Estádio das Antas

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The Estádio das Antas (officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese football side FC Porto. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição and later replaced by Estádio do Dragão. As well the stadium, it had an indoor arena and three training grounds. The club's offices were also split between the inside of the stadium and the Torre das Antas, built in front of the stadium during the 90's. It was demolished in 2004.

[edit] Layout

The stadium was split with six different areas. The Poente and Maratona being the best seats, while the most financially accessible remained both Superior Norte, Superior Sul and Arquibancada. between the Norte and Poente were the seats for the away supporters. Each stand was split into different sectors. While the Poente had 4, both Maratona and Arquibancada had 5, and both Superiores had 9, but two in Norte were reserved for away supporters. In games there wasn't expected much turnout from away fans, but high from Porto supporters, the away fan sector was often reduced to the half. In the past there were other divisions, such as splitting the Superior stands between the original and the new terraces built after the 1986 capacity increase.

[edit] Milestones

The Arquibancada was the last to fall

28 May 1952 - Inaugurated with the presence of Portuguese President General Craveiro Lopes
1 September 1962 - Floodlights
1973 - all-purpose arena completed
30 April 1976 - Construction of Maratona stand, on the opposite of the main stand, and start of the Arquibancada.
16 December 1986 - capacity increased to 75'000 places (rebaixamento). Athletics track removed
Summer 1997 - all-seater (capacity reduced to 48'297 seats)
24 January 2004 - final game. Ironically, though the succeeding Estádio do Dragão had opened in November 2003, the replanting of the turf resulted in some games returning to Estádio das Antas.
March 2004 - demolition began