Sporting CP v Sport Clube União Torreense

 

Sporting CP v Sport Clube União Torreense
Sunday May 24th, 2026
Taça de Portugal Final
Estádio Nacional, Jamor, Oeiras

The Warm Up

It's always nice to have a new club to learn and write about. It's even nicer when your friend lives in the town and provides you not only with a handy point of reference but a starting point for your next post. 

The lions are off to Jamor once more to defend the Taça de Portugal that they won in extra time last May after extra time in the Dérbi de Lisboa. I say won it. If you live in the red and white half of the city they might say that Sporting robbed it. Either way it's been sat in our trophy cabinet for the past twelve months. They will face Sport Clube União Torreense who at the time of writing sit third in Liga 2 with one game to play and a huge chance that they might well be playing the lions twice next season. It goes without saying that for both clubs Matchday 34 and the final in Jamor represent huge opportunities for both sides. 

Now full admission I couldn't tell you where Torres Vadras was on a map if my life depended on it. But what I have already learned about the town and the football club I already like. Because it transpires that not only does my friend live there, her Dad turned out for the club in his youth to boot and regales stories of how the townspeople would turn out to fill the stadium on matchday in days gone by to specifically support the players that lived in their area. It is by very essence a side with community at its heart. I don't know about you but I'm sold on it already. Especially in a week that has already been dominated by money and will continue to do so by the time the curtain falls on our league season on Saturday night. The lions have confirmed they've broken their transfer record for the second straight season and third time in four years with the signing of the Uruguayan Rodrigo Zalazar for €30m from Sporting Braga. The lions only need to equal Benfica's result on Saturday night to qualify for the Champions League and the millions in revenue that brings with it. So being able to start with a story about a community coming together to support one another for me is a reminder of what the game had at its heart for so many years and with every season that passes is now sadly lost to time. These should be the stories that we grow up telling our children about because in life these are the tales that actually mean the most. Because these are the ones that are truest to life itself. Especially when all around the world there are those who sow seeds of hatred when as we all know life is so much richer when everyone comes together. This for the fans of Torreense will be one of those events where the town itself on the matchday will feel like a ghost town. Everyone will be dreaming of bringing the cup back with them on the night and to unleash celebrations that will last both long into the night and longer into the memories of its townspeople. For their fans and their players this is the game where childhood dreams could be realised and hearts can be broken. For on its day there are fewer crueller places in life than the course of 90 minutes of football. The Jogo Bonito for all its beauty can be a cruel mistress. 

OK I might have been a been giving it a bit of dramatic licence for effect when I wrote that on matchday Torres Vadras will be like a ghost town and it's not as much a town but a municipality, but you can bet your bollocks to a barn dance theres still an air of excitement around the place. I'll figure out one day how Portuguese places work and then maybe I'll work on how Portuguese surnames work. There's more chance of me figuring both of those out than ever learning the language it has to be said. 

There's a wonderful irony that this Saturday the Torreense fans will not only be willing their own team on to beat Vizela but equally they'll be cheering on Sporting too as João Gião's youngsters travel away to second place Academico Viseu and a win for both them and Torreense would see them finish second in the automatic promotion places and AV have to play two further games against the side who finishes third bottom in the Liga. How Torreense must wish that Academico were facing the early season of Sporting B who coincidentally they lost to 1-0 on Matchday 1 and not the version whose form has fallen off the edge of a cliff. Having led the table for large parts their form was so bad through 2026 that with three games to go there was still a possibility they could have been relegated back to Liga 3 but thankfully for them the results of those beneath them went their way. For now we now that Marítimo will be back in the Liga, no doubt to make Sporting's life a misery once more. I'm pretty sure I've actually seen the islanders play twice in person but I'll have to fact check that. I went to a lot of games growing up. Even if Torreense miss out on automatic promotion they cannot be caught by fourth place Vizela who are five points behind. Whilst I wouldn't bet my life on it I'm pretty sure that Vizela were top two with Sporting B at one stage in the season and may have even been top. I'd be willing to take a couple of quid each way on it. But truthfully all they've been left to play for is a bit of mischief and being the pantomime villains if they scupper Torreense’s chances. For the Torreense players it must be a nightmare scenario because for many it might be the only time they get to the Taça de Portugal final and by now normally players are trying to take it easy, certainly in the game before so they don't pick up an injury. Here it starts to read like the Joseph Heller novel Catch 22 because say the young lions do win but Torreense have taken it easy and find they could have had automatic promotion. They'll spend a week kicking themselves and then have to play the game of their lives and leave everything out on the pitch to try beat the current Taça da Portugal holders. Unlike Desportivo de Aves they're not going to have the advantage of attacks on players at Alcochete five days before the game. Jesus I hope not anyway. But if they leave it all out on the pitch and drain the tanks against Vizela and it's all in vain they leave themselves more vulnerable for Sporting. Then if they miss out on beating Sporting and on second place and have drained themselves maybe once, maybe twice, what do they have left for a double legged play off game against Liga opposition? You'd rather be a Sporting player even with the pressure of Champions League qualification at stake on Saturday and the weight of expectation that they'll win at Jamor against Liga 2 opposition. Their destiny at least feels like it's very much in their own hands. They go into this Saturday off the back of two wins scoring 9 times. Their tails are back up after disastrous draws against the leagues bottom two sides which will have I'm sure at that stage given the fans of Torreense some hope they can pull off a miracle at Jamor and lift the trophy. I imagine after the 5-1 over Vitória and 4-1 over Rio Ave not so much. It's always the hope that kills you in the end. 

