Toumba Stadium

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PAOK Stadium
Toumba
Location	Toumba, Salonika
Broke ground	1957
Opened	1959
Renovated	2004
Closed	Open demolished = N/A
Owner	PAOK
Operator	PAOK
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	Unknown
Tenants
PAOK FC
Capacity
28,701

Toumba Stadium (Greek: Γήπεδο Τούμπας) is a football stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece owned by the multisports club PAOK. It was built in 1959 for the club's sporting venues and served also as the home ground for the club's football team, which was participating in the then national football league. Since 1979, has also served as the home ground of PAOK FC. The stadium is located in the Toumba district of Thessaloniki. Its capacity was originally about 40,000, until the installation of seats on all stands in 1998, reducing capacity to 32,000 (seated).

The introduction of security zones in 2000 further reduced the capacity to the current 28,701 seats. Record attendance is 45.252 in a friendly football match between PAOK and AEK on 19.12.1976. Its official name is simply "PAOK Stadium". However, it is commonly referred to with the name of the district in which it stands.

Toumba Stadium has hosted a few games of the Greece national football team. The stadium was selected as one of the training venues for the football tournament of the 2004 Olympic Games. This meant that it had to be upgraded. The relevant works commenced in 2003 and the stadium was again ready to be used in the summer of 2004, boasting a brand new look. The most important modification was the construction of a new four-storey building behind the main west stand (gates 1,2 and 3).

This houses a number of VIP boxes and a VIP lounge, service areas for the TV and the Press, new club offices etc. A new roof was also installed over the west stand. Other works that took place included new seats, upgrading of dressing rooms, new pitch and re-enforcement of the concrete pillars below the north curved stand (gates 4 and 4a).