Sport in Lisbon

Standing where you are right now, you're just moments away from one of the most passionate sporting rivalries in the world. Two football giants were born in this city over a century ago, and their battles have shaped the very identity of the streets around you. Sport Lisboa e Benfica, founded on February twenty-eight, nineteen-oh-four by a group of boys playing football in Belém, became the club of the working classSporting CP, established on July first, nineteen-oh-six, represented the upper class and aristocracy.

The rivalry ignited in nineteen-oh-seven when eight Benfica players defected to Sporting, sparking what locals call the Derby de Lisboa or the "eternal derby." Benfica's original Estádio da Luz, opened in nineteen fifty-four, became Europe's largest stadium with one hundred twenty thousand seats. On January fourth, nineteen eighty-seven, a match against Porto drew an estimated one hundred thirty-five thousand spectators, making it one of the most attended games in football history. The new stadium, built in two thousand three, now holds sixty-eight thousand fans and hosted the Euro two thousand four final.