<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: none | Opening: 2003 | Capacity: 23,164 seats<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

Est\u00e1dio Municipal de Leiria \u2013 Dr. Magalh\u00e3es Pessoa was built to serve as one of the playing venues of Euro 2004<\/a>. It got named after former Leiria mayor Dr. Magalh\u00e3es Pessoa, who had presided over the construction of the old stadium that had stood at the same site.<\/p>\n

Architect of the stadium was Tom\u00e1s Taviera, also responsible for the designs of Est\u00e1dio Jos\u00e9 Alvalade<\/a> and Est\u00e1dio Municipal de Aveiro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Estadio Municipal de Leiria officially opened on 19\u00a0November 2003 with a friendly match between Portugal and Kuwait (8-0). During the European Championships it hosted two group matches.<\/p>\n

After the European Championships one of the ends got demolished, which lowered capacity from 30,000 to its current amount of just over 23,000.<\/p>\n

Estadio Municipal de Leiria\u00a0was from 2004 to 2011 the home of UD Leiria. However, due to the high rental costs and the club’s low attendances, it decided to move out to a smaller stadium.<\/p>\n

The stadium has been a major financial burden for the city of Leiria, owner of the stadium, resulting in voices going up for the demolition of the stadium, though at the moment no concrete plans exist yet.<\/p>\n

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