Frederico Varandas

Frederico Nuno Faro Varandas (born 19 September 1979) is a Portuguese sports executive, medical doctor and former commissioned military captain of the Portuguese Army, who has been the president of Sporting CP since 2018. With a presidency initially marked by contestation, the Varandas tenure is since 2025 the most titled in the club's history, as well as characterized by a discreet presidential position, successful financial rehabilitation of the club, the renewal of the José Alvalade Stadium and the expansion of the club’s football academy. During the club's last election, in 2026, Varandas was elected with 89.47% of the votes.

Early life and career Son of a doctor father and a chemistry and physics teacher mother, and hailing from the affluent Avenida de Roma area in Lisbon, in his childhood, he practised gymnastics and swimming at Sporting Clube de Portugal. His paternal grandfather, who was already a long-standing affiliated member of Sporting Portugal, introduced him to sports fandom at the club. Whilst carrying out his military duties in Afghanistan, his group of soldiers was ambushed in a clash which they all survived. This episode marked him deeply. In 2016, after a period of specialised training in accordance with the Portuguese Order of Physicians' (Ordem dos Médicos) guidelines, he had become a medical specialist in the field of sports medicine. Cintra officially stepped down in September 2018 following the club's elections that elected Frederico Varandas as the new president of the multi-sports club.

While Varandas was working in the capacity of chairman (or president) of Sporting Clube de Portugal, and Francisco Salgado Zenha was both vice-chairman at the club as a whole and CFO at Sporting Portugal’s SAD for football, a financial restructuring was started by the sports club under his direction in 2019 and included the successful renegotiation of bank debt resorting to debt restructuring and debt relief, as well as the repurchasing of convertible debt belonging to Novo Banco and Banco Comercial Português at a discount to par value, which was finalized in 2024. This allowed Sporting Clube de Portugal to take ownership of 88 per cent of Sporting Clube de Portugal – Futebol, SAD's stock from 15 February 2024 onwards, instead of the 83.90% it owned until that time.

Since 2019, and after a number of alarming scandals and illicit situations involving supporters' groups and some of its most prominent members (a fact that was also true for supporters' groups of rival clubs), the board of Sporting CP headed by Frederico Varandas, in a statement expressing disapproval of negative behaviours in the club, established a number of rules regulating organised groups of supporters which would lead to the protocol of the 2022–23 season, designed to be renewed on a case-by-case and year-by-year basis: "The protocol regulates the relationship between SCP, SCP SAD and the GOA [Organised Group of Supporters] during the 2022/2023 sporting season, establishing the terms and conditions for granting technical, financial and material support to said GOA. In accordance with what is stipulated in Law 39/2009, the protocol binds the GOA to remain in the Zones with Special Conditions of Access and Permanence of Supporters (ZCEAP)." This yearly protocols were established in accordance with the new legal framework enacted in a draft law of 2022 submitted to the Portuguese Parliament with the aim of "strengthening mechanisms to combat violence in sport". after a 1–0 home win against Boavista. It was Sporting CP's first title in the Primeira Liga since the 2001–02 season. It was also the first Primeira Liga title since that season not being won by either Benfica or Porto. In an editorial for the official Sporting newspaper at the end of the 2020–2021 sports season, he wrote: "This season we wrote another page of glory in the history of Sporting Clube de Portugal, full of eclecticism, materialised with achievements in all sports," "the long-awaited 23rd title of National Champions is ours. This season, from futsal to basketball, from hockey to athletics, from rugby to table tennis, judo and surfing, our athletes have once again outdone themselves, achieving the club's best season in 115 years."

Also in 2021, Sporting CP, headed by club president Frederico Varandas, announced that it would change the colour of the seats in the multicoloured stands of the Estádio José Alvalade to green (the main colour of the sports club). The colour change was completed in 2022. For the 2022–2026 quadrennium, Frederico Varandas' administration started works of building renovation and modernization of the club's facilities at the José Alvalade Stadium and the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy. These included the removal of green and yellow tiles in order to make the stadium an all green and white building, renovation of the presidential stand and the professional team changing rooms, installation of Wi-Fi and technological modernisation of the turnstile ticketing system at the stadium. The facility for Sporting CP Esports team at the club’s stadium was also 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 players and visitors.

