https://www.rt.com/sport/501287-cristiano-ronaldo-academy-sporting-lisbon/
Small time tbh. Ronaldo is a great player but come on Sporting is a huge club.
Small time tbh. Ronaldo is a great player but come on Sporting is a huge club.
Sporting renames their academy name to honor Cristiano
- Thread starter bond19821982
- Start date
Small time? Naming their academy after one of the greatest ever, who happened to come through that academy?
They produced one of the greatest players of all time so he's a good candidate. It's better than retiring his shirt number.
Hardly small time, he is the best player to have ever come from their academy.
No more small time than having statues outside stadiums. Cristiano Ronaldo is legit one of the all time greats and a proud achievement for the academy.
Ridiculous OP.
Ronaldo will be spoken about alongside Messi, Pele and Maradona when people talk about the greatest of all time. Naming their academy after the greatest player it has ever produced is a fitting gesture.
Ronaldo will be spoken about alongside Messi, Pele and Maradona when people talk about the greatest of all time. Naming their academy after the greatest player it has ever produced is a fitting gesture.
He’s no Bellingham! That’s for sure.
The greatest in football came from Sporting. That's not something to be modest about.
And you will have a bigger player coming from their academy again. What if we rename our academy to honor Giggs ?
'Small time' 
If he had just signed for Man Utd or even Real Madrid and they did that, I’d say it’s small time.
But considering what he’s done as of 2020, then fair enough.
It is nowhere near a shirt getting retired for Jude fecking Bellingham.
But considering what he’s done as of 2020, then fair enough.
It is nowhere near a shirt getting retired for Jude fecking Bellingham.
I'd be alright with that.
United would probably love to name their own academy after Ronaldo with all the cringe eyelash fluttering they direct his way.
I don't think it's small time in the slightest. He is one of the greatest ever, I totally get it.
It's cringey, but abit rich coming from United fans who claims he's our legend despite only playing for us for a fraction of his career
He barely played for them though
So many phrases get over used on here and lose all meaning, to call this small time is laughable and baffling.
Ronaldo is about to break 800 official goal record, the broke the 100 international goals and will (god forbid) soon pass Ali Daei to be the all time Int'l Scorer.
In 2-3 years he could be the world's top goalscorer ever, and all his goals are actually accounted for
1. Josef Bican 805
2. Romario 772
3. Pele 767
4. Cristiano 758
5. Puskas 746
Amazing achievement considering he scored them all against proper opposition, EPL, SPL, Serie A.
Sporting
Manchester United[563][564]
Portugal
Individual
In 2-3 years he could be the world's top goalscorer ever, and all his goals are actually accounted for
1. Josef Bican 805
2. Romario 772
3. Pele 767
4. Cristiano 758
5. Puskas 746
Amazing achievement considering he scored them all against proper opposition, EPL, SPL, Serie A.
Sporting
Manchester United[563][564]
- Premier League: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
- FA Cup: 2003–04
- Football League Cup: 2005–06, 2008–09
- FA Community Shield: 2007
- UEFA Champions League: 2007–08
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
- La Liga: 2011–12, 2016–17
- Copa del Rey: 2010–11, 2013–14
- Supercopa de España: 2012, 2017
- UEFA Champions League: 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
- UEFA Super Cup: 2014, 2017
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2014, 2016, 2017
Portugal
Individual
- FIFA Ballon d'Or/Ballon d'Or: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017[566][567][564][568]
- FIFA World Player of the Year: 2008[569]
- FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2008[570]
- The Best FIFA Men's Player: 2016, 2017
- UEFA Best Player in Europe Award: 2014, 2016, 2017[180][209][571]
- UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2007–08[572]
- UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2007–08[573]
- FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year: 2003–04, 2004–05[574]
- PFA Portuguese Player of the Year: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019[575]
- European Golden Shoe: 2007–08, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15[564]
- FIFA Puskás Award: 2009[576]
- FIFA FIFPro World11: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019[577][578][579][580]
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019[581][582][583][584]
- UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19[585][586][587][588][589][590]
- UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2004, 2012, 2016[591][592][351]
