Estádio da Luz

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;^[10] 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".^[11] 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").^[12][13]

Architect Damon Lavelle,^[14] 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 (141 feet) high and help define the look of the stadium, after having been shaped to be similar to the wavy profile of its three tiers. According to Lavelle, the seating capacity may be increased up to 80,000.^[15] However, the most realistic option is to expand by selling standing places, which would require a change in the law.^[16]

In June 2024, Sport Lisboa e Benfica announced that it would increase the stadium's capacity to nearly 66,000 spectators by adding 950 seats in a row of seats around the stadium reserved for people with motor disabilities.^[17]

• List of football stadiums in Portugal
• Lists of stadiums