In 2022, the club's board, led by Frederico Varandas, announced a project to expand and modernize the club's football academy located in Alcochete. The project, which included extending the facility's boundaries by six hectares, increasing the total from 22 to 28, planned for the construction of a stadium similar to the Aurélio Pereira Stadium, the main stadium at the academy, also with a capacity for about one thousand spectators. It also included five new pitches with supporting stands and changing room blocks, the unification of the two youth training gyms to expand the space, a reception building, and a park of photovoltaic panels.

In February 2024, the board of directors of Sporting CP headed by Varandas renewed the protocol with the University of Lisbon, thus continuing the link that had been in place since 2007, and announced an investment of three million euros in the modernisation of the EUL Pole in Lisbon, the home of the club's academy for under-13 football players, athletics and other sports. The improvements included the construction of new football pitches, the remodelling of the synthetic turf, the construction of new stands and nine changing rooms, as well as the use of the EUL swimming pool at specific times for Sporting CP's swimming teams and the remodelling and expansion of the administrative building, thus, in addition to men's and women's football, Sporting CP's swimming and rugby departments would also benefit from the works.

In May 2024, at the reception for the squad at the Lisbon City Hall chaired by Carlos Moedas, after achieving the Primeira Liga title for a second time under his leadership as chairman of Sporting CP, he declared: "It's a paradigm shift, the end of an era in which Sporting won sporadically and at intervals of decades. It's confirmation of a new era where Sporting no longer looks up to see its rivals and is once again prepared to win."

In July 2025, Frederico Varandas received a concrete offer to join one of the biggest clubs of the Saudi Pro League, one that belongs to the country's Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF), to take on the role of CEO. Varandas ultimately rejected the offer, opting to stay at Sporting Portugal and continue the work he had begun exactly seven years before, when he was first elected as president of the green and white club. The offer from the Saudis included a seven-figure salary, which was several times higher than the compensation for the Sporting Clube de Portugal - Futebol, SAD board. At the previously held meeting of the club’s General Assembly, the board had approved a proposal from the Shareholders' Committee for a fixed annual salary of 300,000 euros plus a 300,000 euro bonus for the head of the organization. Despite the consideration of the offer received—which was justified by the club's on-field success, with three Primeira Liga titles in the last five years, and positive financial results that allowed for more investment in infrastructure like the stadium and academy—the conversations went no further.

Personal life Frederico Varandas is married to Katarina Larsson, a Sweden-born Swedish-Portuguese former triathlete who competed for both Sporting Clube de Portugal at club level and Portugal in the triathlon, and with whom he has two children born in 2019 and 2023. They first met each other at the sports club located in the Alvalade – Lumiar area of Lisbon. They started dating in 2018. Larsson has worked as supply chain manager for the Tetra Pak factory in Carnaxide, in the municipality of Oeiras.

Football Honours Domestic Competitions Primeira Liga: 3 2020–21, 2023–24, 2024–25 Taça de Portugal: 2 2018–19, 2024–25 Taça da Liga: 3 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1 2021

Futsal Honours International UEFA Futsal Champions League: 3 Champions: 2018–19, 2020–21, 2025-26

National Competitions Portuguese League: 4 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 Portuguese Cup: 4 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22, 2024–25 Portuguese League Cup: 4 2020–21, 2021–22, 2023–24, 2024–25 Portuguese Supercup: 4 2019, 2021, 2022, 2025

Roller Hockey Honours

World Competitions Rink hockey World Club Championship Winners (1): 2025

International WSE Champions League: 3 2018–19, 2020–21, 2023–24 WSE Continental Cup: 2 2019, 2021

National Competitions Portuguese First Division: 1 2020–21 Portuguese Cup: 2 2024–25, 2025-26 Portuguese Super Cup: 1 2025

Handball Honours National Competitions Portuguese League: 3 2023–24, 2024–25, 2025-26 Portuguese Cup : 5 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25, 2025-26 Portuguese Super Cup: 4 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Volleyball Honours National Competitions Portuguese Championship: 2 2024–25, 2025-26 Portuguese Cup: 3 2020–21, 2023–24, 2025-26 Portuguese Super Cup: 2 2024, 2025 Portuguese Federation Cup: 1 2022-2023

Continental Competitions Taça Ibérica: 1 2024

Basketball Honours National Competitions LPB: 1 2020/2021

Portuguese Basketball Cup: 4 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, 2025/2026

Portuguese Basketball Super Cup: 2 2021, 2022

Taça Hugo dos Santos: 3 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2025/2026