Founded in Lisbon in July 1, 1906, it is one of the "Trs Grandes" (The Big Three, in English) football clubs in Portugal, with Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Futebol Clube do Porto being the other two clubs, Sporting's two biggest rivals.

The most important day for Portuguese football, is the Derby de Lisboa (Lisbon Derby) between the two rival clubs  Benfica and Sporting.

In Deutschland und sterreich ist der Wettanbieter bwin rechtlich gesehen ganz legal. In Deutschland hat sich bwin eine deutsche Lizenz gesichert und wird vom IT-System LUGAS von der Glcksspielbehrde Halle berwacht, in sterreich reicht eine gltige europische Lizenz  bei bwin ist es eine Lizenz aus Malta.

bwin sponsored football giant Real Madrid from 2007 to 2013 and they were also a premium partner of FC Bayern Munich. In October 2010, bwin announced a sponsorship for the upcoming three football seasons in which they would be the title sponsor of the Portuguese League Cup (renamed the "bwin Cup").