Winter Sports E
stádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal, one of the country’s biggest clubs. The club are best known in the UK as
Sporting Lisbon or, simply, Sporting. Over the years it has nurtured some very talented players, including Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani. Having replaced the former Estádio José Alvalade (1956), it is the centre of a complex called Alvalade XXI, which includes a mall called Alvaláxia with a twelve screen movie theatre, a health club, the club’s museum, a sports pavilion, a clinic and an office building. It was designed by Portuguese architect Tomás Taveira.
It was classified by UEFA as a 5-star stadium, enabling it to host finals for major UEFA events. It has a capacity of 50,044 and was acoustically engineered so it could be used as a venue for major concerts.
The official opening was on 6 August 2003 when ‘Sporting’ played and beat Manchester United 3-1. It also hosted the 2005 UEFA Cup Final between
Sporting and CSKA Moscow, which CSKA won 3-1. On the exterior, the stadium features traditional Portugese multi-coloured tiles. Seats are arranged in a random colour mix to give an illusion that the stadium is always at full capacity.
As well as the stadium pitch, the club has four additional natural grass pitches, three artificial turf pitches, one of which is covered, as well as another natural grass pitch used only for goalkeeper training.
The maintenance of the stadium pitch is undertaken by Head Groundsman, José Diogo, who is supported by agronomist, Mateus Filipa de Almeida The grass mixture consists of 40% Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass) and 60% Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass). This seed mixture is applied at a rate of 35-40g/m2
early in the season.
Throughout the season, the pitch is oversown monthly with 10g/m2
Lolium
perenne and twice a year, in spring and autumn, with 10-15g/m2
Poa pratensis.
“We are trying to reduce the affects of each game within a twenty-four hour
period,” said Filipa. “That includes repairing divots and scars, topdressing with sand and aerating after each match with 8mm solid tines to a depth of 10- 15cm.”
The stadium pitch is sprayed with liquid fertiliser throughout the year. Various concoctions are used, algae extracts, humic and fulvic acids are often included. In addition, granular fertilisers are used depending on the needs of the grass and the climatic conditions. Again, these will include a mix of quick acting and slow-release fertilisers. José explains that the fertiliser regimes
are based around regular, monthly soil, leaf and water analyses. Upon suspicion of turf diseases, samples are sent to a laboratory for examination. Despite the good mechanical maintenance and fertiliser programmes, the pitch occasionally shows infections caused by leaf spot and dollar spot. When this happens, Filipa recommends a liquid potassium fertiliser to promote the sward’s tolerance. The irrigation water has a relatively high pH, so pH lowering products are
“The temperature difference in the summer between the north and south sides of the stadium is often more than 10O
C”
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