Råsunda Stadium

Råsunda Fotbollstadion, also Råsundastadion, Råsunda Stadium or just Råsunda, is a Swedish national football stadium. It is located in Solna Municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm and named after Råsunda, a zone of Solna.

History

It was opened in 1937 although there had already existed stadiums at the site; the earliest opened in 1910.^[2] The inaugural match took place on 18 April 1937 when AIK played against Malmö FF, AIK won the match 4–0.^[3] Råsunda has a capacity of 35,000–36,608 depending on usage.^[4] The 1910 stadium hosted some of the football and some of the shooting events at the 1912 Summer Olympics.^[5] The stadium is the home stadium for AIK, and is used for many derbies between Stockholm clubs. It also hosts the headquarters of the Swedish Football Association, and stages 75% of the home matches of the national football team each year, with most other matches being played at Ullevi in Gothenburg. These two stadiums are UEFA 4-star rated football stadiums.

The record attendance is 52,943 and was set 26 September 1965, when Sweden played West Germany.

Råsunda is the first of two stadiums to have hosted the World Cup finals for both men and women. It hosted the men's final in the 1958 World Cup and the women's final in the 1995 Women's World Cup. The other stadium with this honor is the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, USA (men in 1994 World Cup, women in 1999 Women's World Cup).

On April 1, 2006 the Swedish Football Association announced a plan to switch to a new stadium to be built in Solna. The new arena will be completed and ready for sporting events in 2012, and the Råsunda Stadium will be subsequently demolished. The new stadium will have a capacity for 50,000 spectators. The name of the new arena will be Swedbank Arena - Swedbank bought the name for 150 million SEK.^[6]

Fabege AB and Peab AB signed an agreement to acquire Råsunda Football Stadium and existing office buildings from the Swedish Football Association on December 11, 2009. All activities on the arena will remain until the Swedbank Arena stands finished.^[7] It is unknown if AIK Fotboll will be sole tenants of the Råsunda Stadium after the Sweden national football team move to the Swedbank Arena.

References

External links

• AIK presentation
• Råsunda Stadium