By Melody Gross 
Former handball goalkeeper for Sporting and the national team, Carlos Silva, was crowned by the Lisbon City Council with the Municipal Sports Merit Medal on Friday, in a ceremony attended by Lions president Frederico Varandas and Carlos. Carneiro, director of handball at Alvalad Club.
The former player was very happy with the award: “To receive this medal is an honor for a 71-year-old man who spent 25 years playing for Lisbon clubs, who was born in Lisbon and raised in Lisbon. I think I have now received all the trophies and close here everything that can be received. This attribution Possible only because I played a team sport in which there is no “I”, but the word “we”. I had the honor to be captain of Sporting for many years and to be in the national team for 17 or 18 years, being captain for eight or nine years. I participate This is with my colleagues and the technicians who believed in me, as well as the managers, the medical staff and the wardrobes. It’s all important.”
Frederico Varandas paid tribute to Carlos Silva’s distinction: “I am always very happy when people who deserve it are recognized in life. As President of Sporting, I must say that the history of our club is made of champions, who will always be the athletes, coaches and people who enable us to pass on the passion for sport from generation to generation. Chairmen and managers have the task of creating champions for fans and members, as they are the champions within the clubs. Carlos Silva is not just an athlete, he is one of the few lions who have spent 20 years serving handball, having given Sporting eight national titles and seven Portuguese Cups. In other words, the Sporting Museum owes a lot to Carlos Silvas and today I have to thank him for everything he has done for Sportingna. Lisbon is his city, but Sporting Lisbon will always be his home.”
The Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, highlighted the fairness of awarding the medal: “Carlos Silva is probably the best handball goalkeeper in the history of our country and our goal was to honor him. The president of Sporting rightly said that football clubs make champions, and mayors should honor them. We We honor a long and flawless career by a man of role models. My mission is to honor these examples of work and dedication to sport. This medal is awarded to very few, only people who have played a very important role in the city. It is awarded by the mayor, but it is a medal that all the people of Lisbon attribute to Carlos Silva for everything he did for the city.”