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Estádio José Alvalade

UEFA
Full name	Estádio José Alvalade
Location	Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates	38°45′40″N 9°9′39″W / 38.76111°N 9.16083°W / 38.76111; -9.16083
Public transit	Verde   Amarela  at Campo Grande
Owner	Sporting Clube de Portugal
Capacity	50,095
Record attendance	50,046 vs Real Madrid (22 November 2016)
Field size	105 x 68 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	15 January 2001; 23 years ago (2001-01-15)
Built	2001-2003
Opened	6 August 2003; 21 years ago (2003-08-06)
Construction cost	€105 million
Architect	Tomás Taveira
Tenants
Sporting Clube de Portugal (2003–present) Portugal national football team (selected matches)

Estádio José Alvalade (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɨʃˈtaðju ʒuˈzɛ alvɐˈlaðɨ]; 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 (1885–1918), the founder and first club member of Sporting CP in the early twentieth century.

Origin

The previous José Alvalade Stadium was opened on 10 June 1956. 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, but the decision to build a new stadium, was made before. The 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.

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 for almost €120 million. On the exterior, the stadium featured multicoloured tiles which were later removed. In 2021, Sporting CP announced that it would change the colour of the seats in the multicoloured stands of Estádio José Alvalade to green (the main colour of the sports club). The colour change was completed in 2022. Originally the seats were arranged in a random-looking mosaic of mixed colours, however during its second decade of use these were all gradually changed to dark green, with the roof support towers and access stairways, initially bright yellow, also repainted green in 2011.

Although it eventually received a fifth star becoming a UEFA 5-star stadium, it was initially classified by UEFA as a 4-star stadium. The stadium – originally projected to hold 42,000 spectators at any given time – has a capacity of 50,095 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. Luís Filipe scored the first-ever goal at the new Estádio José Alvalade in that friendly win against Manchester United playing alongside Sporting Portugal's teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, then aged 18, who made his last appearance for the Portuguese club on that same day.

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.

It hosted quarter-finals and semi-finals matches during the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League. The stadium is one of the potential venues for the 2030 FIFA World Cup which Portugal will co-host along with Morocco and Spain.

International matches

Portugal national team matches

The following national team matches were held in the stadium.

#	Date	Score	Opponent	Competition	Attendance
1	13 October 2004	7–1	Russia	2006 World Cup qualification	44,258
2	24 March 2007	4–0	Belgium	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	48,009
3	12 September 2007	1–1	Serbia	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	47,000
4	10 September 2008	2–3	Denmark	2010 World Cup qualification	33,406
5	11 October 2013	1–1	Israel	2014 World Cup qualification	48,317
6	4 September 2015	0–1	France	Friendly	39,853
7	12 October 2019	3–0	Luxembourg	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying	47,308
8	7 October 2020	0–0	Spain	Friendly	2,500
9	14 October 2020	3–0	Sweden	2020–21 UEFA Nations League	5,000
10	9 June 2021	4–0	Israel	Friendly	0
11	5 June 2022	4–0	Switzerland	2022–23 UEFA Nations League	42,325
12	9 June 2022	2–0	Czech Republic	2022–23 UEFA Nations League	44,100
13	17 November 2022	4–0	Nigeria	Friendly	43,621
14	23 March 2023	4–0	Liechtenstein	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	45,378

UEFA Euro 2004

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

Notable matches

First match

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

2005 UEFA Cup Final

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

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 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 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. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2018. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
2. "A inauguração do Estádio José Alvalade em 1956". Torcida Verde. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
3. "Stadium History". www.sporting.pt. 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
4. "Estádio José Alvalade". www.sporting.pt. 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
5. Porto Editora – Estádio Alvalade XXI na Infopédia . Porto: Porto Editora. . Disponível em https://www.infopedia.pt/recursos/lendas-portuguesas/$estadio-alvalade-xxi
6. "Arquiteto do Estádio de Alvalade lamenta troca de cadeiras: "Ficará abaixo de deprimente"". www.record.pt (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
7. "Estádio Alvalade XXI". Martifer. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
8. "Sporting com casa nova: cadeiras verdes prontas este mês - Sporting - Jornal Record". Record. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
9. Sporting CP v Tottenham Hotspur - Group D - UEFA Champions League, Getty Images, 13 September 2022
10. "UEFA 5 Star Stadiums – StadiumDB.com". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
11. "Sporting Clube de Portugal". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
12. "O último jogo de Cristiano Ronaldo no Sporting foi há 15 anos | Vídeo". Jornal SOL (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
13. "Último campeão por Sporting e Benfica dedica-se às framboesas". www.dn.pt (in European Portuguese). 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
14. "Há 15 anos, Ronaldo convenceu Ferguson a assinar o "casamento perfeito"" [15 years ago, Ronaldo convinced Ferguson to sign the "perfect marriage"]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 6 August 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
15. "Estádio José Alvalade". www.sporting.pt. 2014-11-26. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
16. UEFA.com. "Draws | UEFA Champions League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
17. "Google Maps". Google Maps.

External links

• Sporting Club web site

• Football venues in Portugal
• Sporting CP
• Sports venues in Lisbon
• Sports venues completed in 2003