Vice-president Carlos Vieira at the IIII National Sports Forum

Sporting's vice-president Carlos Vieira was at the III National Sports Forum this week, invited to speak about the work being done to balance the Alvalade books in line with UEFA regulations.

"Sporting CP has been publishing detailed accounts. This board of directors showed the consolidated accounts for the entire Sporting Group for the first time, which is something that not every Portuguese club does. As far as I know, from the big clubs only Sporting and FC Porto have done it", said the Alvalade director, adding: "The previous board missed the numbers set by UEFA's fair-play rules and it discredited Sporting's management. We have restructured and it has worked out brilliantly. We were not penalized financially and that allowed us to turn in the results which we have been."

Carlos Vieira finished with a reflection on football in general: "Clubs in Portugal cannot just focus on players' economic or sports rights. Football is a really important industry in Portugal, Europe and around the world and we have to build up a capacity to keep our best assets. We have to convince players that playing in Portugal is just as good as in Spain for example."