Stadion Kranjčevićeva

Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj ulici (English: Kranjčevićeva Street Stadium), known as Stadion Concordije between 1921 and 1945, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Trešnjevka neighourhood in Zagreb, Croatia. It is mainly used for football matches and is the home ground of Prva HNL sides NK Zagreb and NK Lučko. The stadium can hold 8,850 people, which makes it the second biggest stadium in Zagreb, behind Stadion Maksimir.

History

The stadium at what was then called Tratinska cesta (English: Tratinska road) began construction in 1910s and was completed in 1921. At the time of its completion it was the biggest stadium in Zagreb and was owned by Concordia, one of the three prominent Zagreb-based football clubs in the interwar period (the other two being Građanski and HAŠK). In 1931 the first floodlit match held in Zagreb was played at the stadium, in which Zagreb XI beat Real Madrid 2–1, with two goals from Ico Hitrec and a consolation goal for Madrid scored by Eugenio.

After World War II, Concordia was disbanded for political reasons and the stadium was handed over to the newly formed Fiskulturno društvo Zagreb (English: Zagreb Sports Society), whose football section later evolved into today's NK Zagreb football club. In November 1977 a large fire destroyed the west stand and in the following years the stadium went through several reconstructions and modifications. The most significant of these was an extensive overhaul and the construction of the adjoining facilities in preparation for the 1987 Summer Universiade. Later that year a lightning strike destroyed the floodlights during a match between NK Zagreb and NK Osijek and the stadium was without any floodlight capabilities for almost 20 years until 2008, when new ones were installed by the City of Zagreb.

At the onset of the Croatian War of Independence on 28 May 1991 the stadium was also the site of the first public showing of the Croatian National Guard (Croatian: Zbor narodne Garde), formed in April that year, which was the first Croatia's professional military unit and which later evolved into the Croatian Ground Army (Croatian: Hrvatska kopnena vojska). A commemorative plaque honouring the event can be seen at the stadium entrance.

Structure

The stadium consists of two stands. The west stand is fully seated and can hold 3,850 spectators. It houses the press box and the VIP area. The east stand has 5,000 standing places and is mainly used for travelling fans. The stadium also has a cycling track around the pitch which is used for track cycling events. In June 2008 UEFA inspection had visited the stadium and gave it a 3-star rating, but criticised the lack of floodlights (which have been installed two months later) and press box provisions.^[1]

International matches

The first international match at the stadium was held in June 1922, a friendly between Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. The Yugoslavia team consisted almost entirely of players called up from Zagreb clubs (only the goalkeeper Rodoljub Malenčić was called up from Belgrade's SK Jugoslavija) and Yugoslavia went on to win the game 4–3, with some 6,000 people in attendance. Between 1922 and 1940 the stadium hosted a total of 11 Kingdom of Yugoslavia matches, most of them friendlies. During World War II, the fascist puppet state Independent State of Croatia formed a national team which used the stadium for six games, all of them friendlies played with other Axis powers' puppet states.

In 1947 Kranjčevićeva hosted their single international game in the SFR Yugoslavia period, a 2–1 Balkan Cup win against Bulgaria, with both Yugoslavia's goals scored by Prvoslav Mihajlović. Following Croatia's independence in 1991, the Croatia national football team played at Kranjčevićeva only once, in a 1996 friendly against South Korea which Croatia won 3–0 through a hat-trick from Goran Vlaović.

List od matches

See also

• List of football stadiums in Croatia

References