The Estádio Algarve (Algarve Stadium), also known as ''Estádio Faro/Loulé'' (Faro/Loule Stadium), is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

stadium located between Faro and

Loulé Loulé () is a city and municipality in the region of Algarve, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2011, the population of the entire municipality was 70,622 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two principal cities: Loulé ...

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, in the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

region of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The stadium has a capacity of 30,305 and was purposely built for the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

championship.

History

The Estádio Algarve was designed in the summer of 2000 in accordance with

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

and

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

standards by Populous for the

championship hosted in Portugal. The design team included

WS Atkins Atkins is a British multinational engineering, design, planning, architectural design, project management and consulting services company. It is a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin and is headquartered in London. The company was founded as WS Atkins & ...

engineers and local partners including Marobal. The design is regional in nature, alluding to the maritime traditions of Portugal and harmonizing with the distinctive local landscape of the region of Algarve. The stadium is considered a model small/regional flexible use stadium for football and other sports and cultural events, being one of the most used stadiums in Portugal, compared to others used only for matches in the main Portuguese Football League. From 2004 to 2013, Louletano shared the stadium with Sporting Clube Farense. Since 2004, the Estádio Algarve has hosted several matches of the

Portugal national football team The Portugal national football team ( pt, Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol) has represented Portugal in international men's Association football, football competition since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federat ...

. A former home of

Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club wi ...

and Louletano shortly after its inauguration, the stadium also received some

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

and

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

matches during their respective stadiums' works of renovation since those teams are also from the region of Algarve. The Algarve Stadium also hosts the final match of the

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

, a major annual international tournament in women's football. Sébastien Loeb - 2007 Rally Portugal

The stadium hosted the inaugural Algarve Challenge Cup tournament on 22 and 24 July 2008 that saw Cardiff City,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, and

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

in action. Cardiff City were the eventual winners of the tournament with victories over Celtic and Vitória. The Estádio Algarve was also the temporary home ground of the

Gibraltar national football team The Gibraltar national football team represents Gibraltar in international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Gibraltar applied for full UEFA membership and was accepted by the UEFA Congress in May ...

around the mid-2010s. It will once again host Gibraltar from March 2023 while improvements are made to the Victoria Stadium. Aside from football, it has also hosted music festivals and concerts, and has been temporarily converted into a super special stage during the

Rally de Portugal The Rally de Portugal (formerly: Rallye de Portugal) is a rally competition held in Portugal. First held in 1967, the seventh running of the race, the 7º TAP Rallye de Portugal was the third event in the inaugural FIA World Rally Cham ...

, including the 2007 Rally de Portugal (part of the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

season) and the

2010 Rally de Portugal The 2010 Rally de Portugal was the 44th Rally de Portugal and the sixth round of the 2010 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over May 27–30, and was based in Faro, the capital city of the Algarve region. The rally was also t ...

(the sixth round of the 2010 World Rally Championship season).

Euro 2004 Matches

Portugal national football team

Iran and Portugal match at the FIFA World Cup 2018 7

The following

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

matches were held in the stadium.

Gibraltar national football team