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.
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. By its fifteenth birthday, Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica Luz had welcomed more than 17 million spectators.
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; 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". 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").
Architect Damon Lavelle, 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 high and help define the look of the stadium, after having been shaped to be similar to the wavy profile of its three tiers.
Opening game
25 October 2003
Benfica Portugal 2–1 Uruguay Nacional
Nuno Gomes 7', 47' Report Mello 11'
Attendance: 65,400
Referee: Pedro Proença (Portugal)
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
UEFA Euro 2004 Final
4 July 2004
Portugal 0–1 Greece
Report Charisteas 57'
Attendance: 62,865
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
2014 UEFA Champions League Final
24 May 2014
Real Madrid Spain 4–1 (a.e.t.) Spain Atlético Madrid
Ramos 90+3'
Bale 110'
Marcelo 118'
Ronaldo 120' (pen.) Report Godín 36'
Attendance: 60,976
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Highest attendance official match
13 May 2017
Benfica Portugal 5–0 Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
Cervi 11'
Jiménez 16'
Pizzi 37'
Jonas 43', 67' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 64,591
Referee: Jorge Sousa (Porto)
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.
2019–20 UEFA Champions League
Edit
Quarter-finals
14 August 2020
Barcelona Spain 2–8 Germany Bayern Munich
Alaba 7' (o.g.)
Suárez 57'
Report
Müller 4', 31'
Perišić 22'
Gnabry 27'
Kimmich 63'
Lewandowski 82'
Coutinho 85', 89'
Attendance: 0[16][a]
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
Final
2020 UEFA Champions League Final
23 August 2020
Paris Saint-Germain France 0–1 Germany Bayern Munich
Report Coman 59'
Attendance: 0
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
As of match played 11 April 2023
2003–04 UEFA Cup
3–1 Molde
1–0 Rosenborg
0–0 Inter Milan
2004–05
1–0 Anderlecht (UEFA Champions League)
2–0 Dukla Banská Bystrica (UEFA Cup)
4–2 Heerenveen
2–0 Dinamo Zagreb
1–1 CSKA Moscow
2005–06 UEFA Champions League
1–0 Lille
0–1 Villarreal
2–1 Manchester United
1–0 Liverpool
0–0 Barcelona
2006–07
3–0 Austria Wien (UEFA Champions League)
0–1 Manchester United
3–0 Celtic
3–1 Copenhagen
1–0 Dinamo București (UEFA Cup)
3–1 Paris Saint-Germain
0–0 Espanyol
2007–08
2–1 Copenhagen (UEFA Champions League)
0–1 Shakhtar Donetsk
1–0 Celtic
1–1 Milan
1–0 Nürnberg (UEFA Cup)
1–2 Getafe
2008–09 UEFA Cup
2–0 Napoli
0–2 Galatasaray
0–1 Metalist Kharkiv
2009–10 UEFA Europa League
4–0 Vorskla
2–0 BATE Borisov
5–0 Everton
2–1 AEK Athens
4–0 Hertha Berlin
1–1 Marseille
2–1 Liverpool
2010–11
2–0 Hapoel (UEFA Champions League)
4–3 Lyon
1–2 Schalke 04
2–1 Stuttgart (UEFA Europa League)
2–1 Paris Saint-Germain
4–1 PSV Eindhoven
2–1 Braga