- UEFA European Championship Silver Boot: 2016[352]
- UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year (published 2017)[593]
- UEFA Nations League Finals Team of the Tournament: 2019[594]
- FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2018[373]
- FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2016[595]
- FIFA Club World Cup Silver Ball: 2008,[596] 2014,[597] 2017
- PFA Young Player of the Year: 2006–07[76]
- PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2006–07,[76] 2007–08[85]
- Premier League Player of the Season: 2006–07, 2007–08[563]
- FWA Footballer of the Year: 2006–07, 2007–08[598]
- PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2005–06,[599] 2006–07,[76] 2007–08,[85] 2008–09[600]
- Premier League Golden Boot: 2007–08[563]
- La Liga Best Player: 2013–14[601]
- La Liga Best Forward: 2013–14[601]
- La Liga Most Valuable Player: 2012–13[602]
- La Liga Team of the Season: 2013–14,[603] 2014–15,[604] 2015–16[605]
- Pichichi Trophy: 2010–11[nb 1], 2013–14, 2014–15
- UEFA La Liga Team of The Season: 2015–16, 2016–17[606][607]
- BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2014[608]
- Serie A Most Valuable Player: 2018–19[254]
- Serie A Footballer of the Year: 2019[609]
- Serie A Team of the Year: 2018–19[610]
He's as good an advertisement for Sporting's academy as it gets so it's understandable. Might have been a bit more... I don't know, 'natural' if they waited until his retirement though.
He came through their academy which is what his name is being put on.
Let's not forget he's more than a Lisbon icon, he's a Portuguese icon. I imagine every Portuguese football loving kid wants to be the next Ronaldo
I don't think anyone would have a problem if we renamed it after Sir Bobby Charlton. Real Madrid's youth football stadium is named after Di Stefano for example, Barcelona's is named after Cruijff.
Car crash of a thread, embarrassing.
Cool.
The fact he barely played for them takes a bit of shine off it though.
Not ridiculous. Perhaps too early, and maybe should have been done in a couple of years when he has retired.
If you were a young player, you would be happy to enter the doors of Cristiano Ronaldo’s academy.
They should be proud of bringing grooming him into the player he became. No problem with them celebrating him, just a tad premature, and we’ve all been there.
If you were a young player, you would be happy to enter the doors of Cristiano Ronaldo’s academy.
They should be proud of bringing grooming him into the player he became. No problem with them celebrating him, just a tad premature, and we’ve all been there.
I haven't seen him being called a United legend ever.
It's the academy, which he came through - Why does the fact he barely played for them mean anything?
They're not naming the club after him...
They're not naming the club after him...
Exactly. It's the academy, the same one he came through. It's very fitting in my view.
Ronaldo Siuuuuu FC
If they named their stadium after him I could get the objection, but naming the academy after the greatest player it has ever produced and quite possibly will ever have produced makes sense, even if he left the club early. From an entirely unsentimental point of view as well, as Ronaldo is the benchmark they want every kid to aspire to.
Now that was the definition of a small time gesture. Retiring the shirt number of a kid that was a mere spunk bubble the last time his club were relevant.
Make a thread " Is CR7 United legend", make a poll while we're at it.
- Giggs is not the best player to come from our academy
- It’s really incomparable. Neither Sporting has history as rich as Manchester United nor do we have an academy graduate with a similar stature to Cristiano in history of the game (although I wouldn’t be against renaming our academy after Charlton or Best*)
I like it. They found one of the best players the world has ever seen. Don’t get why anyone would have an issue with it regardless though.
Didn't know about the Real and Barca part, thank you.
My point is - you being a big club would have lot of great players coming through your academy. I just dont like the idea of a big club with a history as big as Sporting, tied up to one player.
It was a deliberate attempt from my side to include Giggsy and ignored Best or Charlton because big clubs would have big players always. We just cannot keep doing that all the time.
Dude , thread is about naming the Sporting academy after Cristiano.
No one cares about what I think about it and rightly so.
You don't get greater players than Ronaldo often, Ronaldo is an exceptional player in Football history, even the amount of years that he has played for the national team is truly exceptional. But even if you do have a greater player in the future, it doesn't affect Ronaldo's legacy and what he represents.