zenduck.me: Estádio da Luz Wikipedia

S.L. Benfica football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal

The Estádio da Luz (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɨˈʃtaðju ðɐ ˈluʃ]), 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^[3][4] and is currently set at 64,642.^[5] The stadium was designed by HOK Sport Venue Event and had a construction cost of €162 million.^[1]

A UEFA category four stadium and one of the biggest stadiums by capacity in Europe (the biggest in Portugal), Estádio da Luz hosted several matches of the UEFA Euro 2004, including its final, as well as the 2014 and 2020 finals of the UEFA Champions League. It was elected the most beautiful stadium of Europe in a 2014 online poll by L’Équipe.^[6][7][8] By its fifteenth birthday, Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica Luz had welcomed more than 17 million spectators.^[9]

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 (Church of Our Lady of Light). This unofficial name caught on soon after the original stadium’s construction;^[10] the people of Lisbon used to simply call it a Luz (“the Light”). Therefore, the stadium’s common name became “Estádio da Luz”, which is usually anglicised to “Stadium of Light”.^[11] 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 (“Road of Light”).^[12][13]

Characteristics[edit]

Architect Damon Lavelle,^[14] from HOK Sport Venue Event (now Populous), 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 (141 feet) high and help define the look of the stadium, after having been shaped to be similar to the wavy profile of its three tiers. According to Lavelle, the seating capacity may be increased up to 80,000.^[15]

Notable matches[edit]

Opening game[edit]

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

UEFA Euro 2004 Final[edit]

2014 UEFA Champions League Final[edit]

Highest attendance official match[edit]

On round 33 of the 2016–17 Primeira Liga, in a match where Benfica were crowned national champions for a fourth consecutive season (a new achievement for them), Estádio da Luz recorded its best attendance in official matches.^[2]

2019–20 UEFA Champions League[edit]

Quarter-finals

Final

The following national team matches were held in the stadium.

Euro 2004 matches[edit]

Benfica matches in UEFA competitions[edit]

As of match played 11 April 2023

108 matches: 68 wins, 20 draws, 20 losses

187 goals scored, 92 goals conceded

Concerts[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]