Parken Stadium

Parken
UEFA
Location P.H. Lings Allé 2
DK-2100 København Ø, Denmark
Broke ground 1990
Opened 9 September 1992
Renovated 2009
Owner Parken Sport & Entertainment
Operator Parken Venues
Surface Grass
Construction cost 640,000,000 DKK
(85,300,000 )
Architect Gert Andersson
Capacity 38,065 (allseater)[1]
Field dimensions 105 x 68 m (114.8 x 74.3 yds)
Tenants
F.C. Copenhagen (Danish Superliga) (1992–present)
Denmark national football team (1992-present)
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final (1994)
UEFA Cup Final (2000)

Parken Stadium (English: the Park) is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (Inner Østerbro) district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990–1992. It currently has a capacity of 38,065 for football games, and is the home ground of F.C. Københaven and the Danish national football team. The capacity for concerts exceeds the capacity for matches – the stadium can hold as many as 50,000 people with an end-stage setup and 55,000 with a center-stage setup.

Contents

History

Parken was built on the site of former Denmark national stadium, Idrætsparken, from 1990 to 1992. The last national team match in Idrætsparken was a 0–2 Euro 1992 qualification loss to Yugoslavia on November 14, 1990, and on September 9, 1992 Parken was opened with a 1–2 defeat in a friendly game against Germany.

The stadium was rebuilt by investors Baltica Finans A/S in turn of the guarantee from the Danish Football Association, that all national matches would be played at Parken for 15 years. The re-construction, tore down and re-built three of the original four stands, cost 640 million Danish kroner.

In 1998, Baltica Finans sold the stadium to F.C. Copenhagen for 138 million DKK, and the club now owns both the stadium and the adjacent office buildings in the company of Parken Sport & Entertainment.

Parken was included in UEFA's list of 4-star stadiums in the Autumn of 1993, making Parken eligible for hosting the finals of the UEFA Cup as well as the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup. Being a 4-star stadium, Parken can not apply for the biggest European club game, the UEFA Champions League final, as that demands 50,000 seats.

On June 2 2007, Parken was the venue for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier fan attack.

Notable matches

Date Team #1 Res. Team #2 Competition Attendance Remarks
9 September 1992 Denmark 1–2 Germany Friendly match 40,500 Opening match
4 May 1994 Arsenal 1–0 Parma 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup Final 33,765
17 May 2000 Galatasaray 0–0
(p4-1)
Arsenal 2000 UEFA Cup Final 38,919
8 October 2005 Denmark 1–0 Greece 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 2 42,099 Stadium attendance record
6 April 2006 F.C. Copenhagen 1–0 Lillestrøm 2006 Royal League Final 13,617
30 April 2006 F.C. Copenhagen 0–0 Brøndby Danish Superliga 2005-06 41,201 League and club attendance record
2 June 2007 Denmark 0-3 Sweden UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group F 42,083 Referee attacked
21 May 2011 AG København 30-21 Bjerringbro-Silkeborg 2011 Danish Handball League Final 36,651 World's most attended handball match

Concert venue

Parken is also used as a concert venue, and hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. As a direct consequence of this, and to make Parken a more useful venue in general, a retractable roof was applied to the existing structure.

Once a year, the TV channel TV 2 Zulu organizes a big concert, Zulu Rocks.

Musicians like Take That, Pink, Madonna, Britney Spears, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Celine Dion, Tiesto, Depeche Mode, The Rolling Stones, U2, The Black Eyed Peas, Pet Shop Boys, Kashmir, Pharrell, Mew, Robbie Williams, George Michael, R.E.M., Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Muse, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, and Michael Jackson have performed at Parken.

The biggest concert ever held in Parken was a performance by Michael Jackson on August 14, 1997, during his HIStory tour, with 60,000 tickets sold.

Eminem was scheduled to perform at Parken in 2005, but he canceled his European tour.

See also

Notes

External links

Preceded by
Wembley Stadium
London
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
Final Venue

1994
Succeeded by
Parc des Princes
Paris
Preceded by
Luzhniki Stadium
Moscow
UEFA Cup
Final Venue

2000
Succeeded by
Westfalenstadion
Dortmund
Preceded by
Globe Arena
Stockholm
Eurovision Song Contest
Venue

2001
Succeeded by
Saku Suurhall
Tallinn