Estádio da Luz

Estádio da Luz

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Full name : Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Location : Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates : 38° 45′ 9.64″ N, 9° 11′ 4.85″ W
Built : 2003
Opened : 25 October 2003
Owner : Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Surface : Grass
Construction cost : $133 million
Architect : Damon Lavelle, HOK Sport + Venue + Event
Capacity : 65,647
Field dimensions : 105 x 68 m
Tenants : S.L. Benfica

The Estádio da Luz officially named the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica and
commonly mistranslated as Stadium of Light, is a football stadium in Lisbon,
Portugal, the home of S.L. Benfica. It is also called A Catedral (“The Cathedral”)
by Benfica’s supporters.

Luz is actually the area of Lisbon in which the Estádio da Luz stands. The area is
named  after Our  Lady of the Light  (Nossa  Senhora  da Luz). As  the  people of
Lisbon often referred to the original stadium, demolished beginning in 2002, as
simply the light, the common English name for the stadium became the stadium
of light.  The  Stadium of  Light in  Sunderland,  England  may  well have  been
inspired by this  Lisbon  example,  though it has other well  established  reasons
for bearing the name.

It hosted several matches in the UEFA Euro 2004, including the final. The pre-
vious Benfica stadium  (also called “Estádio da  Luz” and one of the largest  sta-
diums in the world with 120,000 seats) was demolished and the new one was
built for the tournament  with an official  capacity of 65,647.  The  architect,
Damon Lavelle, designed the stadium to use as much natural light as possible.
It is classified by UEFA as a five star stadium, allowing it to host major Euro-
pean cup finals. The original Estádio da Luz, opened in 1954, hosted the 1992
European  Cup  Winners’ Cup final before  a crowd of well under 120,000,  its
absolute capacity in those years. Before that final it also hosted the 1991 FIFA
World Youth Championship final held in Portugal with an impressive atten-
dance of 130,000. The original stadium replaced Estadio do Campo Grande.
Estádio da Luz (2005)

Old Estádio da Luz The old Estadio Da Luz saw performances from the likes of
Eusébio and Rui Costa. It hosted championship after championship during the
glory days of the ’50s and ’60s.

In the year 1999 Portugal was selected as the host of the 2004 European Cham
pionships. After many false starts Benfica presented a proposal for re-building
their  stadium  in order to  enable it to become the main  venue for that cham-
pionship.

In  October  2003,  the stadium  opened to a sell out crowd as  Benfica took on
Nacional Montevideo of Uruguay in an exhibition match.

Benfica return

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Immediately, Benfica’s aspirations seemed revived. In its first season, Benfica
went on to  conquer  the  Taça de Portugal (The cup of Portugal).  The Encar-
nados’ first trophy in 8 years came after beating an impressive FC Porto side
2-1. Porto were, at the time, managed by José Mourinho. Simão was the hero
in extra time as Benfica battled back from a goal down to claim the Taça. In the
stadium’s  second season,  the team  recaptured the title of  Champions of Por-
tugal after 11 long years. The new stadium was the venue for a historic 1-0
victory over eternal rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal before a 1-1 draw away
at Boavista sealed the championship. Following the final whistle, thousands of
fans packed into the stadium to celebrate the campeonato (Championship).
Benfica had returned!

The all new Estadio Da Luz. A modern structure that can go down as one of the
finest modern sports facilities in Europe with UEFA awarding it five stars. After
its  opening on  the 25th of  October 2003, it  went on to host the final of  Euro
2004 as well as some of the other tournament highlights. Most notably for the
host nation, one was a penalty shoot out win over England in the quarter finals.

Architect  Damon  Lavelle designed  the  stadium to  focus on  light  and tran-
sparency, offering an incentive to name the stadium “Estadio da Luz” (meaning
stadium of light in  Portuguese)  as the original stadium was named after  the
neighbourhood the old ground  was built  on. The polycarbonate roof  of the
stadium allows the sun’s  rays to  penetrate it, lighting the stadium. The  roof,
which is supported by tie beams of four steel arches, seems to float on the un-
derlying tribunes. The arches measure 43 metres in height and help to define
the look of the stadium after having been shaped to be similar to the wavy
profile of the 3 tiers of the stadium.

Thank You For DATA And Image : http://en.wikipedia.org