Estádio Nacional

The Estádio Nacional (English: National Stadium), also known as Estádio do Jamor, Estádio Nacional do Jamor or Estádio de Honra (English: Stadium of Honour), is a portuguese multi- purpose sports venue located within the Centro Desportivo Nacional do Jamor (English: Jamor National Sports Centre). Located in the municipality of Oeiras some 12 kilometres from the centre of the national capital Lisbon, the stadium has a capacity of 37,593 spectators. The spiritual home of Portuguese football, it has hosted the Taça de Portugal final since 1946 and the women's cup final since 2010 almost uninterrupted as well as the national team in over 50 occasions, primarily between 1945 and 1987 with sporadic matches in five other occasions since, most recently in 2026. Domestically, the venue has also been used by clubs in the absence of another ground, namely by Benfica in 2002-03, B-SAD from 2018 to 2022 and Casa Pia A.C. in 2022–23, both as a temporary home ground in the Primeira Liga. Internationally, the stadium hosted the first ever UEFA club game on 4 September 1955 in a 3-3 tie between Primeira Divisão's third-placed team, Sporting CP, and the Yugoslav champions, Serbian side Partizan. It had previously been the stage for the 1953 Latin Cup won by french side Stade de Reims and later on repeated the duty for the 1967 European Cup Final conquered by Celtic against Inter Milan, earning the winning side the moniker of "Lisbon Lions". Aside from sports, it is occasionally used for concerts, in part due to its bowl shape. History In 1933, the decision was made to construct the national stadium alongside the Jamor valley. The original design was authored by Francisco Caldeira Cabral and Konrad Weisner and Jacobetty Rosa, with works beginning in 1939. It was inaugurated on 10 June 1944 (Portugal Day) by the Council president António Oliveira Salazar. Work was complete in the Quinta da Graça (in 1953), to install the Comissão Administrativa do Estádio Nacional (National Stadium Administrative Commission). In 1961, construction on the hippodrome began, in addition to the first phase of work on the shooting range, by the Serviços de Construção e de Conservação (Construction and Conservation Services). The Plano de Ordenamento do Complexo Desportivo da Jamor (Jamor Sports Complex Development Plan) was issued in July 1982, ordered by the DGEMN (Direção-Geral de Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais, in English, the Directorate-General for Buildings and National Monuments), authored by the architects Vasco Croft (coordinator), Nuno Bártolo and Joaquim Cadima, and by the landscape firm Professor Caldeira Cabral, Associados, Estudos e Projectos, Ld. (under the direction of landscape architects Francisco Caldeira Cabral and agronomist engineer João Caldeira Cabral. During this phase, diagnostic studies were performed to reformulate and re-evaluate the strategic importance of the complex. In May 1985, the study Estabelecimento de zona de protecção (to establish a protection zone) was ordered by the DGEMN, by architects Vasco Croft and Nuno Bártolo, to limit the sports complex zone, providing a buffer for military access, a non aedificandi zone and urban growth, in addition to expansion for green spaces and support areas for nautical sports. In 1993, a project to construct a sporting pavilion in Jamor was issued. In September 2012, the Portuguese Football Federation announced that the stadium would undergo renovation in which work would begin in 2014. It was announced by the Rugby governing body ERC on 2 September that the Portuguese team would hold their home games at the Estádio Nacional. However, all their home games were played at the Portuguese national rugby teams home stadium of Estádio Universitário de Lisboa. On 6 February 2015, a tender was issued to cover the western edge of the audience seating for the rugby field. Architecture Architecturally the stadium is noteworthy for its open east side, unusual for a stadium otherwise featuring a typical oval configuration. Its current capacity is 37,593 and it is the venue for the Portuguese football cup final. Sport Football See also: Taça de Portugal finals, Taça de Portugal Feminina finals Since 1946, the stadium has traditionally hosted the final of the Portuguese Cup final; in only seven times was this game played in other venues and in total, 52 Cup finals have been played on the grounds and since the 2010 so has the women's final. Cup finals at the national stadium feature a beloved festival-like atmosphere on matchday, commonly referred to as Jamor's Party or the Cup's Party (Festa do Jamor, Festa da Taça), exhibiting family gatherings and picnics and more recently even organised events as fans begin to pour in from the start of the day. Despite this positive attitude toward the ground, Portuguese football fans have also bemoaned the historic stadium due to a lack of amenities - following Euro 2004, there was a movement to move the event to one of the grounds built for the Euro football championships. In recent years, other domestic matches have