Estádio José Alvalade

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Estádio Alvalade XXI

UEFA

Full name Estádio José de Alvalade
Location Lisbon, Portugal
Built 2003
Opened 6 August, 2003
Owner Sporting Clube de Portugal
Surface Grass
Construction cost $89 million
Architect Tomás Taveira
Tenants
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Capacity
50,466
Field dimensions
105 x 68 m
Inside the stadium
Inside the stadium

Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting, one of the country's biggest clubs. It is the center of a complex called Alvalade XXI (which includes a mall and 17-screen movie theater called Alvaláxia, plus a healthclub, 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 50,466 and was acoustically engineered as a venue for major concerts. 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 won 3-1. The stadium has underground parking. On the exterior, the stadium features multi-colored tiles. Seats are arranged in a seemingly random color mix to give an illusion that the stadium is always at capacity.

The stadium hosted five matches of the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, one of them 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.

The stadium is the successor of an older, eponymous stadium.

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Preceded by
Ullevi
Gothenburg
UEFA Cup
Final Venue

2005
Succeeded by
Philips Stadion
Eindhoven

Coordinates: 38°45′40.30″N, 9°9′38.82″W