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Estádio da Luz

UEFA
Full name	Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Address	Av. Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, 1500-313
Location	Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates	38°45′10″N 9°11′05″W / 38.7527°N 9.1847°W / 38.7527; -9.1847
Public transit	Azul  at Alto dos Moinhos  Azul  at Colégio Militar/Luz
Owner	S.L. Benfica
Operator	S.L. Benfica
Executive suites	156
Capacity	65,592
Record attendance	Official match: 64,591 (13 May 2017) All-time: 65,400 (25 October 2003)
Field size	105 x 68 m
Surface	Grass
Scoreboard	Yes
Construction
Broke ground	2003
Opened	25 October 2003
Construction cost	€162 million
Architect	HOK Sport (now Populous)
Tenants
Benfica (2003–present) Benfica B (2003–2006, 2012–2013) Benfica women's (2018–present; selected matches) Portugal national football team (selected matches)
Website
slbenfica.pt

The Estádio da Luz (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɨˈʃtaðju ðɐ ˈluʃ]), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club Benfica, its owner.

Opened on 25 October 2003 with an exhibition match between Benfica and Uruguayan club Nacional, it replaced the original Estádio da Luz, which had 120,000 seats. The seating capacity of the new stadium is currently set at 64,642. The stadium was designed by HOK Sport Venue Event (now Populous) and had a construction cost of €162 million.

A UEFA category four stadium and one of the biggest stadiums by capacity in Europe (the biggest in Portugal), Estádio da Luz hosted several matches of the UEFA Euro 2004, including its final, as well as the 2014 and 2020 finals of the UEFA Champions League. It was elected the most beautiful stadium of Europe in a 2014 online poll by L'Équipe. By its fifteenth birthday, Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica Luz had welcomed more than 17 million spectators. The stadium is one of the potential venues for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Portugal will co-host along with Morocco and Spain.

Naming

While the previous Benfica stadium was also officially named "Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica", both the old and the new stadia are invariably referred to by their unofficial name, Estádio da Luz. Luz is the name of the neighborhood the stadium was built on, on the border between the parishes of Benfica and Carnide, which itself derives its name from the nearby Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Luz (Church of Our Lady of Light). This unofficial name caught on soon after the original stadium's construction; the people of Lisbon used to simply call it a Luz ("the Light"). Therefore, the stadium's common name became "Estádio da Luz", which is usually anglicised to "Stadium of Light". This translation, however, could be argued to be inaccurate, since Luz refers not to "light" but to the original address of the stadium: Estrada da Luz ("Road of Light").

Characteristics

Architect Damon Lavelle, from HOK Sport Venue Event (now Populous), designed the stadium to focus on light and transparency. Its polycarbonate roof allows the sunlight to penetrate the stadium in order to illuminate it. The roof, which is supported by tie-beams of four steel arches, seems to float on the underlying tribunes. The arches are 43 metres (141 feet) high and help define the look of the stadium, after having been shaped to be similar to the wavy profile of its three tiers. According to Lavelle, the seating capacity may be increased up to 80,000. However, the most realistic option is to expand by selling standing places, which would require a change in the law.

In June 2024, Sport Lisboa e Benfica announced that it would increase the stadium's capacity to nearly 66,000 spectators (65,592) by adding 950 seats in a row of seats around the stadium reserved for people with motor disabilities.

Notable matches

Opening game

Benfica	2–1	Nacional
Nuno Gomes 7', 47'	Report	Mello 11'

In the opening match, Benfica beat Uruguayan side Nacional 2–1 with goals from Nuno Gomes, who became the first ever scorer at the Estádio da Luz.

UEFA Euro 2004 Final

Portugal	0–1	Greece
	Report	Charisteas 57'

2014 UEFA Champions League Final

Real Madrid	4–1 (a.e.t.)	Atlético Madrid
Ramos 90+3' Bale 110' Marcelo 118' Ronaldo 120' (pen.)	Report	Godín 36'

Highest attendance official match

Benfica	5–0	Vitória de Guimarães
Cervi 11' Jiménez 16' Pizzi 37' Jonas 43', 67' (pen.)	Report

On round 33 of the 2016–17 Primeira Liga, in a match where Benfica were crowned national champions for a fourth consecutive season (a new achievement for them), Estádio da Luz recorded its best attendance in official matches.

2019–20 UEFA Champions League

Quarter-finals

Barcelona	2–8	Bayern Munich
Alaba 7' (o.g.) Suárez 57'	Report	Müller 4', 31' Perišić 22' Gnabry 27' Kimmich 63' Lewandowski 82' Coutinho 85', 89'

Final

Paris Saint-Germain	0–1	Bayern Munich
	Report	Coman 59'

International matches

Portugal national team matches

The following national team matches were held in the stadium.

