Arena do Grêmio · Profile

On 26 October 2024 the Arena do Grêmio reopened all of its stands after the flood that had swamped the stadium in May of that year. The ground was designed for 60,540 spectators. That afternoon Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense beat Atlético Goianiense 3-1 in the Brazilian league. The stadium stands in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. It was designed by architects António Monteiro and Pedro Santos, built by the construction firm OAS, and opened on 8 December 2012 to replace the Estádio Olímpico as the club’s home.

The project and construction

Grêmio and OAS signed the contract on 18 December 2008. Under the deal, the company would build a new stadium in the Humaitá district, in the north of the city, in exchange for the right to operate the venue for a long period. Work began on 20 September 2010, marked by a motorcade of supporters that drove from the Olímpico to the building site. Construction lasted a little over two years and was completed on 7 December 2012, the day before the opening match.

Opening and first matches

The inaugural game was played on 8 December 2012 against Hamburg, in front of 51,901 spectators. André Lima scored the first goal at the new ground after nine minutes. Heiko Westermann equalised for the German side in the 71st minute, and Marcelo Moreno struck in the 87th to give Grêmio a 2-1 win. The first competitive fixture came in 2013, in the first stage of the Copa Libertadores, when Grêmio beat LDU Quito 1-0.

The Brazil national team and the Copa América

Brazil played at the stadium for the first time on 9 June 2013, beating France 3-0 in a friendly ahead of the Confederations Cup. Six years later the Arena was one of the host venues of the 2019 Copa América and staged five matches. The last of them was the semi-final between Peru and Chile, which Peru won 3-0 to reach the final in Rio de Janeiro.

Grêmio’s finals

On 7 December 2016 Grêmio drew 1-1 with Atlético Mineiro in the second leg of the Copa do Brasil final. Having won the first leg 3-1 in Belo Horizonte, they lifted the trophy in front of 55,337 people, 52,233 of them paying spectators. Almost a year later, on 22 November 2017, the ground hosted the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Argentina’s Lanús. Grêmio won 1-0 before a crowd of 55,188 and, a week later in Argentina, completed their third Libertadores title.

The 2024 flood

In May 2024 the torrential rain that devastated Rio Grande do Sul flooded the northern part of Porto Alegre, and the Arena ended up under water. It took almost a month for the water to recede, and Grêmio had to play their home matches at other grounds while the pitch, dressing rooms and facilities were cleaned and repaired. Football returned on 1 September 2024, with only the lower tier open, in a 3-2 defeat to Atlético Mineiro. Full capacity was restored on 26 October that year.

Management and attendances

For more than a decade the stadium was run by Arena Porto-Alegrense, a company linked to OAS. On 11 July 2025 it was announced that businessman Marcelo Marques was buying the management rights for 130 million reais: 80 million to the Revee fund and 50 million to Arena Porto-Alegrense, paid in nine instalments. Marques pledged to donate those rights to the club, with a handover scheduled to run until December 2025. On 3 September 2026, in a Copa do Brasil Gre-Nal that Grêmio won 3-1 against Internacional, the stadium recorded an attendance of 55,695, the largest crowd counted at the Arena up to that date.