The clubs origins can be traced back to groups of Englishmen travelling to the country for purposes of oil exploration who brought with them their love of the game. A young group of enthusiasts would then form their own club in 1917 under the umbrella Sport União Torreense. It wasn't uncommon in Portugal around these times for two clubs to share a name and for legal reasons they added the word Clube to their name 1945 so as to distinguish it as it's own entity without confusion. 

Between the years of their formation and 1926 games were played at Campo da Várzea a space they shared with a cattle market held on Sundays and for this reason the clubs played their games on Mondays. Good job the Englishmen who originally brought the game to the region weren't from Sheffield otherwise you might have ended up with SCU Torreense Segunda-feira. It was in 1926 that they moved to the site of their current stadium the Estádio Manuel Marques. Marques it should be noted was a midfielder for Sporting CP who played between 1935 and 1951. The stadium is located on Rua Cândido dos Reis in the heart of the Torres Vadras. It's capacity was once as high as 12,000 before the introduction of seating which reduced it to 2,431 and it holds a Silver Category status. I'm wondering if that means they might have to possibly play elsewhere in the top flight in the same manner as Casa Pia do currently? Presumably they at least no longer have to compete with local cattle fairs which is something at least a century later. 

Up until 1937 the side were not a league club. It was deemed too far away to play in the Lisbon FA run league despite what now would be considered to be a stones throw away, instead the Leiria FA accepted their registration. It would take them 18 seasons to win promotion to the First National Division having won the second division championship in the 1954/55 season. Something clearly was happening with that side because the next season they reached the Taça de Portugal, so this is not their first time at Jamor for this game. Sadly they lost 2-0 to FC Porto. No one would guess I'm sure it would take another 70 years to return. We'll look at who they beat in the run to the final later in the post. 

Still they finish as runners up in the Taça and in 7th place in the top flight which remains their highest ever league finish. Their stay in the top flight would last four seasons. 

In the 1964/65 season they enjoyed a return to the top flight again. I say enjoyed. The clubs official history page didn't even mention the season. I'll fill you in on the blanks in the head to head section at the end of the post. 

Finally in the 1990/91 season they won promotion again however their stay this time should we politely say was very brief indeed before being relegated again. They would yo yo between the lower leagues before adding the newly formed Liga 3 title to the Liga 2 title they won way back in 1954/55 as their second major honour. It goes without saying that a win against Sporting CP would be their biggest achievement in the clubs 109 year history. If it was against anyone else I'd happily root for them but sadly not today gentlemen. 

The Route to Jamor

Sporting CP

It's safe to suggest that the lions route to Jamor for the third straight season, hasn't been a straight forward run which you have to imagine could give their opponents hope. The flip side is that they've still overcome all the hurdles in their way, so any hope may be fleeting.

Their run started in round 3 against Paços de Ferreira where they needed extra time to secure victory despite having a staggering 39 attempts on goal against the Liga 2 side. Only the second leg against Bodø/Glimt has seen the lions register more attempts in any other game they've played in all competitions. They fell behind when Lumungo scored on 17 minutes but Gonçalves levelled just 5 minutes later. Victor restored the homes sides lead just 3 minutes after half time but Ioannidis (remember him?) levelled on the hour mark. With the scores level at 2-2 we were off to extra time. Substitute Tiago Ferreira had the misfortune of putting the ball into his own net on 103 minutes and the lions went through rather unconvincingly 3-2.

In round 4 they were drawn at home to Liga 3 side AC Marinhense who have just secured their promotion to Liga 2. The lions made far easier work with a brace from Trincão (28 and 36) and a third from Suárez securing a place in round 5 with a comfortable 3-0 win.

