Porto enter the dragon

FC Porto have named their new ground the Estádio do Dragão - or Dragão stadium.

Association with dragon
The Porto board announced their decision on Tuesday, explaining they had chosen the name because of both the club and the city of Porto's association with the dragon through their respective crests. The stadium is being built 500 metres from Porto's current home, the Estádio das Antas.

'Our symbol'
Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa said: "The FC Porto board unanimously decided that the official name of the stadium we are building will be Estádio do Dragão. The dragon is our symbol and it is in the city's coat of arms, which is also in our badge. Therefore, we thought that there was no better name to symbolise the might of our club and its vitality."

Key venue
The stadium is one of the key venues for UEFA EURO 2004™. It will host five matches in the finals, including the opening match on 12 June and one of the semi-finals. Pinto da Costa added that work was progressing on the stadium with plans to add the roof at the beginning of July. The stadium will be opened in October.