SC Braga Website
Background and History
The Estadio Municipal de Braga in Braga, Portugal was built in 2003 to serve as a playing venue for the Euro 2004 Championships. This truly unique stadium has a capacity of 30,286 and cost 83 millions euros to build. This stadium is the 6th largest in Portugal.
The Estadio Municipal de Braga is the home of professional football team Sporting Club Braga. The club pay a monthly rent of 500 euros in order to use the stadium.
The stadium hosted two first round group matches during the Euro 2004 tournaments. These matches were between Bulgaria and Denmark, and the Netherlands and Latvia.
Unique Factor
The uniqueness of the Estadio Municipal de Braga is obvious in the pictures below. 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 a spectator is inside the stadium getting from one stand to the other is achieved by a 5000 square metre walkway which is built underneath the pitch. This stadium truly is an architectural masterpiece and the man responsible Eduardo Souto de Moura has received many plaudits for its audacious and incredible design. The video below shows the stadium in all its splendor.
Unique rating - 9/10
Wow the Estadio Municipal de Braga is truly unique which is why I have given it such a high unique rating! The architecture involved is magnificent - this is exemplified in the graphics and video above. You may wonder why I have only given a rating of 9/10 but I have a stadium still to come which trumps even this in the extraordinary stakes...
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