STADIAWORLD | SPORTS VENUES 2020/21

66    |   SPORTS VENUES 2020/21 www.stadiaworld.com S pecial times call for special meas- ures. Originally, the UEFA Champi- ons League finals was supposed to happen in the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. But due to the corona pandemic all scheduled finals were delayed by one year. For 2020 the continental association decided to stage a centralised final tour - nament. The Estádio da Luz in Lisbon was chosen as the venue for the final. This means that for the second time since 2014 the home ground of Benfica will be the setting of the most important club game in European football. Even though this year is a particular challenge — full stadiums are still impossible — UEFA’s decision under- lines the quality of the stadium. The club that owns and operates the sta- dium has done a lot since the opening in 2003 to ensure that the venue is still worth considering for such events. The construc- tion work itself which was financed by the country of Portugal, the city of Lisbon and Benfica, cost about 118 million euros. Since then, constant investments were made for the infrastructure. The hospitality areas were refurbished, a new museum was built, and hybrid turf was laid amongst other things. To this end, numerous maintenance measures such as the preservation of the appearance of the facade were realised. “Maintenance costs are around 6.5 million euros per year. The highest cost items are associated with energy, water and infra- structure maintenance”, says Miguel Bento, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer of Benfica. Because of the disruption of sports and events due to the corona pandemic these figures will be lower this year, but they cannot make up for lost revenue. Typically, the annual turnover of the stadi- um is around 30 million euros. To generate this approximately 100 employees work in the daily operations of the club’s events de- partment. They look after the organisation Let there be light The Estádio da Luz, which translates as Stadium of Light, radiates far beyond the borders of Portugal. Quite rightly, the home of the SL Benfica takes centre stage in European football in 2020. Estádio da Luz ist the biggest stadium in Portugal and home of SL Benfica.