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Estádio do Dragão

Estádio do Dragão
Estádio do Dragão Aerial.jpg
Location Porto, Portugal
Coordinates 41°09′42″N 8°35′02″W / 41.161758°N 8.583933°W / 41.161758; -8.583933Coordinates: 41°09′42″N 8°35′02″W / 41.161758°N 8.583933°W / 41.161758; -8.583933
Public transit Estádio do Dragão metro station
Owner FC Porto
Operator Porto Estádio (FC Porto Group)
Executive suites 96
Capacity 52,000
Record attendance 52,000
(Porto vs Barcelona, 16 November 2003)
Surface Grass (RED)
Scoreboard Two 48-square-metre (520 sq ft) SLite 10 LED screens (Samsung)
Construction
Opened 16 November 2003
Construction cost €125 million
Architect Manuel Salgado
General contractor Somague
Tenants
FC Porto (2003–present)
Website
Estádio do Dragão

The Estádio do Dragão (Portuguese pronunciation: [(ɨ)ˈʃtadiu du dɾɐˈɣɐ̃w]; Dragon Stadium) is an all-seater football stadium located in Porto, Portugal, and the current home ground of Futebol Clube do Porto. It has a capacity of 52,000, making it the second largest football ground in Portugal.

Designed by Portuguese architect Manuel Salgado, the stadium was built to replace Porto's previous ground, the Estádio das Antas, and was inaugurated on 16 November 2003 with a friendly match against Barcelona, which set an attendance record of 52,000 spectators. A UEFA category four stadium, it hosted UEFA Euro 2004 matches, including the opening, and has held several other international club competition and national team matches. It has also served as a concert venue to international musical artists, such as Coldplay, Muse and The Rolling Stones.

Construction works began in late 2001, and were complete in November 2003, some months after what was expected, since in February 2002, Porto mayor Rui Rio changed the estate distribution, criticizing the plan for including high-scale housing and shopping for the area. These actions forced the chairman of FC Porto, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, to halt all building operations, which were only resumed after a consensus was reached.

Designed by Portuguese architect Manuel Salgado and built by Portuguese contractor Somague, it cost €97,755,318, of which €18,430,956 was subsidized by the government. To help underwrite costs, each stand carries one or two sponsor names: Super Bock (south), tmn (east), meo (west), and Coca-Cola (north stand). Away fans are placed in the left corner of the north stand, while home Ultra groups, Super Dragões and Colectivo Ultras 95, occupy the south stand and the north stand, respectively, like on the old stadium.


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