EUROPEAN giants Porto have announced plans to upgrade their iconic Estádio do Dragão.
The stadium first opened in 2003 at a cost of £107million and is among the landmarks of Portugal’s second-city.
However, Porto have announced that for the first time ever the stadium will be having some major TLC.
A club statement explained the stadium infrastructure had suffered from natural wear and tear, while the advancement of technology in the 22 years since its opening also played a part in the decision.
The main areas of improvement will focus on the infrastructure, technology and services of the venue.
The club said: “One of the most beautiful stadiums in the world of football must have spaces and equipment at the level required.”
The plan is to carry out the works during pre-season of the 2025/26 and 2026/27 campaigns in order to minimise the impact on the sporting season.
Long term, this update will make the ground ready to host the World Cup when the famous tournament visits Portugal in 2030.
Works have already been ongoing for a few weeks, with club boxes being modernised along with the fan common areas like the toilets and bars.
Next summer will see the club tackle the creation of new hospitality areas in an effort to “completely transform the hospitality and VIP services” on offer at the 50,033-capacity stadium.
A new central kitchen, autonomous bars, a new lighting system and a complete renovation of the roof are on the agenda for infrastructure works.
The coming changes will also see the stadium modernised with all ticketing transactions to be done without having to go to a physical store, while FC Porto will also be launching its own platform alongside this.
All tickets, ranging from season ticket renewals and sales back to the club, will also be able to be carried out digitally.
This will be implemented as early as next month.
Porto are the second most successful club in Portuguese football with 30 league titles, only behind Benfica’s tally of 38.
Their last title arrived in 2022, before Gonçalo Ramos inspired Benfica to the 2023 title and Ruben Amorim built his Sporting Lisbon squad into a title-winning force over the last two seasons.
Porto are also two-time Champions of Europe, having won the Champions League in 1987 and 2004 – the latter of which sparked the career of a certain Jose Mourinho into life.
They missed out on Champions League football last season, and only made it to the Europa League league knockout phase as they ended the season without major silverware for the first time since 2021.
However, they did still win the Portuguese Supertaça, or Super Cup, after coming from 3-0 down to beat Sporting Lisbon.
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