Sporting announces assault complaint to Ricardo Costa in Classic

O Sporting announced today that it will present a disciplinary participation for aggression to the handball trainer Ricardo Costa, at the Dragon Arena, in Porto, after the defeat against FC Porto (34-32), on the 11th day of the national championship.

In a statement, the club ‘leonino’ corroborated Ricardo Costa’s version, reported in a press conference, stating that the technician was “shot to the ground” by a security guard when he was on his way to make statements at the end of the match.

“His passage was blocked by a security assistant, and was subsequently thrown to the ground and reviled. The technical team collected from the locker rooms and requested the presence of the PSP to formalize their complaint,” says Sporting, who “extremely condemns” the incident.

The three national champions point out that they will move forward with disciplinary participation to the Council of Discipline (CD) of the Federation of Andebol de Portugal (FAP), in order to obtain the “full assessment of the facts and the consequent accountability of all involved”.

“ The repetition of these events makes the question inevitable: what else will the FAP be waiting for? Will it take a third episode to stop there being silence and there will be consequences?", asks the club.

This is a new incident involving the handball classic, after, on March 28, Sporting faced FC Porto in the same room and denounced a “toxic and intense smell” in the locker room, which caused Ricardo Costa and the player Christian Moga to be taken to the hospital before the match.

At the time, FC Porto denied reports of incidents on the premises and the episode led the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, to meet separately with the presidents of the two clubs.

“Sporting regrets this episode, as well as all cases of intimidation and hostility towards members of the club that have occurred repeatedly at the Dragon Arena,” said the ‘green and white’.

FC Porto today won Sporting, by 34-32, in the 11th round of the regular phase of the Portuguese handball championship, imposing on the ‘lions’ the end of a series of 65 games without losing in the national competitions, which lasted since December 9, 2024.