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.