Estádio José Américo de Almeida Filho (Almeidão)

The stadium carries a name change that outlasted its reason: opened as Estádio Ministro Ernani Sátiro on 9 March 1975, it became Almeidão barely three months later, on 16 June, when governor Ivan Bichara signed the decree renaming it for José Américo de Almeida Filho, son of a former governor and president of Botafogo-PB. The nickname stuck faster than the official title ever did, and it is still what everyone in João Pessoa calls it.

That municipal ownership shapes what happens on the pitch: the natural turf, laid out to full 105 by 68 metre dimensions, regularly gives way to temporary modular flooring so the Almeidão can host concerts without the grass being torn up for the next match.

Capacity stands at 25,770, a fraction of what the arena held in its earlier decades before terracing was reduced for safety reasons — a common trajectory for Brazilian stadiums built in the 1970s. Half a century after its opening, the Almeidão remains one of the few grounds in Paraíba built with state backing rather than by a club itself, which explains why it has hosted the city's football without ever quite belonging to one team.