In round 5 they flew away to Santa Clara. Nothing controversial ever happens between the two sides, it'll be fine. Simões put them ahead 11 minutes in, Soares then made it 1-1 on 27. Silva turned the game on its head 5 minutes before the end of the 90 and the islanders are set to qualify. That is before Paulo Victor is shown a straight red card two minutes before the end of the 90 and Santa are down to ten men. Then time froze...and some fourteen minutes later if memory serves me correctly, Sporting were finally awarded a penalty for a foul on Hjulmand which Suárez dispatched to make it 2-2 (note it was never a penalty in a million years). That came 15 minutes into additional time at the end of the 90 and we went to extra time for the second time in 3 games. Ioannidis scored 6 minutes into the first half and that goal enough to take the lions through controversially. 

Bottom side AVS at home in the Quarter Finals. I'm pretty sure at that stage they were still to win a game in the Liga. Guilherme scored his debut goal for the club just before the half hour mark. A Vitor own goal 2 minutes after half time put the lions 2-0 up. Lima pulled one back from the penalty spot to make it interesting on 62 but the lions were all but home and dry come the end of the 90 minutes...until they gave away a second penalty, converted by Nêne on 90+1. Off to extra time we went for a third time. Geny dug them out of danger with a goal 4 minutes from time to avoid penalties and send them through to the semi finals 3-2.

Regular readers will no doubt remember my utter disdain towards the semi-finals being played over two legs. Especially given the gap in time between the two legs. On March 3rd, the lions welcomed league leaders Porto and whilst the game finished 1-0 the final Xg of 2.02 to 0.32 really told the picture as the lions defence held firm to deny them even a single big chance during the game. Suárez who had missed a penalty in the Dragão league game before firing in the rebound earlier in the season, didn't miss when presented with another opportunity on 61 minutes. 

The second leg came on April 22nd and came off the back of an away trip to Arsenal in the Champions League seven days earlier and a Dérbi de Lisboa on the Sunday, three days previous. Thankfully they at least had the one goal advantage to take with them. Despite Porto's best efforts to not even let the lions players off their coach and into the dressing rooms with officers from the PSP having to intervene (I shit you not) the lions progressed to Jamor after a 0-0 draw which would see Alan Varela given a straight red 2 minutes from time. Captain Hjulmand sustained an horrific injury during the game and hasn't been seen on the pitch since for the lions. It is hoped that he will get the chance to play his final game as a lion against Torreense. We shall see. Even if it's a place on the bench and a chance to say goodbye near the end you'd take it for the captain. It would certainly seem a cruel way to bow out given the challenge that caused the injury went unpunished during the game and is one of those photo images that when you see it you really are left wishing that you hadn't of done.

Sport Clube União Torreense

For Torreense their run started a round earlier. Despite going down to ten men on 40 minutes they were already 2-0 up away to lower league opponents Correlha through a brace from Zohi (8 and 24). Even with ten men they were able to add a third through Ferreira on 65 minutes to secure a 3-0 win and a place in round 3.

Fellow Liga 2 side Oliveirense were drawn at home. Diallo put the visitors ahead after just 4 minutes. The home side looked set to not even make it past round 3 at one stage still trailing 1-0 all the way until 3 minutes past the 90. Simões equalised to take the game into extra time. Idrissa Dioh picked up a second yellow on 120 minutes but it made little difference as the game finished 1-1 and went to penalties. Torreense finally progressed through 5-4.

Lusitania Lourosa away in round 5. Pozo scored straight after the restart with what proved to be the games only goal for a 1-0 win. Azevedo was shown a second yellow on the 90 and for the third straight round one of the sides involved had finished with ten men.

For the first time in the competition they faced opponents from the Liga in the form of Casa Pia. This in fairness could be the relegation play off fixture come the end of the season depending on results on matchday 34 in both the Liga and Liga 2. Jean made it 1-0 to the visitors after 23, Costinha doubled their lead on 63. Whilst Livolant pulled one back from the penalty spot 8 minutes from time it wasn't enough and remarkably the Liga 2 side off the back of a 2-1 win were off to the quarter finals.

Now far be it from me to suggest that they may well have benefited from a somewhat sympathetic draw in every round to date but if the cap fits, wear it. They welcomed fellow Liga 2 side União de Leiria. Zohi amongst the goals again making it 1-0 after just 10 minutes. Fernández equalised 5 minutes before half time. Zohi made it 2-1 3 minutes after half time and Drammeh made it 3-1 on the stroke of 90. Torreense were off to the semi-finals. 

