The Braga Brief, Week of 16 October 2026: Work Starts on ABC's 9 Million Euro Handball Arena, Cinemas Return to Nova Arcada, and Guimarães Jazz Turns 35

Good morning from the Minho. Work has finally started on the home of Braga handball, a Braga shopping centre is getting its cinemas back, and Guimarães has named the line-up for the 35th edition of its jazz festival. On the pitch it was a hard week for Sp. Braga. Here is your roundup for 10 to 16 October.

Work starts on the "cathedral of handball"

The renovation of the Pavilhão Flávio Sá Leite, the historic home of ABC de Braga, is under way. The council, which calls the arena "the cathedral of Portuguese handball", announced last Friday that the works have begun, at a cost of about 9 million euros and with 630 days to finish. On that timetable the job ends around mid-2028.

The arena will have 986 seats, including places for people with reduced mobility, and a new 71-seat stand. It also gets new changing rooms, a gym, an official club shop, a museum dedicated to the sport and better technical areas. Mayor João Rodrigues said the start "ends years of built-up expectation" among the city's sporting community. The project was costed at 8.6 million euros in April, as we reported in our 24 April brief.

Cinemas return to Nova Arcada

Braga's Nova Arcada shopping centre, which lost its last screens in January when the operator Cineplace went insolvent, will reopen six cinema rooms on 24 October under the Cinebox brand. Five have premium armchairs and one has reclining sofas, the centre's management said on Tuesday. The centre once had 12 screens; the other six rooms are due to become a bowling alley and arcade, with opening planned for December.

Guimarães Jazz turns 35

The Guimarães Jazz festival returns to the Centro Cultural Vila Flor from 12 to 21 November. Almost every act is making its festival debut, among them trumpeter Peter Evans, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and the all-star quintet ARTEMIS, with Ingrid Jensen, Nicole Glover, Noriko Ueda, Allison Miller and Renee Rosnes. The one returning name closes the festival on 21 November: American singer Kurt Elling, with North Macedonia's National Jazz Orchestra.

Around the district

Bus crash at Braga Parque. Two city buses run by Transportes Urbanos de Braga and a car collided on Avenida Padre Júlio Fragata, beside the Braga Parque shopping centre, on Wednesday afternoon. Civil Protection said 14 people were hurt, all with minor injuries, and taken to Hospital de Braga. The alert came at 15:44; 33 responders and 14 vehicles were sent, and traffic was disrupted.

Charities fight the taxman over EU-funded projects. The district union of social solidarity institutions (UDIPSSB) has written to every parliamentary group asking them to push the Tax Authority to change its reading of the law. Charities that built with Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) money expected to recover all the VAT they paid, by combining a 2017 decree that refunds 50 percent with a 2021 scheme for PRR projects. The Tax Authority says the two together cannot exceed 50 percent. The union says dozens of institutions nationwide face refund refusals worth tens or hundreds of thousands of euros each.

Guimarães appointments row. The Socialists in Guimarães accuse mayor Ricardo Araújo (PSD/CDS-PP) of placing former PSD figures in senior technical posts as stand-ins, without open competitions. The council replies that it created new departments, now 67 in all, that it could not wait for more than 20 competitions to fill them, and that every stand-in will face a competition within the legal deadlines.

UMinho staff protest the Israeli ambassador's visit. Sixty-six members of the University of Minho community have signed a statement against the mayor of Guimarães receiving Israel's ambassador, Oren Rozenblat, a month ago. The PS, BE, Livre and CDU have also questioned it, and the composer César Viana has stepped down as artistic director of the town's Religious Music Festival in protest. The mayor has said the meeting was normal diplomatic business and not a position on Israeli policy.

New elections in Paçô. Voters in the parish of Paçô, in Arcos de Valdevez, will go back to the polls on 10 January 2027. None of the four lists elected in 2025 won a majority and they could not agree on a parish executive; the parish president and the winning list then resigned.

Sports

It was a bruising week for Sp. Braga. Last Friday they led Sporting 1-0 at the Pedreira, then lost 3-1. The club wrote to the Portuguese Football Federation demanding "immediate measures" on refereeing, citing a penalty it says should have been given. President António Salvador went further on Wednesday, saying the VAR had cost Braga five points in seven league games and questioning whether the head of the referees' council, Luciano Gonçalves, is fit to run it. He admitted the team "is not getting the results it should", but said coach Carlos Vicens stays until the end of the season.

Then on Thursday night Braga opened their Conference League campaign with a 3-0 defeat at FC Copenhagen. Mohamed Elyounoussi scored after 49 minutes, Ricardo Horta had an equaliser ruled out for a tight offside, and Andreas Cornelius added two late goals. Five league-phase games remain.

The week ahead

• Monday 19 October, 20:15: Sp. Braga v Gil Vicente, Estádio Municipal, the Minho derby postponed from August.
• Saturday 24 October: Cinebox reopens six screens at Nova Arcada, Braga.
• Saturday 31 October: Comic-Con Kids Guimarães, Halloween edition, Multiusos de Guimarães, 20 euros.
• Monday 2 November, 21:30: Cinema: NAZA, Theatro Circo, Braga, 4 euros.
• 12 to 21 November: Guimarães Jazz, Centro Cultural Vila Flor.

That's the Minho this week. See you next Friday.