Sporting are nicknamed Leões (Lions), for the symbol used in the middle of the club's crest, and Verde e Brancos (Green and Whites), for the shirt colour that are in (horizontal) stripes.

[28][29] Two months later, on 1 July 1906,[a] António Félix da Costa Júnior suggested the name Sporting Clube de Portugal, and since 1920 that is the club's foundation date.

[33] Sporting played their first Primeira Liga game (the 1st Division of Portuguese football) ever on 20 January 1935, winning 0–6 against Académica de Coimbra.

[36] Sporting and the Yugoslavian team Partizan both made history on 4 September 1955, as they played the first-ever UEFA Champion Clubs' Cup match.

[40] Under the leadership of president João Rocha, the first project of club-company in Portugal was approved by Sporting CP's affiliated partners (sócios) in November 1973, and denominated "Society of Constructions and Planning" (SCP, Sociedade de Construções e Planeamento).

[41][42] The club-company project with issuance of stock was hampered shortly after due to the events of the Carnation Revolution of 1974 and the subsequent Processo Revolucionário em Curso of 1975 (the creation of Sociedades Anónimas Desportivas ("Public limited sports companies") would be later available in Portugal through a new legal status only introduced in the 1990s).

[45] English manager Malcolm Allison arrived at Sporting in 1981, and under his guidance the club won the domestic double (league title and Portuguese cup), in 1982.

On 14 August 2002,[52] Cristiano Ronaldo, then 17, played his first official match for a Sporting CP's senior team, in a UEFA Champions League qualifying round at home against Inter Milan.

Sporting also reached, for the first time, the knockout phase of UEFA Champions League, in the 2008–09 season, but were roundly defeated by Bayern Munich, with an aggregate loss of 12–1.

[66][67] Carvalho intended to return success to the football team, while threatening to take Godinho Lopes to court,[68][69][70] as well as to renegotiate the club's debt payment schedule with the banks involved,[71] which eventually renegotiated the debt in very favourable conditions for Sporting CP in the following years as part of the club's financial restructuring started by Carvalho and finalized by Frederico Varandas ten years later.

[74][75] Carvalho's election brought Angolan investors to the club, most notably Álvaro Sobrinho, through Holdimo, which ultimately took possession of 20 million shares of Sporting's SAD through conversion of convertible debt.

[85] Celebrations ended in a pacific pitch invasion of Estádio José Alvalade by the fans, as the club touched silverware for the first time in seven years.

Following a trophyless season, Sporting won their first Taça da Liga on a penalty shoot-out against Vitória de Setúbal.

However, on 15 May 2018, days after finishing third in the league, several players and coaches were attacked by around 50 ultra supporters of Sporting at the club's training ground (9 of them would be sentenced to at least a specified term of actual imprisonment[90] after trial).

[94] This followed the rescissions of nine players: Bruno Fernandes, Daniel Podence, Rui Patricio, Rodrigo Battaglia, Rafael Leão, Rúben Ribeiro, Bas Dost, Gelson Martins and William Carvalho.

[103] In March 2019, Sporting CP announced a loan negotiated with Apollo Global Management, based on the securitization of NOS' television rights revenues.

Domestically, both the 2021 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira[107] and the 2021–22 Taça da Liga[108] were won by the Lions, securing the trophies against Braga and Benfica, respectively.

In the 2023-24 league season, Sporting record signing Viktor Gyökeres helped propel the club to their 20th Primeira liga title, won on the fifth of May after Benfica's 2–0 loss to Famalicão.

[111][112] In December 2023, Sporting and its SAD had gone ahead with a financial restructuring started in 2019 on the grounds of earlier agreements with creditors jump-started by Bruno de Carvalho[74] which included the renegotiation of bank debt, "extinguishing the debt originally belonging to Novo Banco, S.A. (with outstanding capital of 35,403,508.62 euros), with the exception of finance leases", the company announced in a statement sent to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).

[117][118][119] With the completion of the restructuring, the club said it intended to start a new strategic financial planning and secure the entry of a minority investor in its Futebol, SAD.

[127] The current emblem presents an image with simplified framing while maintaining the green color in the shield and adding three horizontal white stripes that symbolize the club's shirt.

[128] A stylized rampant lion appears in golden color and the acronym "SCP", which stands for the club's name (Sporting Clube de Portugal), is shown like a crown on top of the shield.

When Sporting's football team travelled to Brazil in July 1928, and after considering the weather conditions in that country, it was decided to wear the horizontally striped jerseys[133] because they were lighter and tighter to the body.

[134] The club's mascot is called Jubas, plural of the Portuguese word for mane, and is an anthropomorphic version of a lion wearing customized standard equipment and attire worn by the players of Sporting CP's main team.

Sporting were considered the favourites, with a squad composed by Luís Figo, Paulo Sousa, Krasimir Balakov, Ivaylo Yordanov, Emílio Peixe, Stan Valckx and others; therefore, Benfica were seen as the underdogs.

However, Benfica defied the odds and won the match 6–3 and went on securing the league title weeks later, leaving Sporting empty-handed in one of the most dramatic seasons in their history.

[176] Four years later, on 7 February 2015, during a futsal[177] derby, members of No Name Boys, one of Benfica's unofficial supporters' groups, showed a banner saying "Very Light 96", in reference to the 1996 incident.

Those who follow the path that surrounds the pavilion will find the Passeio da Fama (Walk of Fame) of Sporting CP's former and current athletic glories where the names of famous Sporting CP's players, athletes, coaching staff and executives such as António Livramento, Carlos Lopes, Dionísio Castro, Domingos Castro, Fernando Mamede, Fernando Peyroteo, Francis Obikwelu, Joaquim Agostinho, José Travassos, Manuel Fernandes, Mário Moniz Pereira, Miguel Maia, Naide Gomes, Patrícia Mamona and Teresa Machado, among many others, can be found.

[200] Next to the pavilion there is the Sporting CP's youth academy school Escola Academia Aurélio Pereira (named after the club's historical youth development principal Aurélio Pereira) with three 5-a-side football fields, with the aim of complementing the Pólo EUL (Sporting CP's facilities for U13 development footballers at the EUL – Estádio Universitário de Lisboa).

An open channel available on satellite and cable television as well as online, it is offered by telecommunications companies MEO, NOS, Vodafone and Nowo in Portugal,[233][234] and also in other countries like Angola and Mozambique, where it is broadcast by operator ZAP.