been held at the ground - after the national pyramid was restructured in 2021-22, the first two editions of the new third-tier Liga 3 featured a championship final, played at Jamor (won by Torreense and União de Leiria, respectively). The now fourth-division Campeonato de Portugal also holds its final at the venue since 2017-18, with the exception of the 2019-20 (abandoned) and 2020-21 (Coimbra) editions. Jamor has, particularly, early on in its history, held international matches. One early example played here occurred on 3 May 1949, when Benfica won a testimonial to their captain Francisco Ferreira against Torino by 4-3 which turned out to be the last one played by the Grande Torino due to the Superga air disaster the following day. In 1953 it held a semi-final and the finals of the Latin Cup and in 1955 the inaugural European Cup match. The most prestigious international game ever staged at the Estádio Nacional, however, was the 1967 European Cup Final, played between Celtic and Internazionale with the former winning 2-1 and thus becoming the first British, Northern Europe or non-Latin team to win the European Cup/Champions League. They became known and celebrated as the Lisbon Lions and the stadium has since become a stop in Celtic fans travels to Lisbon. In addition to hosting the Portugal national team since 1945, the site has held 50 international events for Portugal. Rugby The Rugby governing body ERC announced on 2 September 2014 that the Portuguese club Lusitanos XV would hold their home games of the 2013-14 Amlin Challenge Cup at National Stadium. However, all their home games of the 2013-14 Amlin Challenge Cup were played at the Portuguese national rugby teams home stadium of Estádio Universitário de Lisboa. Since 2017, the Portuguese national rugby team has played selected matches at the Estádio Nacional. Several other matches were played at the rugby fields directly east of the ground (Campo de Treino de Râguebi/Rugby, registered in match reports as CAR Jamor) particularly in 2021 and 2022, including matches from those editions of the Rugby Europe Championship and the inaugural Rugby Europe Super Cup final, in which Lusitanos XV lost to the georgian development team, Black Lion. Concerts and Events There have been notable concerts at the stadium, including The Police on 25 September 2007, as part of their The Police Reunion Tour and the Black Eyed Peas on 30 May 2010, during their The E.N.D. World Tour. Iron Maiden played a post-pandemic show at the stadium on 31 July 2022, on the final date of their Legacy of the Beast Tour. Over the last few decades, Jamor has occasionally also been host to concerts and other cultural events, using it's natural bowl shape and environs to its advantage. In 1999, organisers Tournée held a three-day hard rock festival called at the stadium called T-99. Despite having several large names for the time and genre, it wasn't a commercial success and so plans for a return the following year, a "T-2000", were effectively shelved. During the 2000s The Police also gave a concert at the venue and the Black Eyed Peas gave a concert in 2010, supported the Portuguese Football Federation among others, celebrating the national team's departure to South Africa for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup for which the band's hit "I Gotta Feeling" had become the squad's unofficial song for the tournament. Alongside the hip-hop lineup, due to the national nature of the concert's purpose, fado singer Ana Moura sang the national anthem before the main event. Over a decade later, Jamor returned to music by hosting the very last VOA Heavy Rock Festival after the COVID-19 pandemic. While it had become a known name in the scene, the Vagos-based festival had come into financial pressure and had since moved to the Lisbon area in 2019 and has since been replaced in its cradle by Vagos Metal Fest from 2022 and EvilLive in Lisbon from 2023. For its final edition, it held three days of concerts at Jamor, with Bring Me The Horizon and Sabaton as headliners. Avenged Sevenfold was intended to front the first day but due to constraints regarding their tour backed out and were replaced in time by french band Gojira. Jamor held one more concert that year housing Iron Maiden's Legacy of the Beast World Tour a few weeks after the festival. Aside major concerts, the Jamor Valley isn't a stranger to cultural events. In 1977 and 1978, the then-existing hippodrome at the complex had held PCP's second and third editions of the Avante! Festival, until they were blocked by the government in power due to a never built project. On the 24 July 1999, a human formation drew the Euro 2004 bid logo on the national pitch to promote an image of unity behind the tournament. The complex grounds have also held other cultural initiatives such as several editions of the children's Festival Panda. See also List of football stadiums in Portugal Taça de Portugal References Bibliography Relatório da Actividade do Ministério no Ano de 1961 (in Portuguese), vol. 1, Lisbon, Portugal: Ministério das Obras Públicas, 1962