On 21 July 2016,[1][2][3]Bruno de Carvalho, who was the president of Sporting CP at the time, launched Sporting CP eSports.[7][8] The first player of the team was Francisco "Quinzas" Cruz.[9] In 2019, the team signed Wendell Lira to compete in FIFA.[10] In October 2023, Sporting CP Esports was the first major Portuguese team to play Rocket League, one of the most popular video games on the market at the time, which already had more than 100 million players worldwide.[5] In 2023, Sporting CP updated its esports facility at the club’s stadium, the Estádio José Alvalade. The facility, called the NOS eStadium, was modernised with the help of the club’s sponsor NOS and was upgraded with state-of-the-art HP Omen and PlayStation 5 machines, among other improvements for both the players of the team and visitors.[11][6]
