Estádio José Alvalade

The Estádio José Alvalade ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx) 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 20th century.

Origin

The previous José Alvalade Stadium was opened on 10 June 1956.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 began 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

The stadium is the center of a complex called Alvalade XXI, designed by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira,<ref>Porto Editora – Estádio Alvalade XXI na Infopédia [em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora. [consult. 2023-09-02 17:32:31]. Disponível em https://www.infopedia.pt/recursos/lendas-portuguesas/$estadio-alvalade-xxi</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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 new Alvalade stadium cost €184 million to build,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> around €80 million more than originally planned, of which €17,907,915 was supported from the Portuguese state.<ref>Relatório Final - Avaliação do impacte económico do Euro 2004, Universidade do Minho em 30 de Novembro de 2024.</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Sporting CP v Tottenham Hotspur - Group D - UEFA Champions League, Getty Images, 13 September 2022</ref>

Although it eventually received a fifth star becoming a UEFA 5-star stadium, it was initially classified by UEFA as a 4-star stadium.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The stadium – originally projected to hold 42,000 spectators at any given time – has a capacity of 50,095<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.

Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon.

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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for the Portuguese club on that same day.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It hosted quarter-finals and semi-finals matches during the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On May 24, 2025 it hosted the 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League final.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The stadium is one of the potential venues for the 2030 FIFA World Cup which Portugal will co-host along with Morocco and Spain.

Renovation

The stadium has been undergoing minor renovations since 2021. However, the major and most anticipated project, the removal of the moat, was completed in time for the start of the 2025/26 season in 2025, allowing for the addition of 2,000 additional seats. Other significant improvements included the removal of the original video screens, which will be replaced by new LED panels on the balconies dividing the stadium rings, freeing up additional seats and new Exclusive Access Lounges with access to a bar and diverse gourmet dining experiences. With the completed work, capacity increased to 52,095 seats.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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	Template:Nowrap	Template:Fb	2006 World Cup qualification	44,258
2	24 March 2007	4–0	Template:Fb	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	48,009
3	12 September 2007	1–1	Template:Fb	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying	47,000
4	10 September 2008	2–3	Template:Fb	2010 World Cup qualification	33,406
5	11 October 2013	1–1	Template:Fb	2014 World Cup qualification	48,317
6	4 September 2015	0–1	Template:Fb	Friendly	39,853
7	12 October 2019	3–0	Template:Fb	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying	47,308
8	7 October 2020	0–0	Template:Fb	Friendly	2,500
9	14 October 2020	3–0	Template:Fb	2020–21 UEFA Nations League	5,000
10	9 June 2021	4–0	Template:Fb	Friendly	0
11	5 June 2022	4–0	Template:Fb	2022–23 UEFA Nations League	42,325
12	9 June 2022	2–0	Template:Fb	2022–23 UEFA Nations League	44,100
13	17 November 2022	4–0	Template:Fb	Friendly	43,621
14	23 March 2023	4–0	Template:Fb	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	45,378
15	19 November 2023	2–0	Template:Fb	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	45,655
16	4 June 2024	4–2	Template:Fb	Friendly	43,125
17	23 March 2025	5–2	Template:Fb	2024–25 UEFA Nations League	47,123
18	11 October 2025	1–0	Template:Fb	2026 World Cup Qualification	48,821
19	14 October 2025	2–2	Template:Fb	2026 World Cup Qualification	47,854

UEFA Euro 2004

Date	Team #1	Score	Team #2	Round	Attendance
14 June 2004	Template:Fb	5–0	Template:Fb	Group stage	31,652
20 June 2004	Template:Fb	0–1	Template:Fb	Group stage	47,491
23 June 2004	Template:Fb	1–2	Template:Fb	Group stage	46,849
25 June 2004	Template:Fb	0–1	Template:Fb	Quarter-finals	45,390
30 June 2004	Template:Fb	2–1	Template:Fb	Semi-finals	46,679

Notable matches

First match

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

2005 UEFA Cup Final

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

2025 UEFA Women's Champions League Final

Date	Team #1	Score	Team #2
24 May 2025	Template:Flagicon Arsenal WFC	1–0	Template:Flagicon FC Barcelona Femení

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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.

External links

• Sporting CP – official website (archived)