#	Date	Score	Opponent	Competition
1	16 June 2004	2–0	Russia	Euro 2004 Group Stage
2	24 June 2004	2–2	England	Euro 2004 Quarter-Finals
3	4 July 2004	0–1	Greece	Euro 2004 Final
4	4 June 2005	2–0	Slovakia	2006 World Cup qualification
5	8 September 2007	2–2	Poland	Euro 2008 qualifying
6	10 October 2009	3–0	Hungary	2010 World Cup qualification
7	14 November 2009	1–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2010 World Cup UEFA play-offs
8	17 November 2010	4–0	Spain	Friendly
9	4 June 2011	1–0	Norway	Euro 2012 qualifying
10	15 November 2011	6–2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs
11	2 June 2012	1–3	Turkey	Friendly
12	7 June 2013	1–0	Russia	2014 World Cup qualification
13	15 November 2013	1–0	Sweden	2014 World Cup UEFA play-offs
14	29 March 2015	2–1	Serbia	Euro 2016 qualifying
15	8 June 2016	7–0	Estonia	Friendly
16	25 March 2017	3–0	Hungary	2018 World Cup qualification
17	10 October 2017	2–0	Switzerland
18	7 June 2018	3–0	Algeria	Friendly
19	10 September 2018	1–0	Italy	2018–19 UEFA Nations League
20	22 March 2019	0–0	Ukraine	Euro 2020 qualifying
21	25 March 2019	1–1	Serbia
22	11 November 2020	7–0	Andorra	Friendly
23	14 November 2020	0–1	France	2020–21 UEFA Nations League
24	14 November 2021	1–2	Serbia	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
25	17 June 2023	3–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
26	5 September 2024	2–1	Croatia	2024–25 UEFA Nations League
27	8 September 2024	2–1	Scotland

Euro 2004 matches

Date	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round	Attendance
13 June 2004	France	2–1	England	Group B	62,487
16 June 2004	Russia	0–2	Portugal	Group A	59,273
21 June 2004	Croatia	2–4	England	Group B	57,047
24 June 2004	Portugal	2–2 (6–5 on pen.)		Quarter-finals	62,564
4 July 2004		0–1	Greece	Final	62,864

Benfica matches in UEFA competitions

As of match played 23 October 2024

• All-time statistics

115 matches: 71 wins, 21 draws, 23 losses

197 goals scored, 102 goals conceded

Other Events

The 2019 "Love Never Fails!" International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses was held June 28-30,2019. Nearly 60,000 people were in attendance

Concerts

See also

• List of football stadiums in Portugal
• Lists of stadiums

Notes

1. ^ The match was played behind closed doors to comply with restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. ^ "Vender jogadores para gerar receitas" [Selling players to generate revenue]. Record (in Portuguese). 29 April 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
2. ^ "History has been made". S.L. Benfica. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
3. "fsd150611.pdf" (PDF). CMVM (in Portuguese). S.L. Benfica. 14 April 2016. pp. 81–82. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
4. "Estádio da Luz é o mais bonito da Europa" [Estádio da Luz is the most beautiful of Europe]. Record (in Portuguese). 22 October 2014. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
5. "Luz considerado o estádio mais bonito" [Luz considered the most beautiful stadium]. SAPO Desporto (in Portuguese). 22 October 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
6. Tavares da Silva, Hugo (22 October 2014). "Estádio da Luz é o mais bonito da Europa" [Estádio da Luz is the most beautiful of Europe]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 30 May 2017.
7. "Luz recebeu mais de 17 milhões de espectadores em 15 anos" [Da Luz welcomed more than 17 million spectators in 15 years]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 25 October 2018. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
8. Silveira, João Pedro. "Luz: a Catedral" [Luz: the Cathedral]. zerozero (in Portuguese). Retrieved 8 May 2019.
9. Lutz, Tom (20 March 2012). "Benfica's Stadium of Light to host 2014 Champions League final". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
10. "Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Luz)". Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Site Oficial. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
11. Hunter, James (20 April 2017). "The Princess Diana Stadium? Sir Bob Murray reveals request to rename the Stadium of Light". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
12. "15 Best Football Stadiums in the World". twelfthman blog. 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
13. "Arquiteto da Luz admite alargamento para 80 mil lugares" [Da Luz' architect admits enlargement to 80 thousand seats]. Bancada (in Portuguese). 29 October 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
14. Moreira, António Vasconcelos (18 September 2019). "Expansão do Estádio da Luz pode passar pela venda de bilhetes para assistir aos jogos de pé". O Jornal Económico (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 29 November 2024.
15. "Notícia Record: Benfica aumenta lotação da Luz em 950 lugares". www.record.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 29 November 2024.
16. "Full-time report" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
17. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals – Barcelona v Bayern Munich" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
18. 6–5 after penalty shoot-out.
19. https://www.jw.org/en/news/region/portugal/Lisbon-Portugal-2019-Love-Never-Fails-International-Convention/
20. "As imagens do concerto de Ed Sheeran no estádio da Luz" [The pictures of Ed Sheeran's concert at Estádio da Luz]. Renascença (in Portuguese). 2 June 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
21. "Ed Sheeran à beira de bater recorde em Portugal". Jornal Expresso (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 29 November 2024.
22. "Rammstein: a Luz com labaredas (as fotos)" [Rammstein: Luz with flames (the photos)]. M80 (in Portuguese). 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
23. Cardoso, Joana Amaral (26 June 2023). "Rammstein quase esgotam o Estádio da Luz, com cantor suspeito de agressão sexual". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 November 2024.
24. "Taylor Swift The Eras Tour". taylorswift.com. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
25. Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de (26 May 2024). "Taylor Swift em Lisboa. Mais de 120 mil pessoas assistiram aos dois concertos". Taylor Swift em Lisboa. Mais de 120 mil pessoas assistiram aos dois concertos (in Portuguese). Retrieved 29 November 2024.
26. "Imagine Dragons no Estádio da Luz em 2025". Blitz (in Portuguese). 9 September 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Estádio da Luz at Structurae

• S.L. Benfica
• Sports venues in Lisbon
• Football venues in Portugal
• Sport in Lisbon
• Sports venues completed in 2003
• UEFA European Championship final stadiums
• 2003 establishments in Portugal