The Pavilhão Atlântico acted as the main venue, staging the opening ceremonies and the majority of the sporting events.

On 21 May 2007, during a meeting between the 2009 Games Organizing Committee (Portuguese: Comité Organizador dos Jogos da Lusofonia 2009, COJOL) and the ACOLOP (Associação dos Comités de Língua Oficial Portuguesa, English: Association of the Portuguese-Speaking Committees), a decision on which should be the ninth sport to be included in the competition program—out of a list that included badminton, canoeing, judo, swimming, and roller hockey — was delayed due to insufficient survey data from some of the ACOLOP member committees.

[7] Later that year, on 12 November the ACOLOP general assembly, gathered in Lisbon, finally decided to add judo to the official program.

Most of the competitions were held in venues within Lisbon, but other sports, like beach and indoor volleyball, were played in the neighbouring municipalities of Oeiras and Almada, respectively.

In this table, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round or group match.