Estádio Municipal de Arouca – stadium description

Back in 2005 there was only a training field here with no organised space for the audience. This is when local authorities invested in a modern eastern grandstand, partly covered and including skyboxes, press facilities and other features aimed at securing the club’s 3rd league license.

FC Arouca didn’t only win promotion to the third tier, though. This small club, founded back in 1951 as a subsidiary for FC Porto, gained four promotions in just seven years (!) and reached the top league in 2012/13. Which prompted the quick erection of a new west stand, eventually planned to receive a roof.

Even more boldly, the team grabbed a Europa League spot in 2015/16, receiving a temporary seating section in the north. Eventually the stadium is planned to have three permanent stands of some 5,000, each interconnected with pedestrian bridges. This way the football-specific stadium will still be able to have a running track between the stands with visitors walking above it.