The Estádio das Antas (; officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto ) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

side

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição, 1.6km (1 mile) to the west, and later replaced by the Estádio do Dragão, a block southeast away. As well as the stadium, it had an indoor arena and three training grounds. The club's offices were also split between the inside of the stadium and the ''Torre das Antas'', built in front of the stadium during the 1990s. It was demolished in 2004, although one floodlight still remains, and the majority of the site is not yet redeveloped.

Layout

The stadium was split into six different areas. The ''Poente'' and ''Maratona'' contained the best seats, while the most financially accessible were located in the ''Superior Norte'', ''Superior Sul'' and ''Arquibancada''. Between the ''Norte'' and ''Poente'' were seats for the away supporters. Each stand was split into different sectors. While the ''Poente'' had four, both ''Maratona'' and ''Arquibancada'' had five, and both ''Superiores'' (upper tiers) had nine, but two in ''Norte'' were reserved for away supporters. For matches, low turnout from away fans, in contrast to that expected from Porto supporters, so the away fan sector was often reduced in size by half. In the past there were other divisions, such as splitting the ''Superior'' stands between the original and the new terraces built after the 1986 capacity increase.

Portugal national football team

The

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 ...

first played in the stadium in 1952 and held its last game there in 2003.

Milestones

*28 May 1952 – Inaugurated in the presence of Portuguese President General Craveiro Lopes. *1 September 1962 – Floodlights. *1973 – All-purpose arena completed. *30 April 1976 – Construction of ''Maratona'' stand, on the opposite of the main stand, and start of the ''Arquibancada''. *16 December 1986 – capacity increased to 95,000 (''rebaixamento''). (Athletics track removed) *Summer 1997 – All-seater (capacity reduced to 48,297 seats). *24 January 2004 – Final game. Although the successor Estádio do Dragão had opened in November 2003, the replanting of the turf resulted in some games returning to Estádio das Antas. *March 2004 – Demolition began.

External links

Stadium Guide Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio das Antas FC Porto Sports venues completed in 1952 Antas Sports venues demolished in 2004