Sporting Club de Portugal have called Estádio José Alvalade home since it opened 2003. Although technically they’ve called it their home for a lot longer than that, seeing as the stadium it replaced opened in 1956 and had the same name. It is located within a complex called Alvalade XXI, which also features a shopping centre, a cinema with twelve screens, a health club and an office building.
The stadium was only supposed to have a capacity of 40,000 when it was first designed, but it ended up being able to hold over 50,000. The acoustic engineering of the stadium has been specifically designed to make major concerts sound amazing. As a 5-star stadium according to UEFA’s classifications it can host major matches and has done so in the past, including the 2005 UEFA Cup Final.
