Primeira Liga football club SC Braga have officially started works for the construction of Estádio Centenário, a new 2,600-seat stadium that will serve as the home of its women’s team and Men’s B team, and is scheduled to be completed at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.
Features of the stadium complex include a 250-space car park, four changing rooms, a medical department, gym, first-aid room, anti-doping room, work rooms, a press room, a tribune dedicated to social communication and LED lighting of 1,400 lux, which makes it possible to hold games at night.
The Centenario Stadium – which has been planned and mapped out since 2017 – will be the final step in completing the ambitious infrastructural two-phase ‘Sports City’ project made by SC Braga.
The stadium is a part of ‘Phase 1’ which involves building a large-scale Training Centre consisting of nine training fields with two of them qualified to host official matches as well as a beach soccer field in addition to the Centenario Stadium.
The 2nd phase of ‘Cidade Desportiva’ – which is soon to be completed – will involve the 250-space underground car park, a residential area space for the professional teams, and the opening of the SC Braga museum in January 2025 to recognise the club’s rich culture and history.
With these upgrades and new complexes inside the Sports city, SC Braga are taking a step in the right direction for their future as a club on and off the pitch.
They hope to create a system which encourages young male players and senior women players to get involved with the club as well as improve facilities for the first team.
Whilst the first team will still play its home matches at the Estádio Municipal de Braga with a 30,000 seat capacity, the goal of this ‘Sports City’ complex and the Centenario Stadium was to shift their focus on expanding the club as a brand and to become a more complete football club involving academies and the women’s team.
With a long-term plan committed to and completed, as well as a strong 78-point third place finish in the league last season, Braga’s hopeful rise to the peak of Liga Portugal’s summit could be sooner than ever before for the historic club.
