By Mario de Queiroz
LISBON, Feb 10 2004 (IPS)

Football could be Portugal’s big chance. One of the lesser known countries of Europe, as host of the European Cup 2004 it could shed its image as a sort of appendage to Spain and consolidate a position as a tourist destination on its own terms.

Portugal is hoping to reap the fruits of a 745-million-dollar investment in building 10 new stadiums for the championship that runs Jun. 14 to Jul. 4. No country hosting this international football tournament has ever gone to such lengths.

The Euro Cup will be a "unique opportunity to affirm our individuality, to show how we are different, to be seductive with the diversity of our tourism attractions," said Madalena Torres, vice-president of the Portuguese Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEP).

The football tournament is "a window of opportunities" because its scope extends beyond Europe, says Torres, who the government designated as president of the commission to promote Portugal’s image in the context of the Euro Cup.

Portugal is one of the European Union’s poorest countries, at least until 10 new members join the bloc in May, most of which are even poorer.

The Euro Cup is expected to attract more than a half-million visitors, in addition to the 9.5 million tourists arriving here annually, 61 percent of whom are Spaniards, Torres told IPS.

Surveys of foreign visitors in Portugal found that 99.8 percent of respondents tend to make just that sort of recommendation, and that half had come to this country on the advice of friends or relatives, said Torres.

>From the perspective of the tourism industry, the sector of the Portuguese economy that generates most cash, the governmental contribution of 132 million dollars towards the construction of the 10 stadiums is a reasonable investment, especially considering the returns in years to come.

With football as a pretext, ICEP aims to show off the charm of a country of saints, sailors, poets, adventurers and emigrants, connoisseurs of ‘bacalao’ (cured cod) and good wine, proponents of tolerance and friendship, who have built their history in cathedrals, castles and forts here and around the world, from Brazil to Macao.

And tourists seem to appreciate the fact that the European Union has not yet imposed its cultural pace on Portugal. A Scandinavian visitor told a journalist recently: "Your country is not the Third World, but it has places where it seems possible to travel back in time to see Europe as it was 100 years ago."

Time passes in a different way in this 89,000-square-km swath of the Iberian Peninsula, with its rugged natural environment and a population of 10.2 million people.

Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi, who has lived more than 20 years in Lisbon, recognises that "Portugal has become European, but maintaining strong features that make it unique; it preserves authenticity, it was not devastated by globalisation, and I hope it continues this way. It is a country where even the bitterest discussions end up around a good table replete with grilled sardines."

The most modern football stadiums in Europe exist in harmony with this history, which in Lisbon extends back 3,200 years. According to legend, the city was founded by the Greek king Ulysses.

The debate about whether it was justified to build 10 stadiums has been left behind, and now the focus is on attracting tourists, improving security, building new hotels, reinforcing transportation, airports, highways, hospitals and public services – and drawing the advertising dollars of the big transnationals.

President Jorge Sampaio described Euro Cup 2004 as "a collective challenge for the country," and Prime Minister José Manuel Durao Barroso said it is "an unbeatable opportunity to consolidate our international image." Both have been on the frontlines of the "battle to promote" Portugal around the world.

The tournament premieres with a match between Portugal and Greece in Oporto, Portugal’s second city, set on the coast 320 km north of Lisbon. They will play at Dragao stadium, which holds 52,000 spectators, belongs to the Porto Club, and cost 124 million dollars.

Also in Oporto, the Boavista stadium was rebuilt at a cost of 56 million dollars and holds 30,000 people. The national teams from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Latvia, Spain and Sweden will be playing in the Oporto stadiums.

In the southern region of Algarbe, Spain will take on Russia in a stadium that holds 30,000 and cost 42 million dollars. It belongs not to a football club, but to the cities of Luolé and Faro.

The 147-million-dollar Estadio da Luz, of the Benfica club in Lisbon, is considered one of the 20 best in the world. It has a capacity for 65,000 spectators and will host the initial matches between Croatia, England, France, Portugal and Russia, as well as the final between the two teams that eliminate the other 14.

In Guimaraes, a city in the extreme north, where Don Afonso Henriques founded Portugal in the 13th century, a 106-million-dollar stadium was built, bearing his name, and with the capacity for 30,000 people.

The stadium belongs to the Vitoria football club and gained tragic notoriety on Jan. 25 when young Hungarian player, Miklos Feher, forward for the Benfica club, died there of a heart attack.

A hundred kilometres away, in Braga, the nation’s "Catholic capital" according to tradition – "Oporto works and Braga prays while Lisbon has fun" – a 103-million-dollar stadium was built that has a capacity for 30,000.

The national teams of Bulgaria, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and Latvia will be playing in the Guimaraes and Braga stadiums.

Heading 120 km south, one runs into Coimbra and its 45-million-dollar stadium, which is to host matches played by France, England and Switzerland.

The Aveiro and Leiria stadiums, located 150 km north of the capital, were designed by the controversial architect Tomás Taveira, who purists accused of beginning "the destruction of Lisbon" in 1983 when he built the Amoreiras shopping centre, a modern, multicolour building.

The total cost of the two stadiums was 114 million dollars. They will host matches between Croatia, France, England and Switzerland.

The Lisbon stadium Alvalade, of the Sporting football club, was chosen for the European Club championship in 2005 because of its quality construction and unique design, also by Taveira, who in this case renounced the multicolour approach and opted for an array of greens, the colour of Sporting.

Alvalade can hold 55,000 people and on its pitch will play Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

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