Estádio da Luz


The Estádio da Luz, officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, its owner.
Opened on 25 October 2003 with an exhibition match between Benfica and Uruguayan club Nacional, it replaced the original Estádio da Luz, which had 120,000 seats. The seating capacity was decreased to 65,647 and is currently set at 64,642. The stadium was designed by HOK Sport Venue Event and had a construction cost of €162 million.
A UEFA category four stadium and one of the biggest stadiums by capacity in Europe, Estádio da Luz hosted several matches of the UEFA Euro 2004, including its final, as well the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final and the upcoming 2020 final. Moreover, it was the venue for the New7Wonders of the World announcement ceremony in 2007. In 2014, it was elected as the most beautiful stadium of Europe in an online poll by L'Équipe.
As of its fifteenth birthday, Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica Luz has welcomed more than 17 million spectators.

Naming

While the previous Benfica stadium was also officially named "Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica", both the old and the new stadia are invariably referred to by their unofficial name, Estádio da Luz. Luz is the name of the neighborhood the stadium was built on, on the border between the parishes of Benfica and Carnide, which itself derives its name from the nearby Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Luz. This unofficial name caught on soon after the original stadium's construction; the people of Lisbon used to simply call it a Luz. Therefore, the stadium's common name became "Estádio da Luz", which is usually anglicised to "Stadium of Light". This translation, however, could be argued to be inaccurate, since Luz refers not to "light" but to the original address of the stadium: Estrada da Luz. Like its predecessor, the current stadium is also referred to as a Catedral or as o Inferno da Luz.

Characteristics

Architect Damon Lavelle, from HOK Sport Venue Event, designed the stadium to focus on light and transparency. Its polycarbonate roof allows the sunlight to penetrate the stadium in order to illuminate it. The roof, which is supported by tie-beams of four steel arches, seems to float on the underlying tribunes. The arches are 43 metres high and help define the look of the stadium, after having been shaped to be similar to the wavy profile of its three tiers.

Notable matches

Opening game

In the opening match, Benfica beat Uruguayan side Nacional 2–1 with goals from Nuno Gomes, who became the first scorer in the history of Estádio da Luz.

UEFA Euro 2004

UEFA Euro 2004 - Quarter-finals
In the first quarter-final ever between England and Portugal, the English side opened the scoring after only two minutes through Michael Owen. Portugal's constant attacking pressure from then on resulted in Hélder Postiga's 83rd-minute equaliser. A controversial incident came in the dying minutes when Michael Owen hit the Portuguese crossbar, resulting in a Sol Campbell header, which appeared to have given England the lead again, but the header was ruled out for what referee Urs Meier deemed a foul on the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo. The sides exchanged goals in extra-time, sending the match to penalty kicks, which Portugal eventually won 6–5. Ricardo saved the penalty from Darius Vassell and then scored the winning goal.
UEFA Euro 2004 - Final

2014 UEFA Champions League Final

Portugal national football team matches

The following national team matches were held in the stadium.
#DateScoreOpponentCompetition
1.16 June 20042–0Euro 2004 Group Stage
2.24 June 20042–2Euro 2004 Quarter-Finals
3.4 July 20040–1Euro 2004 Final
4.4 June 20052–02006 World Cup qualification
5.8 September 20072–2Euro 2008 qualifying
6.10 October 20093–02010 World Cup qualification
7.14 November 20091–02010 World Cup UEFA play-offs
8.17 November 20104–0Friendly
9.4 June 20111–0Euro 2012 qualifying
10.15 November 20116–2Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs
11.2 June 20121–3Friendly
12.7 June 20131–02014 World Cup qualification
13.15 November 20131–02014 World Cup UEFA play-offs
14.29 March 20152–1Euro 2016 qualifying
15.8 June 20167–0Friendly
16.25 March 20173–02018 World Cup qualification
17.10 October 20172–02018 World Cup qualification
18.7 June 20183–0Friendly
19.10 September 20181–02018–19 UEFA Nations League
20.22 March 20190–0Euro 2020 qualifying
21.25 March 20191–1Euro 2020 qualifying

Euro 2004 matches

Benfica matches in European competitions