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.
Summer Transfer Window
Incoming
Rafael Fernandes - Lille (loan)
Nathanael Ogbeta - Plymouth (Free)
Tomás Tavares - Free agent
Gábor Szalai - Ferencvaros (loan)
Samuel Bamba - Bochum (Free)
Yellu Santiago - Hellas Verona (Loan)
Israel Isaac Ayuma - NK Istra 1961 (Loan)
Maurice Boakye - Hamburger SV (Free)
Maxime Dominguez - Cracovia €100,000
Bryan Limbombe - Heracles (Free)
Fran Vieltes - Leicester City (Free)
Ibrahim Alani - Real Valladolid (Free)
Nilton Varela - Beerschot (Free)
Mons Bassouamina - Pafos (Undisclosed)
Outgoing
Guirassy - União de Leiria (Free)
Samu - Maccabi Netanya (Free)
Francisco França - Felgueiras £172,000
Preslav Borukov - Botev Vratsa (Free)
Rodrigo Borges - Released
Alexander Guedes - Released
Almeida - Sabah FK (Free)
Afonso Freitas - Felgueiras (Free)
Martim Fernandes - Academia (Free)
Junior Almeida - Sabah (Free)
André Rodrigues - Chaves (Free)
Carlos Daniel to Al-Jabalain (Free)
Noah Madsen - Holstein Kiel £602,000
Pedro Teixeira - AD Camacha (Loan)
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
Matchday 2 - Famalicão (A) 1-2 W
Famalicão were looking for their first win of the new season after drawing 1-1 with Estoril. The islanders were looking to add to their opening round win against Casa Pia.
An Arando corner near side resulted in an exquisitely guided header into the bottom left hand corner by van Breeman from 8 yards to give the home side the lead. The visitors equalised when goalkeeper Carevic miscontrolled the ball in the box on 20 minutes. Butzke stole the ball but could only fire against the right hand post from 8 yards. Incredibly the ball cannoned back out straight to Bouzaidi who fired it home via a touch off a defender from 18 yards to equalise for 1-1. Fernandes should have put Marítimo 2-1 ahead but headed over from 6 yards. The sides went in level at half time. On 53' a Sorriso header from point blank range was well saved by Pastor. On 61' a fine curled effort from the corner of the left hand side of the 18 yard box from Sorisso was again kept out by Pastor to keep the visitors in the game. It was another defensive howler which led to the winner three minutes past the end of the 90. Realpe panics and hits his pass inside the area with too much pace to fellow defender van Breeman and the ball cannoned back to Boakye who stabbed it home from the edge of the far side of the six yard box. For the newly promoted side a 100% win record. They'll be hoping to make it 3 from 3 when they face fellow promotion side Academico Viseu next Saturday at home.
xG 0.59 - 1.61
Total attempts 14 - 9
Shots on target 4 - 4
Big chances 1 - 5
Big chances missed 1 - 3
Matchday 3 - Académico de Viseu (H) 2-2 D
Sometimes goals aren't always pretty but that doesn't mean they're not pretty effective. A long throw from the visitors on the far side was flicked on by Anthony Correia onto the head of André Clovis who guided it past Pastor in the Marítimo net from 4 yards out on 24' for 1-0. Fernandes attempted header fell way short of it's target and was latched upon by Soufiane Messeguem twenty yards from goal. He continued his run into the box to calmly slot past Pastor into the bottom right hand corner from 12 yards to double Viseu's lead on 45'.Clovis thought he had made it 3-0 just 2 minutes after the restart but saw his effort ruled out after he was ruled offside. Henrique made it 2-1 on 69' following a long throw from the near side. Some woeful defending from the visitors finally allowed the Portuguese left back to force it home past 3 black shirts from 8 yards. Adrián Butzke levelled from the penalty spot with 3 minutes remaining sending Ewerton the wrong way. The islanders remain unbeaten. The less said about the pitch the better which looked like it had hosted a tractor ploughing competition. Still time after the 90 for the Académico mister Bruno Pinheiro to be sent off.
Total attempts 11 - 13
Shots on target 4 - 7
Big Chances 1 - 4
Big Chances Missed 0 - 2
xG 1.28 - 1.84
Matchday 4 - FC Arouca (A) 2-1 L
The Lobos were looking to get back to winning ways after their first defeat of the campaign to FC Porto last time out against one of the two newly promoted sides. Going into the game the side from Madeira were unbeaten in their opening 3 fixtures collecting 7 of 9 possible points on offer.
