Estádio Beira-Rio

Legally, this ground is called Estádio José Pinheiro Borda, after the engineer who oversaw its construction. Almost nobody uses that name, and the club's own board never ratified it. Everyone calls the place Beira-Rio, for its position on the bank of the Guaíba.

Fans built it in the most literal sense. Construction ran from 1959 to 1969, financed through the "Campanha do Tijolo" — the Brick Campaign — with supporters buying the very materials that went into the stands. It opened on 6 April 1969 with a friendly against Benfica, won 2-1.

The bowl used to hold far more than it does today. Through the 1970s and '80s, wooden terraces and standing room pushed crowds toward 100,000; the official record, 106,554, was set on 17 June 1972, for a 3-3 draw between a Rio Grande do Sul select side and the Brazilian national team. None of that survived the rebuild ahead of the 2014 World Cup, when the lower tier came down, seats replaced the terraces, and a PTFE membrane roof closed the stadium in for the first time. Internacional spent the renovation years playing home matches away in Caxias do Sul and Novo Hamburgo. Five World Cup fixtures were staged here in 2014, none of them involving Brazil.

The pitch is newer than the roof. Porto Alegre's floods in May 2024 destroyed the turf outright; Beira-Rio replanted in December and is now working out how to meet FIFA's hybrid-pitch requirement ahead of the 2027 Women's World Cup. Beyond league football, the stadium has staged Copa Libertadores finals and, on the touring side, Paul McCartney twice, the Rolling Stones and Guns N' Roses.