Estádio da Luz (1954)


Estádio da Luz, officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal.
It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the home matches of S.L. Benfica and the Portugal national team. The stadium was opened on 1 December 1954 and it was able to hold an official maximum of 120,000 people, making it the largest stadium in Europe and the third largest in the world in terms of capacity. Some of the biggest attendances include a game against FC Porto with 135,000 people, the 1989–90 European Cup semi-final against Olympique de Marseille and the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship final between Portugal and Brazil with 127,000 people in each game. It also hosted the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, the second leg of the 1983 UEFA Cup Final, and the 1962 Intercontinental Cup.
Its demolition started in 2002 so the new Estádio da Luz could be built near the same area.

Background

Since the club's formation, in 1904, Benfica had played mostly in rented fields, such as Terras do Desembargador, the Campo da Feiteira, the Campo de Sete Rios, the Campo de Benfica, and the Estádio do Campo Grande, built on land rented from historic rivals Sporting.
The Estádio das Amoreiras, a 20,000-capacity football stadium, belonged to the club, but was demolished to give way to a freeway.
After a long process of negotiation with the municipality of Lisbon, it was finally established, on 17 May 1946, that the club would leave the rented stadium and move back to the Benfica neighbourhood. At the end of the meeting where this was established, the then Minister of Public Works is quoted as saying: "Benfica is from Benfica and that's where it should return to".

The construction years

An adequate terrain, with good accessibility and enough room for future expansion was identified, in the north-east end of the Benfica neighbourhood. Being located in the limit between the Benfica and the Carnide neighbourhoods, though, the new stadium was at first known as "Estádio de Carnide".
It was always the objective of the club to own both the stadium and the terrains, though at first a lease was made on the municipal terrains, with a final buy-out occurring only in 1969. The plans for the sports complex had been sketched as early as the late 1940s, by João Simões, a former player for the club.
Driven by the club's president, Joaquim Ferreira Bogalho, the associates coped with an increased fee for supporting the building costs for the new stadium, offered large donations, and some went as far as to work themselves on the building yard on holidays or weekends. There was even a "cement campaign", whereby large quantities of cement bags were offered to the club.
The works officially started on 14 June 1953. Less than two years after, and at a cost of 12,037,683 escudos, on 1 December 1954, the 40,000 capacity-crowd filled the stadium for the inaugural match against rivals FC Porto.

Improvements

The stadium at first had a capacity of 40,000, on two continuous tiers, but continued success of Benfica during the 1950s and, especially, the 1960s, capacity increase was deemed inevitable.
The first stage of the famous third tier was concluded in 1960, and increased capacity to 70,000. Flood-lighting had been introduced two years before.
The third tier was completed in 1985, setting the official capacity for the stadium at 120,000. Since there were no individual seats, this number was even surpassed on occasion. The 4 January 1987 championship match against Porto, had an estimated attendance of 135,000, and the final of the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship, between Portugal and Brazil, had an official attendance of 127,000.
When the stadium was converted to all-seater in 1994, capacity was reduced to 78,000.

The end

After the difficult period experienced in the 1990s, both in results and in finances, the club had to ponder how to cope with the successful bid the Portuguese Football Federation made to host the UEFA Euro 2004.
At first, it was suggested the old stadium could undergo renovation work including the covering of all the stands with a self-supporting roof. Two projects, by architect Tomás Taveira, were presented to the associates in a short period of time, but both were abandoned. At one time it was suggested that the club withdraw its stadium from the list of host stadiums.
Finally, on 28 September 2001, a general assembly of the associates voted for the construction of the new stadium. This was by no means an easy decision, since the historic "Catedral" would have to be demolished to give way to the new complex. The option, though, was deemed a necessity to ensure the financial feasibility of the project. The approved proposal stated: "The Direction has decided to present to the associates the construction of a new stadium, fully conscious that this is the option that best responds to the earnings and needs of our Club, being both economically and financially sustainable, and will allow the associates of SL Benfica much better condition in which to follow the club's sporting events, in particular the football team's, and also revive our supporter base."
The team played at a partially demolished old stadium for a final season, with the then-reduced capacity-crowd of about 50,000 witnessing the last match of the old "Luz", on 22 March 2003. This was a round-26th championship match, against Santa Clara, won by Benfica with a lone penalty conversion by Simão Sabrosa.
Ending the season with the Estádio Nacional hosting Benfica's home matches, the club entered a new stage in its life, playing the first match in the "Nova Catedral" on 25 October 2003. The new stadium would host the UEFA Euro 2004 Final match less than a year later.

Portugal national football team

Oddly, despite the stadium being opened in 1954, it did not receive any national team matches until 1971, when Portugal played with Scotland.
#DateScoreOpponentCompetition
1.21 April 19712–0Euro 1972 qualifying
2.21 November 19711–1Euro 1972 qualifying
3.29 March 19724–0World Cup 1974 qualification
4.13 October 19732–2World Cup 1974 qualification
5.3 April 19740–0Friendly
6.17 November 19761–0World Cup 1978 qualification
7.29 November 19781–0Euro 1980 qualifying
8.21 November 19791–2Euro 1980 qualifying
9.19 November 19801–0World Cup 1982 qualification
10.17 December 19803–0World Cup 1982 qualification
11.14 October 19811–2World Cup 1982 qualification
12.18 November 19812–1World Cup 1982 qualification
13.10 October 19822–1Euro 1984 qualifying
14.13 November 19831–0Euro 1984 qualifying
15.12 October 19853–2World Cup 1986 qualification
16.15 February 19891–1World Cup 1990 qualification
17.26 April 19893–1World Cup 1990 qualification
18.15 November 19890–0World Cup 1990 qualification
19.29 August 19901–1Friendly
20.20 November 19911–0Euro 1992 qualifying
21.28 April 19935–0World Cup 1994 qualification
22.10 November 19933–0World Cup 1994 qualification
23.18 December 19948–0Euro 1996 qualifying
24.15 November 19953–0Euro 1996 qualifying
25.14 November 19960–0World Cup 1998 qualification
26.11 October 19971–0World Cup 1998 qualification
27.9 October 19993–0Euro 2000 qualifying
28.7 October 20001–1World Cup 2002 qualification
29.6 October 20015–0World Cup 2002 qualification

Names

All the following names were used in reference to the old stadium, but now refer to the new one:
The former stadium is now commonly referred to as "O Velho Estádio" or "A Velha Catedral".