| Philip II of Macedonia Arena Арена Филип II Македонски Full name "Philip II of Macedonia" National Arena Национална арена "Филип II Македонски" |
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| Former names | City Stadium of Skopje |
| Location | Skopje, Macedonia |
| Opened | 1947 |
| Expanded | 2011 |
| Owner | JPSSO |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity | 33,460[1] |
| Tenants | |
| FK Vardar FK Rabotnički Macedonia national football team |
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Philip II of Macedonia Arena (Macedonian: Арена Филип II Македонски, Arena Filip II Makedonski) is a multi-purpose stadium in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. It is currently used mostly for football matches, but sometimes also for music concerts or other events. It is the home stadium of FK Vardar and FK Rabotnički from Skopje, both of which compete in the Macedonian First League, as well as the home ground of the Macedonia national football team on almost all occasions (the other venues rarely chosen being the Goce Delčev Stadium in Prilep, or SRC Biljanini Izvori in Ohrid).
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Construction of the Skopje City Stadium (Macedonian: Градски стадион Скопје, Gradski stadion Skopje) in present form began in the 1978, (it was renamed to Philip II Arena in 2008). Construction of the south stand took two years to finish. The reconstruction and expansion started after a long delay in project implementation in January 2008. The construction of a new north stand was finished in August 2009 and was put in use on 2 August 2009, the Macedonian national holiday "Ilinden". Ten days later, on 12 August, the Macedonia national football team played a friendly match against the current World Champions Spain, as part of the 100-year anniversary of football in Macedonia.[2] The reconstruction of the southern stand started in 2009, which was put into operation on 30 July last year for the match between FK Rabotnicki and FC Liverpool.[3] Soon after, the construction of the new western and eastern stands started. The total capacity is now 36,400.
Since 2008, the stadium is invested about two billion denars, or 32 million euros.The next phase is planned reconstruction of the football field and athletic track, while by 2013 should be fully build. The construction cost of all actions related to the Arena in the period 2008 - 2013 is estimated to reach 50 to 60 million.
Before the name change to Philip II Arena, at the beginning of 2009, the stadium was known as the Skopje City Stadium (Macedonian: Градски стадион Скопје, Gradski stadion Skopje). The former nickname "Gradski" is still often used even after the change of the stadium's name.
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