Estádio Cidade de Coimbra

The Estádio Cidade de Coimbra is a stadium in Coimbra, Portugal. This stadium belongs to the Municipality of Coimbra and is mainly used by the Académica de Coimbra's football team. Until 2003, it was called the Estádio Municipal de Coimbra (Municipality of Coimbra Stadium), or the Estádio do Calhabé, after the name of its location in Coimbra.The stadium was rebuilt, expanded, and modernized to host some UEFA Euro 2004 matches. Far beyond the sports stadium itself, all the project, called Euro Stadium Project, included the possibility of organizing sports, culture, and commercial events, by the modernization of the entire Calhabé area in Coimbra.On 29 October 2003, Académica de Coimbra played at home to Sport Lisboa e Benfica in the first official match in the remodelled stadium.FeaturesIts design does not involve any historical or traditional references, as the idea was to create a new, contemporary image with glass façades and an aesthetic roof supported by elegant stands. The existing athletics track has been preserved for possible use as a multi-purpose facility in the future. The stadium was designed by the Portuguese architectural firm Plarq in association with KSS Design Group of London. The Plarq team was led by the architect António Monteiro.The stadium has 29,622 seats, two-thirds of which are covered. The complex boasts a large press centre, a bar, kitchens, and a restaurant with a panoramic view of the pitch. The project of the stadium took advantage of old seats: of close to 15,000 (all seated), involved the planned remodelling of the tier which extends around the entire perimeter of the previous stands, and a second tier above that, in the form of a "U", opening onto the slopes of the city at the North end.