Sporting CP complete Athletic's list of summer friendlies

Athletic Club will face Sporting Clube de Portugal in a pre-season friendly at the Estádio José Alvalade on Saturday July 27 at 19:30 local time (20:30 CEST).

This match in Lisbon rounds off the Lions's pre-season schedule, which includes six friendlies and the Basque Cup final against CA Osasuna with a timetable still to be confirmed.

Athletic's other five warm-up matches pit them against Burgos CF (July 20), Real Racing Club Santander (July 24), SD Eibar (August 1), Aston Villa (August 7) and VfB Stuttgart (August 10).

The match will put the V Violins Trophy at stake. Created in 2012, it is held every year at the José Alvalade Stadium and pays tribute to Jesús Correia, Vasques, Albano, Peyroteo and José Travassos, Sporting CP's attacking quintet between 1946 and 1949, who became known as the "Five Violins" for the harmony they displayed on the pitch. So far, the Lisbon side have won eight editions and only visitors Empoli, Sevilla FC and Valencia CF have managed to win the title.

Sporting CP, also known as 'Leões' (Lions) or 'Verde e brancos' (Green and Whites), recently won the Portuguese League title for the first time in three years and are the third most successful team in Portuguese history with 54 honours.

Led by highly-rated head coach Ruben Amorim, the stand out players in Sporting's squad are Swedish international Viktor Einar Gyökeres, last season's top goalscorer with 29 goals in the league and 14 in other competitions, and Portuguese players, Pedro Gonçalves and Francisco Trincão, who scored a combined 28 times in 2023/24.

This summer's clash will be the 12th meeting between the two sides. We have locked horns four times in two Europa League ties, the most recent duel seeing Athletic book a place in the 2011/12 final. Prior to that, in 1985/86, Sporting knocked Athletic out of the tournament in the round of 16.

We've also played seven friendlies, three in Lisbon, three at San Mames and one in Badajoz.