The Estádio José Alvalade (; ) 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,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 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.Relatório Final - Avaliação do impacte económico do Euro 2004, Universidade do Minho em 30 de Novembro de 2024. 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.Sporting CP v Tottenham Hotspur - Group D - UEFA Champions League, Getty Images, 13 September 2022

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 52,707 seats.

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 2006 World Cup qualification 44,258 2. 24 March 2007 4–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 48,009 3. 12 September 2007 1–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 47,000 4. 10 September 2008 2–3 2010 World Cup qualification 33,406 5. 11 October 2013 1–1 2014 World Cup qualification 48,317 6. 4 September 2015 0–1 Friendly 39,853 7. 12 October 2019 3–0 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying 47,308 8. 7 October 2020 0–0 Friendly 2,500 9. 14 October 2020 3–0 2020–21 UEFA Nations League 5,000 10. 9 June 2021 4–0 Friendly 0 11. 5 June 2022 4–0 2022–23 UEFA Nations League 42,325 12. 9 June 2022 2–0 2022–23 UEFA Nations League 44,100 13. 17 November 2022 4–0 Friendly 43,621 14. 23 March 2023 4–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying 45,378 15. 19 November 2023 2–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying 45,655 16. 4 June 2024 4–2 Friendly 43,125 17. 23 March 2025 5–2 2024–25 UEFA Nations League 47,123 18. 11 October 2025 1–0 2026 World Cup Qualification 48,821 19. 14 October 2025 2–2 2026 World Cup Qualification 47,854 20. 24 September 2026 1–0 2026–27 UEFA Nations League 47,725

UEFA Euro 2004 Date Team #1 Score Team #2 Round Attendance 14 June 2004 5–0 Group C 31,652 20 June 2004 0–1 Group A 47,491 23 June 2004 1–2 Group D 46,849 25 June 2004 0–1 Quarter-finals 45,390 30 June 2004 2–1 Semi-finals 46,679

Notable matches First match

Date Team #1 Score Team #2 Attendance 6 August 2003 Sporting CP 3–1 Manchester United 49,992

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

2025 UEFA Women's Champions League Final Date Team #1 Score Team #2 Attendance 24 May 2025 Arsenal WFC 1–0 Barcelona Femení 38,856

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.

+ Concerts hosted at Estádio José Alvalade Date Artist Event Notes 3 July 2004 Phil Collins Opening act: Mike and the Mechanics First Final Farewell Tour [de] 14 July 2005 U2 Opening act: Kaiser Chiefs Vertigo Tour 25 June 2007 Rolling StonesOpening act: Jet A Bigger Bang Tour 3 June 2009 AC/DCOpening acts: The Vicious Five, Mundo Cão [pt] Black Ice Tour 5 June 2027 Plutónio self-titled Future event

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)