Sporting: Alvalade will break the record in El Clásico

Expected to be the best house of the season in Leo, on its way to 50k; The average number of spectators this season at Alvalade’s championship matches is close to 40,000. There will be no shortage of support for Team Amorim

The 2023/2024 season is the most exciting season for Sporting fans in recent times, at least considering the crowd attendance at the Jose Alvalade stadium. And for Monday’s classic match with FC Porto (20.15 hours), the biggest house of the season is expected, perhaps closer to 50,000 than 40,000 spectators, with expectations in the middle, at 45,000 fans. Permanent tickets have been sold out, and the league is at the top of the table, so annual seat holders should not fail to support the team. Ruben Amorim and his students can count on a stadium brimming with emotion.

Sporting is in the fight for the title during the Christmas season, a classic that secures first place on the verge of the new year and with this enthusiasm dominates the stands of Alvalade, which this season, in addition to the 12 matches it has already hosted, the Lions club, for the championship, the league, the Portuguese cups and the European League, has opened its doors to 398,559 spectators, a barrier of 400,000 that will be crossed today, Monday, in the 13th home match for the Lions.

The match that brought the largest number of spectators to Alvalade was played in Europe, with Atalanta: 42,301 spectators watched the Italians win 2-1 at home, a match that took place on Thursday afternoon, the 5th October bank holiday. Now, the big match in the 14th round is expected to witness a crowd attendance of about 45,000 spectators, which will increase the average crowd attendance for the current season, which amounts to 33,213 spectators.

However, this record rises to almost 37 thousand, and more precisely 36,773 spectators, if we take into account only the championship matches, out of a total of 257,417 people who watched the league matches in Alvalade. The League Cup and Portuguese Cup matches – Farense (22,801 spectators) and Domense (18,367 spectators) – contribute to the decline in value (see table below). In the tournament, the best crowd attendance came in the third round, where Famalicao was attended by 40,287 spectators, the second match with the largest number of fans this season and one of two matches above the 40,000 spectator threshold.

To obtain numbers of this caliber, we must go back to the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons, where the averages were between 35,000 and 40,000 in the 2020/2021 season, which deserved the national title that has eluded the Lions since then. The year 2002 was no less exciting, but it was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed the stadium’s doors.

Alvalade’s doors open on Mondays at 6:15 p.m., two hours before the ball starts. 2,500 Porto fans are expected to fill the visitors’ section.