Portugal’s SC Braga Upgrades To Big New Hisense LED Display At Its Rock Quarry Grounds

August 23, 2024 by Dave Haynes

What’s described by the vendor as the largest LED display at a European football stadium is in the process of going up (and appears ready) at the fantastic home grounds of the Portuguese club SC Braga – who play at a stadium built into an old rock quarry.

The stadium in Braga, north of Porto, has a 30 meter wide by 9 meter high display at one end of the grounds, on an exposed slab of granite. The stands were also carved out of and built into the granite, and the pitch is raised so that there is parking underneath for ticketholders with premium seats or suites. My friends at Braga-based Displax/Moviik were kind enough to host me for a home match earlier this year (post-ISE), so I saw the existing LED board. I was far more interested in the game and gargling pints of Sagres, so I can’t remember all that much about the old board – other than it looked like it had a few miles on it.

The new one is interesting because of its scale (though the halo display at Real Madrid’s renovated stadium is 3,700 sq. meters versus 270 in Braga, so “largest” is very debatable) and because of the manufacturer, China’s Hisense – which I did not know even did outdoor LED. The company is a big consumer electronics brand, but has in recent years added B2B display products like commercial flat panels and All-In-One LED displays for environments like workplaces.