Estádio José Alvalade

Lore & Background

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. Construction began on 15 January 2001. The club's statutes dictated that the stadium would be called Estádio José Alvalade, and it would be the club's seventh stadium. 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 stadium in that friendly, playing alongside Sporting's teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, then aged 18, who made his last appearance for the club on that same day.

Reader's Guide

Estádio José Alvalade has served as a major venue for international football and concerts. It hosted five matches of UEFA Euro 2004, including the semi-final between Portugal and the Netherlands. 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. It hosted quarter-finals and semi-finals matches during the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, and 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. The former stadium was known as the 'Cathedral of Rock' for hosting major concerts, and after a hiatus from 2009, concerts returned in 2026 with a performance by Plutónio.

Did You Know?

• The stadium's construction cost €184 million, around €80 million more than originally planned.
• The first goal at the new stadium was scored by Luís Filipe in a friendly against Manchester United on 6 August 2003.
• The stadium's multicoloured seats were all changed to dark green by 2022.
• The moat was removed in 2025, adding 2,000 seats and increasing capacity to 52,707.