 Building commenced on 21 March 1951, with local manufacturer João Augusto de Sousa awarded the contract and engineers Félix do Amaral, João Marques de Almeida, and Rui Vieira also working on the construction, which cost a total of 12,000,000 escudos.Estádio dos Barreiros was officially opened on 5 May 1957 by minister Arantes e Oliveira, and with a football match between a Madeira Select team and the Portugal B team, who ran out 5–2 winners in front of over 12,000 fans.Floodlights were installed a decade later and the first match played under the new lights took place on 28 May 1967.