Estádio José Alvalade

The Estádio José Alvalade (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɨʃˈtaðju ʒuˈzɛ alvɐˈlaðɨ]; English: José Alvalade Stadium) is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, and is the home of Sporting CP. 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. 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. 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 new Alvalade stadium cost €184 million to build, around €80 million more than originally planned, of which €17,907,915 was supported from the Portuguese state. 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 five-star stadium, it was initially classified by UEFA as a four-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's teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, then aged 18, who made his last appearance for the 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 five-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. On May 24, 2025, it hosted the 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League final. 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. International matches Portugal national team matches The following national team matches were held in the stadium. UEFA Euro 2004 Notable matches First match 2005 UEFA Cup Final 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League Final 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 Concerts The former Estádio José Alvalade was known in its later decades as the "Cathedral of Rock", as the ground served as host to some of the world's biggest music stars in their stadium tours and concerts in Portugal and last served this purpose in its very last function on 28 June 2003 for the Galp ao Vivo festival, just months before the new stadium was set to be inaugurated. The stadium, which had been designed with acoustics in mind as previously referred, was expected to pick up the mantle, despite the changing landscape of the Portuguese and Lisbon concert landscape, particularly with the inauguration of Pavilhão Atlântico (now MEO Arena) in 1998. Nonetheless, during its first few years it continued to stage several renowned artists, albeit sporadically. In 2009, Sporting's board decided to end the use of Alvalade as a venue for music namely due to the damage to the pitch it caused and how it impacted players performance, making AC/DC the last artist to use the venue at that point. In July 2026, after seventeen years, Sporting announced the return of Alvalade to the music scene with a concert by luso-mozambican rapper Plutónio set to play the following June. 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 Benfica. Gallery References External links Sporting CP – official website (archived)