The four clubs that remained were AD Fafe, Torreense and as we know FC Porto and Sporting CP. You know that the league would have been praying for the top 2 to have avoided each other and potentially faced off in the final. The Gods of football decreed no, not today. And so it would be a shootout between Liga 3 v Liga 2 for a place in Jamor. No pressure gentleman, no pressure at all. AD Fafe at home for the first leg, they went ahead after 42 minutes. Disaster for them when Gonçalo was shown a straight red 9 minutes into the second half. Just 4 minutes later Pozo made it 1-1. However they couldn't make the man advantage count and Costinha collected his second yellow two minutes before the end of the 90 and both sides finished with ten men. That game incidentally came on February the 4th. 

April the 23rd and no I'm not making that up, the two sides met again in the second leg. If I'm being polite it was a nervous game. With 7 minutes to go the home side had a man down in the box crestfallen. He looked like he's been taken out by a sniper. Then a second man. He looked like Sergeant Elias at the end of Platoon struggling to get to the helicopters whilst being shot. Bruno however stroked the ball home in the same play and we witnessed the miracle of Torres Vedras. Both men miraculously recovered and jumped to their feet. Praise be to the Lord for in that moment I became a believer. God heels all, or either that or they were feigning injury and just ran to celebrate and hoped no one was watching. I clearly was. I had however lost the feed not long after the 90 so missed Stropira making it 2-0 from the penalty spot 12 minutes into additional time after the 90 to secure a 3-1 aggregate win and a place in Jamor to face the lions. 

So Correlha play in the AF Viana do Castelo 1ª Divisão. (I have no idea sorry.) Then they went Liga 2, Liga 2, Liga 1, Liga 2, Liga 3 then the final against the current Taca de Portugal holders. You could almost forgive any of their fans that think their name is written on the trophy having been handed that run on a plate because even I'm reading that list and thinking Christ it could be their day based on that. Perhaps the Gods of football are willing a win. They willed it for Vitória to beat the lions in the Taça da Liga semi final and for them to go onto win it. You never know peoples. 

Their record prior to the Vizela game stands at played 33, won 17, drawn 5, lost 11, GF 42, GA 33. That total of goals conceded equal as the divisions second best defensive record currently tied with Academico Viseu. Marítimo have conceded just 26 times after 33 rounds played. 

Their top goalscorer in Liga 2 is Musa Drammeh with 7, Pozo has 6, Jean 5, Zohi and Vásquez have 4 a piece. Eight players share the remaining goals scored. 

After 16 rounds at the Manuel Marques their total attendance is 19,657 at an average of 1,229 per game. Compare that with top of the table Marítimo, they have the leagues highest attendance with 123,119 spectators and an average of 7,695. Being based in Madeira and winning promotion certainly to their advantage. Certainly better than Sporting B with 7,427 in total to average 437. They're one of 4 clubs with an average under 1,000. 9 clubs are in the 1,000 - 1,999 range, 3 in the 2,000 to 3,000 range, 1 in the 3,000 to 3,999 and Marítimo as mentioned with double the closest total of União de Leiria. They do however have a much nicer stadium although it's only ever close to capacity when hosting the Taça da Liga semi finals and final. The islanders average if you wanted a relative comparison would give them the fourth highest average in the fourth tier of English football. União would be 18th and only 3 Portuguese clubs in Liga 2 would average higher than the lowest average of Accrington Stanley on 2,259. 

The lions lowest attendance in any competition coming at home to Alverca - 31,833. Their highest was against FC Porto - 50,946. It would take Torreense based on their current average gate approximately 50 games to fill the equivalent of the Estádio José Alvalade once. Be under no illusions between the gap in size between the two clubs. They might be 3rd in the Liga 2, they might even be a Primeira Liga side next season, but this truly is a battle of David v Goliath. 

They're commonly referred to as SCUT and as a genuine guess based on other Portuguese clubs I reckon they'd also be known as - Os vermelhos e azuis. I could be very wrong on that but personally I think they should be called Os meninos da Segunda-feira and if anyone from the club happens to be reading this randomly and quite likes that nickname you can have it on me for free. Just send me a T shirt with it on. 

This will be the lions 32nd Taça de Portugal final having previously won it 18 times and finished runners up 13 times. At Torreense's current rate of attending finals it will be the year 4126 by the time Os meninos da Segunda-feira match that record. 

