Sporting CP v Club Sport Marítimo

Sporting CP v Club Sport Marítimo
Tuesday October 27th, 2026
Estádio José Alvalade
Taça da Liga Quater Final

The warm up

Like many clubs we cover, Marítimo were formed under a different name entirely - Club Português de Sport Marítimo. This was done by Cândido Fernandes de Gouveia on September 20th, 1910. Whilst they'll play in the Portuguese top flight they're not actually based on the mainland but on the Portuguese held territory of the island of Madeira. They're also a sporting club competing in volleyball, handball, athletics, figure skating (really?), fishing, futsal… OK I'm bored now.

Fifteen days after their formation on October 5th the Portuguese monarchy was overthrown following a three day coup d’état and the Portuguese republic was born with the now familiar colours of green and red which Marítimo chose to adopt as their own too. Hence once of their nicknames, Os Verde-Rubros (The Green-Reds). Marítimistas, being the other most used. Note their name translates to maritime in English and was a reflection of many of its players working at the local Funchal docks. Many of their earliest games took place against sailors on British ships however their very first game was against a side very familiar to Sportinguista's from the last couple of seasons in Santa Clara who were a select team composed of workers of the Western Telegraph Company in the Azores. Their main rivals at the time were Club Sports da Madeira who played in blue and white which were the traditional colours of the fallen monarchy which seems like a proper basis for a rivalry compared to that of Sporting's and Santa Clara’s. I'm not opening that can of worms again here and now it's safe to say.

Before their relegation in 2023 they'd been a top flight side since 1985 and for a period were frequent representatives of the league in European competition. I know this because I've seen them play on English soil. Their one major domestic title was 100 years ago in the 1925/26 season when they won the Taça de Portugal. I'm not looking to see who they beat so if you want to know look it up. At the time of writing I'm only eight days out from the defeat to Torreense. As Bruno de Carvalho one famously said ‘The Taça is shit!’

They play at the Estádio do Marítimo and as mentioned in the last Matchday post of the 2025/26 season against Torreense in the Taça de Portugal final, not only were they the best supported side in Liga 2, but their average attendance makes them one of the best supported sides in all of the Portuguese leagues. Given the stadium holds 10,600 if you're new to Portuguese football and have just raised an eyebrow there I'll say you can be forgiven. The club has 12,000 members (socios) which makes them the sixth biggest team in the country and no, I'm really not shitting you. Their most famous member? A certain CR7. Funchal being his birthplace and the airport was home to his legendary melted face statue which I believe has now sadly been replaced. The stadium is nicknamed O Caldeirão (The Cauldron). Do we think Rui Patrício is aware of this and if so do you think he might claim that someone cast a spell on him in the final game of the 2017/18 when he dropped a bollock in time added on at the end of the 90 minutes? Guess whose spent the best part of two months learning about the attacks at Alcochete and is now a bit too over familiar with Marítimo, Madeira and Funchal Airport's part in the entire sorry tale? It was also once known formerly as the Estádio dos Barreiros and old habits die hard amongst some of the locals who still refer to is as such.

The original ground situated on the site opened in 1927 and was home to Nacional before being shared with both Marítimo and União. They must have had a well paid Groundsman or maybe just a very overworked one. A newer stadium opened in May 1957. Only in 2000 did it become obvious that the pitch couldn't sustain the wear and tear of 3 sets of club's fixtures on it and Nacional vacated. In 2008 União also left and by 2016 a third stadium had been erected on the same site which is the one found in the present day. 

They secured promotion back to the top flight winning Liga 2. Their record played 34, won 20, drawn 6, losing 8, GF 50, GA 29. This was predicated very much on their defence and strangely their away record. You'd think being an island side playing at a ground nicknamed the cauldron because of its intimidating atmosphere would be more of a benefit but apparently not. Viseu, Torreense and FC Porto B all enjoyed better records at home. Played 17, won 9, drawn 4, losing 4, GF 22, GA 17. Away they had the number one record. Again played 17, won 11, drawn 2, losing 4, GF 28, GA a paltry 12. They recorded 14 clean sheets, 2  less than fellow promotion side Académico Viseu. 

Top scorers were Adrián Butzke and Carlos Daniel with 10 apiece. Noah Madsen collected more yellows than they did goals with 11 in total. Simo Bouzaidi contributed 8 goals with 4 from the penalty spot. The other goals were shared amongst ten other players.

Of their promotion winning team Marco Cruz on loan from Vitória, was formerly with Sporting U19s and Sporting B playing 29 and scoring 3 times. Alexander Guedes also started on the same path but only ever made 3 appearances. 

On the discipline front they received 96 bookings and 10 red cards which was the joint second highest behind Torreense with 11. 

Their largest home win was against Leixoes 3-2 (Doesn't feel like much does it?), away the 4-0 defeat of Lusitania Lourosa. 

When they were relegated in 2022/23 they finished third bottom meaning they had to play off against Liga 2’s third place side Estrela. They lost in Lisboa 2-1, won the return leg 2-1 to make it 3-3 but succumbed to a 3-2 defeat on penalties. 

The last time the two sides met the islanders were heading for the double over the lions having taken a 1-0 lead after just 9 minutes at the Estádio José Alvalade. A Costa own goal finally brought it level 6 minutes before time and captain Coates made it 2-1 two minutes past the 90. A Winck penalty on 55 in Madeira was enough for a 1-0 win in the first meeting of the two teams. We got played off the park that day. One of those games you can't tell whether they were truly great or not because we were that fucking bad. Still they've had their arses handed to them on a couple of occasions. December 2022 Sporting won 5-0 with a Paulinho hat-trick in the Taça da Liga group phase. May 2021 the lions won 5-1 and again in January 2018 we have another 5-0.

Their previous mister Vítor Matos left in November 2025 after Swansea City triggered his €1m release clause. He was replaced by Miguel Moita who was formerly the Sporting assistant coach during the 2013/14 season under Leonardo Jardim.

Club Sport Marítimo 2026/27 season

Matchday 1 - Casa Pia (H) 1-0 W

The home side opened the scoring in their first game back in the top flight following promotion. On the hour mark Tejón crossed perfectly from the left wing to find the head of Guzzo who guided it past André Gomes from the edge of the six yard box. It was a better finish than his celebration dance to Zombie Nation which needs some work. This proves to be the only goal of the game and secured 3 points for the islanders.

Xg 1.28 - 0.64
Total Attempts 16 - 9
Big chances 2 - 1
Big chances missed 1 - 1