Estádio Dom Afonso Henriques

Estádio Dom Afonso Henriques – the loudest ground in the north

Around 30,000 seats, steep stands and not a centimetre of running track: the home of Vitória SC is one of the addresses where the Primeira Liga sounds most like football. Guimarães has some 50,000 people in its core — and on the good nights it fills a stadium built for a far bigger city.

Built in 1965, rebuilt in 2003

The 1965 ground was largely reconstructed in 2003 for the European Championship in Portugal. What stayed was the closeness to the pitch; what arrived were the continuous tiers and the full roof. Euro 2004 group matches were played here.

Vitória SC — the third way in Portuguese football

Founded in 1922, playing in white and black, and carrying one of the largest memberships in the country outside the big three: Vitória are the club most likely to ruin an evening for Benfica, Sporting or Porto. The supporters call themselves Vitorianos, and the Derby do Minho against nearby Braga is the fiercest fixture in northern Portugal.

Guimarães: where Portugal began

Written on the old town wall is the line Aqui nasceu Portugal — Portugal was born here. That is history rather than marketing: Afonso Henriques, the country's first king and the man the stadium is named after, was born in this town around 1109 and made it his first capital.

The old town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001 and is walkable end to end: the tenth-century castle, the ducal palace, narrow lanes of granite facades. Take the cable car up Monte da Penha and you look down on the town, the stadium and half the Minho.

Getting there

Guimarães lies around 50 kilometres north-east of Porto. From Porto airport allow about forty-five minutes by hire car; from central Porto there is a direct train taking a little over an hour. Braga is only half an hour away.

The stadium stands on Rua de São Gonçalo, less than two kilometres from the historic centre — a walk of a good twenty minutes, and exactly how the locals do it.