Estádio do Algarve - Loulé, Portugal
Posted by: 
Torgut
N 37° 05.211 W 007° 58.513
29S E 591078 N 4104998
The Stadium Algarve was built in 2003-2004, beeing part of the network prepared to host the Euro 2004 in Portugal. It was intended to be home of Sporting Clube Farense and Louletano Desportos Clube, two football clubs from Algarve.
Waymark Code: WM4PXM
Location: Portugal
Date Posted: 09/17/2008
Views: 25
Unfortunately Sporting Clube Farense, an usual performer of the major portuguese league faced serious finantial problems and terminated its professional football activity. It still plays a few amateur matches in the stadium but this was a serious hit in the original plan. Louletano Desportos Clube is currently disputing the portuguese II League.
This stadium has capacity of 30.305 seats and it was designed by HOK S+V+E, an australian company which also created Stadium of Luz (also known as Stadium of Light, home of Sport Lisboa e Benfica) and the Olympic Stadium of Sidney.
The first big event that took place in this stadium was a friendly match, opposing Portugal and England, which ended with a 1-1 draw. Then, it was the Euro 2004. On the evening of 12th June, Spain beated Russia 1-0, with a goal of Valerón at 60'. Mr. Urs Meier was the referee.
One week later, Greece, the future champion, suffered its only defeat against Russia by 2-1. Finally, it hosted a long quarter-finals match between the Netherlands and Sweden. 120 minutes of football weren't enough. Winner was decided on the penalty mark.
Nowadays, besides the matches involving the above mentioned football clubs, the stadium is used for several categories of events:
* Concerts and Rock Festivals (Algarve Summer Festival 2006 presented Black Eyed Peas, James Blunt, Melanie C, Rui Veloso and Boss AC; Algarve Rocks 2006 presented Simple Minds, Sean Paul and Pitty)
* Sports (friendly match Portugal 6 Luxembourg 0; pre-season football Tournaments; PT Rally of Portugal 2006)
* Assorted shows, like the Beijing Acrobatic Circus.
It's the home of which team(s)?: Sporting Clube Farense and Louletano
Which professional sports are played here?: Football
Capacity (number of seats): 30305
Opening Date: 06/12/2004
Guided Tours: no
Venue's Website or Team's Website: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
1) Tell how was your visit. Were you at a game, which one? Have you just visited it by the outside, on a guided tour maybe? Are you a fan?
2) Pictures:
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