Estádio José Alvalade

Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade, the founder and first club member of Sporting CP in the early twentieth century.

Estádio José Alvalade

UEFA
Full name	Estádio José Alvalade
Location	Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates	38°45′40.30″N 9°9′38.82″W
Public transit	Verde   Amarela  at Campo Grande
Owner	Sporting Clube de Portugal
Capacity	50,095
Record attendance	50,046 vs Real Madrid[1] (22 November 2016)
Field size	105 x 68 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	2003
Opened	6 August 2003
Construction cost	€105 million
Architect	Tomás Taveira
Tenants
Sporting Clube de Portugal (2003–present) Portugal national football team (selected matches)

Origin

The previous José Alvalade Stadium was opened on 10 June 1956.[2] Plans by Sporting CP to modernize the club in the late 1990s coincided with the decision to award Portugal the right to host UEFA Euro 2004, and the decision was made to build a new stadium, with construction beginning on 15 January 2001. The club's statutes dictated that the stadium would be called Estádio José Alvalade. It would be the club's seventh stadium.[3][4]

History

The stadium is the center of a complex called Alvalade XXI, designed by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira, 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. The complex cost a total of €162 million, with the stadium accounting with almost €121 million. On the exterior, the stadium features multi-coloured tiles. Seats are also arranged in a random-looking colour mix.

It was classified by UEFA as a 4-star stadium, enabling it to host finals of major UEFA events. The stadium – originally projected to hold only 40,000 spectators at any given time – has a capacity of 50,095[5] 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.

The new stadium official opening was on 6 August 2003 when Sporting played and beat Manchester United 3–1. 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. In May 2005, the stadium was upgraded to 5-star stadium status by UEFA, the same month it hosted the 2005 UEFA Cup Final between Sporting and CSKA Moscow, which CSKA Moscow won 3–1.[6]

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.

It hosted quarter-finals and semi-finals matches during the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.[7]

Notable matches

First match

Team #1		Score		Team #2	Date
Sporting CP		3–1		Manchester United	6 August 2003

UEFA Euro 2004

Team #1				Team #2	Date	Attendance	Round
Sweden		5–0		Bulgaria	14 June 2004	31,652	Group stage
Spain		0–1		Portugal	20 June 2004	47,491	Group stage
Germany		1–2		Czech Republic	23 June 2004	46,849	Group stage
France		0–1		Greece	25 June 2004	45,390	Quarter-finals
Portugal		2–1		Netherlands	30 June 2004	46,679	Semi-finals

2005 UEFA Cup Final

Team #1		Score		Team #2	Date	Attendance
Sporting CP		1–3		CSKA Moscow	18 May 2005	47,085

Other international matches

Team #1				Team #2	Date	Attendance	Competition	Notes
Portugal		7–1		Russia	13 October 2004	44,258	2006 World Cup qualification	Russia's biggest ever defeat
Portugal		4–0		Belgium	24 March 2007	48,009	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	First ever competitive win over Belgium
Portugal		1–1		Serbia	12 September 2007	47,000	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
Portugal		2–3		Denmark	10 September 2008	33,406	2010 World Cup qualification	First ever competitive loss against Denmark
Portugal		1–1		Israel	11 October 2013	48,317	2014 World Cup qualification
Portugal		0–1		France	4 September 2015	39,853	Friendly
Portugal		3–0		Luxembourg	12 October 2019	47,308	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
Portugal		0–0		Spain	7 October 2020	2,433*	Friendly	First match played in Portugal with fans in the stands, during the Covid-19 pandemic
Portugal		3–0		Sweden	14 October 2020	5,000*	2020-21 UEFA Nations League	Second match played in Portugal with fans in the stands, during the Covid-19 pandemic

Seating distribution

• Disabled Seats – 50
• Skybox Seats – 1,542
• VIP and Business Seats – 1,968
• Tribune Seats – 100
• Public Seats (Level A) – 24,261
• Public Seats (Level B) – 21,970
• Press Seats – 204

Transport

The Stadium is served by the Campo Grande station[8] 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.

It is a relatively short distance (3 km) from Lisbon's biggest stadium, the Estádio da Luz, homeground of rivals S.L. Benfica.

References

1. Group, Global Media (22 November 2016). "Sporting-Real: recorde de assistência em Alvalade". ojogo.pt.
2. "A inauguração do Estádio José Alvalade em 1956". Torcida Verde. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
3. "Stadium History". www.sporting.pt. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
4. "Estádio José Alvalade". www.sporting.pt. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. "Estádio José Alvalade". www.sporting.pt. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
7. UEFA.com. "Draws | UEFA Champions League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
8. "Google Maps". Google Maps.

External links

• Sporting Club web site