Estádio Municipal de Braga

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Estádio AXA
A Pedreira
Estadio Braga.JPG
Full name Estádio Municipal de Braga
Location Braga, Portugal
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Owner Municipality of Braga
Capacity 30,286
Field size 105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft)
Surface Grass
Construction
Built 2003
Opened December 30, 2003 (2003-12-30)
Construction cost $83.1 million
Architect Eduardo Souto de Moura
Tenants
Sporting Clube de Braga

Estádio Municipal de Braga (English: Braga Municipal Stadium) is a football stadium in Braga, Portugal, with an all-seated capacity of 30,286, built in 2003 as the new home for local club Sporting Clube de Braga, and as a UEFA Euro 2004 venue. Its architect was Portuguese Eduardo Souto de Moura. The stadium is also known as A Pedreira (The Quarry), as it is carved into the face of the adjacent Monte Castro quarry.

Sporting Clube de Braga pays a monthly rent of €500 for the use of the stadium. In July 2007, Sporting de Braga announced a three-year sponsorship deal with French insurance company AXA, which included the change of the name by which the club refers to the stadium to Estádio AXA (AXA Stadium).[1] However, the municipality, as landlord, clarified that the stadium had not been officially renamed as this was a deal involving its tenant only.[2]

Construction

Estádio AXA

The stadium was carved from a quarry (Monte Castro) that overlooks the city of Braga. Stands run only along both sides of the pitch. Behind the goal at one end are the rock walls of the quarry and at the other is an open view over the city sprawling in the distance. Each stand is covered with a canopy-style roof, and both are connected to each other across the pitch by dozens of steel strings, a design inspired by ancient South American Inca bridges.

Once inside the stadium, moving from one stand to the other is done through a 5,000 sq.m plaza under the pitch.

The enormous rock moving process contributed heavily to the final €83.1 million cost, the fourth most expensive of the ten new stadia built for Euro 2004, after Estádio da Luz (capacity: 65,647) and Estádio José Alvalade (capacity: 50,049), both in Lisbon, and Estádio do Dragão (capacity: 50,399) in Porto.

The Stadium is also UEFA approved to host the UEFA Europa League final as well as participate in the elite competition for Europe's top clubs, the UEFA Champions League.[citation needed]

Events

Euro 2004

The stadium hosted two Euro 2004 group stage matches, Bulgaria vs. Denmark and Netherlands vs. Latvia.

Date Result Round
18 June 2004  Bulgaria 0–2  Denmark Group C
23 June 2004  Netherlands 3–0  Latvia Group D

Portugal national football team

The following national team matches were held in the stadium.

# Date Score Opponent Competition
1. 31 March 2004 1–2  Italy Friendly
2. 15 October 2008 0–0  Albania 2010 World Cup qualification
3. 11 September 2012 3–0  Azerbaijan 2014 World Cup qualification
4. 8 October 2015 1–0  Denmark Euro 2016 qualifying

Reviews

The stadium is often considered one of the most original and beautiful stadiums in Portugal. The Financial Times, in an article about Britain's stadia, refers to AXA as one of the four examples of "beautiful grounds". It states that: "There has been nothing in this country to match the architectural delight of Eduardo Souto de Moura’s stadium for Braga in Portugal, a breathtaking arena carved into the side of a rock face on the site of a former quarry".[3]

In 2006 the stadium won the Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award for the best new global design.[4]

In 2011 the architect, Eduardo Souto de Moura, won the Pritzker Prize.

References

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External links