure is promoting numerous changes in the youth football setup - with the aim of continuing to bring academy players into the first team. So far, the main faces of this restructuring are the returns of Tiago Fernandes to the B team and Leandro Grimi to the under-23 side.

The department, which will continue to be coordinated by Tomaz Morais and Paulo Gomes, is already undergoing change. José Santos, from the under-23s, and José João, from the under-19s, have ended their respective contracts and are preparing to leave the Academy. Also heading for the exit is Diogo Teixeira, who is responsible for coordinating the under-14 and under-15 teams.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.