Liga 2 results 

Sporting CP B (H) 0-1
Farense (H) 3-0
Académico Viseu (H) 2-1
União de Leiria (H) 0-1
Paços de Ferreira (H) 0-0
Benfica B (A) 3-3
FC Porto B (A) 2-3
UD Oliveirense (H) 3-2
Portimonense (A) 0-1
FC Felgueiras (H) 2-0
Leixões SC (A) 1-0
Chaves (H) 0-2
CS Marítimo (A) 2-0
CD Feirense (H) 2-3
Penafiel (A) 1-0
Lusitânia de Lourosa (H) 0-1
Vizela (A) 0-1
Sporting CP B (A) 1-2
SC Farense (H) 2-1
Académico Viseu (A) 1-0
União de Leiria (H) 3-1
Paços de Ferreira (A) 0-0
SL Benfica B (H) 1-0
FC Porto B (H) 0-3
UD Oliveirense (A) 0-3
Portimonense SC (H) 1-0
FC Felgueiras (A) 0-3
Leixões SC (H) 1-1
GD Chaves (A) 2-0
CS Marítimo (H) 1-0
CD Feirense (A) 0-0
FC Penafiel (H) 3-2
Lusitânia de Lourosa (A) 2-1
FC Vizela (H) TBC

Head to Head

In the 1955/56 season Torreense recorded a historic first ever win against the lions winning 1-0 on September 25th, 1955 at the old José Alvalade. They also secured a 0-0 at home. On April 29th, 1956 Torreense won 1-0 at home in the Taça de Portugal round of 16 en route to Jamor. 

In the 1956/57 season The lions won 3-1 at home and they shared a 0-0 draw away.

In the 1957/58 season Sporting won 3-0 away and 6-1 at home. In the Taça de Portugal quarter finals they drew 1-1 at the José Alvalade and Sporting won the replay 1-0. 

I'm wondering how bad the weather had to have been for the game in February of 1959 to have been abandoned after 37 minutes with the score at 1-1. Sporting won the rescheduled match 2-0. That saw them complete the double that year having won 4-0 on Matchday 6. 

In the 1964/65 season Torreense would be relegated having finished 14th winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 22 times. On December 13th, 1964 they defeated the lions 3-0 at home although lost the away game 4-0. I'd suggest in context with the draws against AVS and CD Tondela this season that maybe they don't seem so bad. Well there you go one of just three teams they managed to defeat in a clearly diabolical season. 

The last time they met in the league was April 24th,1992. Sporting won 4-0 as Jorge Cadete scored his 23rd, 24th and 25th goal of the season. Ivaylo Yordanov scored the game's third. Amongst the lions forwards that day a Luís Figo. I wonder what happened to him? This following a 2-1 win on December 12th, 1991. Rosario had given SCUT the lead a minute after half time but Figo scored his first of the season and Cadete his sixth. Sporting finished 3rd, Torreense in 16th of 18th and as previously hinted to earlier were subsequently relegated just one season after their return to the top flight. Note that was in fact Luís Figo’s first ever senior goal. Actually we do know what happened to Figo - A world record transfer fee was paid from Real to Barca for his services. The Barca fans threw an actual pigs head on the pitch in protest at the move. He won the Balloon d’Or in 2000. Finished his career at Inter and scored 93 goals in total and will be remembered as one of Portugals generational talents. There you go Torreense, you basically kick started it all off. That's not a bad claim to fame. 

So to the best of my knowledge their head to head record reads played 15 times, 12 in the league and three times in the Taça de Portugal. 9 wins for Sporting, 3 for SC Torreense, 3 draws. 30 goals across all competitions for Sporting and 9 for Sc Torreense. 

Swansong appearances

The final will mark the last appearances for some of the lions in the green and white though for whom we don't know for definite. Two we do know will be Hidemasa Morita whose contract expires in the summer. Four seasons of service for a fee of around €3.5m is a remarkable bit of business for the Japanese midfielder and can arguably be one of the best bits of business € for € that the club have made. He'll be sorely missed. Geovany Quenda will make his move to Chelsea though I'll genuinely be surprised if he's not in a Strasbourg shirt come August. He's a long way of being of Premier League standard in my opinion. Morten Hjulmand's situation will rival that of Gyökeres last summer where an agreement was put in place that he can leave. Exits are planned for both Kochorashvili and Faye after joining only last summer and winter respectively. Geny, Araujo, Fresneda, Gonçalves and Diomande subjects of speculation to a possible exit. Mangas another likely to be moved on after a disappointing season. Talk of Trincão leaving seems just that, talk, given he only just put pen to paper on his new contract. I imagine with Zalazar coming in that Gonçalves more likely to make way but that's opinion not based on anything concrete. 

In the markets 

Sporting CP TBC

Draw TBC

SC Torreense TBC