Estádio José Alvalade

Estádio José Alvalade
Full name	Estádio José Alvalade
Location	Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates	38°45′10″N 9°11′05″W / 38.752678°N 9.184681°W / 38.752678; -9.184681
Broke ground	2003
Opened	6 August 2003
Owner	Sporting Clube de Portugal
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	€121 million
Architect	Tomás Taveira
Capacity	50,049
Field dimensions	105 x 68 m
Tenants
Sporting Clube de Portugal

Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal, one of the country's biggest clubs. Having replaced the former Estádio José Alvalade (1956), it is the center of a complex called Alvalade XXI (which includes a mall called Alvaláxia with a 12-screen movie theater, a health club, the club's museum, a sports pavilion, a clinic, and an office building), designed by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira. It was classified by UEFA as a 5-star stadium, enabling it to host finals of major UEFA events. This stadium – originally projected to hold only 40,000 spectators at any given time – has a capacity of 50,049^[1] and was acoustically engineered as a venue for major concerts. The stadium has also a total of 1,315 underground parking spaces, including 30 for disabled spectators. Its official opening was on 6 August 2003 when Sporting played and beat Manchester United 3–1. It also hosted the 2005 UEFA Cup Final between Sporting and CSKA Moscow, which CSKA Moscow won 3–1. On the exterior, the stadium features multi-coloured (no red) tiles. Seats are arranged in a random-looking colour mix (no red) to give an illusion that the stadium is always at capacity.

The stadium hosted five matches of UEFA Euro 2004, one of them being the semi-final between Portugal and the Netherlands, which Portugal won 2–1. This match won the title of Best Organized in the whole competition.^{[citation needed]}

The complex, officially known as Alvalade XXI, cost a total of €162 million, with the stadium accounting with almost €121 million and was built adjacent to the site of the now demolished Estádio José Alvalade (1956).

After years of coping with a poor playing surface, the Sporting board initially decided to install synthetic turf for the 2011-12 season, but this decision was later abandoned for the use of artificial lighting by Stadium Grow Lighting.

First match

Team #1		Score		Team #2	Date
Sporting CP		3 – 1		Manchester United	06/08/2003

Internationals hosted

Team #1				Team #2	Date	Attendance	Competition	Notes
Sweden		5 – 0		Bulgaria	14/06/2004	31,652	UEFA Euro 2004	Group Stage
Spain		0 – 1		Portugal	20/06/2004	47,491	UEFA Euro 2004	Group Stage
Germany		1 – 2		Czech Republic	23/06/2004	46,849	UEFA Euro 2004	Group Stage
France		0 – 1		Greece	25/06/2004	45,390	UEFA Euro 2004	Quarter-Finals
Portugal		2 – 1		Netherlands	30/06/2004	49,679	UEFA Euro 2004	Semi-finals
Portugal		7 – 1		Russia	13/10/2004	44,258	2006 World Cup qualification	Russia's biggest ever defeat
Portugal		4 – 0		Belgium	24/03/2007	48,009	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	First ever competitive win over Belgium
Portugal		1 – 1		Serbia	12/09/2007	47,000	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
Portugal		2 – 3		Denmark	10/09/2008	43,000	2010 World Cup qualification	First ever competitive loss against Denmark
Portugal		1 - 1		Israel	11/10/2013	48,317	2014 World Cup qualification

2005 UEFA Cup Final

Team #1		Score		Team #2	Date	Attendance
Sporting CP		1 – 3		CSKA Moscow	18/05/2005	48,500

Seating distribution

• Disabled Seats – 50
• Skybox Seats – 1,541
• VIP and Business Seats – 1,968
• Tribune Seats – 100
• Public Seats – 46,191
• Press Seats – 199

Transport

The Stadium is served by the Campo Grande station^[2] of the Lisbon Metro and a bus terminal served by several companies. The Segunda Circular, a major ring road of Lisbon, runs close by and the stadium can be reached via the exit Estádio de Alvalade. There are several car parks around the stadium.

References

External links

• Sporting Club web site

Coordinates: 38°45′40.30″N 9°9′38.82″W / 38.7611944°N 9.1607833°W / 38.7611944; -9.1607833