On 11' van Ee's vicious effort from 24 yards skimmed off the top of the islanders cross bar and behind to safety. Butter fingers from Pastor when he dropped a harmless long range Fukui free kick from 32 yards onto the feet of Tejón but the keeper recovered well enough to push the Spaniards effort out for a corner. On 22' the home side had their own cross bar to thank after really good work to fashion a chance for Andrade from 8 yards. Suspicion that the Arouca keeper got the faintest of touches on the shot before it cannoned back off the bar and to safety. It was Tejón who smashed home the opening goal from 12 yards on 26' and I wonder if de Arruabarrena was suffering from a clash of heads because all of a sudden he's shown wearing a swimming cap.
Touch of fortune to the equaliser on 44' as van Ee's effort from 8 yards deflected up off a defender and over Pastor into the net. It was all too easy for Barbero to head home unmarked from 3 yards from Gozálbez's perfectly floated cross on 54' and the home side ahead for the first time in the game. The Wolves forward's goal proving to be the winner. Three wins from four for them. A first defeat for the islanders but 7 points from 12 will give them massive hope that they'll stay up come May.
xG 1.65 - 0.67
Total Attempts 17 - 12
Shots on target 7 - 4
Big Chances 2 - 1
Big Chances Missed 1 - 1
Matchday 5 - Benfica (H) 0-3 L
Just 6 minutes gone when Prestianni's shot from 18 yards stung the hands of Pastor and flew back out to Barreiro who shrugged of the attensions of a defender and slammed home from 13 yards to make it 1-0 to the visitors. On 16' Pavilidis saw his curled effort from the edge of the D strike the right hand post and go behind for a goal kick. It wasn't until 20 minutes from time that the Eagles doubled their lead. A long cross was headed back across the six yard box by Pavlidis onto the head of Barreiro who converted from a yard from just inside the near post. With 9 to play the goal of the night came from Prestianni who started his run from inside his own half, rode the challenge of one player, continued into the box and with two defenders in front and one still behind, curled the ball into the bottom right hand corner from half a yard inside the 18 yard box.
xG 0.12 - 1.31
Total Attempts 6 - 11
Shots on target 1 - 6
Big Chances 0 - 1
Big Chances Missed 0 - 0
Matchday 6 - Moreirense (A) 3-1 L
The ex-Sporting midfielder Manuel Mendonça scored from 3 yards at the far post to open the scoring on 17' for os verdes e brancos. They doubled the lead on 28' through Leonardo Vonić. The islanders were attempting to play out from the back when a pass hit the heel of Henrique straight to a Moreirense player just outside of the 18 yard box who laid it off again. Quick thinking from Bondoso whose pass found Vonić inside the area and he turned his marker to make space to then fire through the legs of goalkeeper Pastor. Vonić came close to making it 3-0 on 49' from 5 yards but somehow a defender in front of him blocked the shot clear for a corner. The visitors made it interesting on 78' with a header at the far post from Correia four yards out which was headed on the line up into the net to half the deficit. On 84' Pastor quite literally sent Duville-Parsemain flying inside the box to concede a penalty. The forward stepped up a minute later to stroke the ball into the bottom right hand corner to put the game to bed.
xG 2.00 - 0.76
Total attempts 11 - 9
SHots on target 5 - 2
Big chances 4 - 1
Big chances missed 1 - 0
Matchday 7 - Gil Vicente (A) 1-1 D
Poor marking allowed Murilo to open the scoring from 12 yards on 6 minutes. The roosters should have doubled their lead on 13' but having beaten the defence Hernández appeared to slip before knocking the ball wide from 8 yards out. 23' Murilo had the ball in the net a second time only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. 27' García came close to scoring what would have been a contender for goal of the season as he nutmegged his marker before unleashing a shot from 24 yards that went inches past the left hand post. 38' The islanders almost found an equaliser as Esgaio (yes that one) failed to stop a cross from the left wing which found the head of Guzzo unmarked 6 yards out but he failed to even hit the target and his effort ended up way past the far post. The roosters got away with another one on 43' when Szalai headed down from 5 yards with the goal gaping and it bounced up wide of the wrong side of the post.
Just 21 seconds after the restart Domingez brought a save from 14 yards but in truth the connection was poor. Still Marítimo were getting closer. 72' Igor Julião earned a literal pat on the bum from his keeper when he blocked a shot from 10 yards. Francisco Vieites may have earned himself a call from HR, who knows, this is football afterall. 90+2' Hail Mary from Vieites downfield from 18 yards inside his own half. Header flicked onto Boakye who layed it off right to Ayuma. Sublime piece of skill to let the ball run past the defender before taking one touch to control and the second saw him smash home the equaliser from 7 yards so steal a point.
xG 1.20 - 0.86
Total Attempts 19 - 10
Shots on Target 8 - 4
Big Chances 3 - 3
Big Chances Missed 2 - 2
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