Stožice Stadium

Stožice Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was designed by Slovenian Sadar Vuga d.o.o. architects and is the biggest football stadium in the country. It is one of two main stadiums in the city and lies in the Bežigrad district, north of the city centre. The stadium is part of the Stožice Sports Park sports complex.

The stadium is the home ground of the football club NK Olimpija Ljubljana and is one of the two main venues of Slovenia national football team. Besides football the stadium is designed to host cultural events as well.

History

The stadium was named after the area in which it is located, and the change of the name is possible in the future due to sponsorship rights. Together with an indoor arena, it is a part of Športni park Stožice. The stadium building area measures 24.614 square metres. It was constructed in just 14 months and was opened in 11 August 2010 on a football friendly match between the national teams of Slovenia and Australia, won by Slovenia 2-0.^[1]

The stadium has a capacity of 16,038 seats and is laid out under the plateau of the park. As a structure, it is therefore ‘sunk’ into the park. Only the roof over the stands rises above the plane of the park as a monolithic crater. The number also includes 558 business seats, 210 seats for members of the press, and 97 places for people that are disabled.

For cultural purposes such as music concerts, the stadium capacity is increased to over 20,000.

Football

The stadium is mainly used for football and is the home ground of football club NK Olimpija. Besides being the home ground of NK Olimpija the stadium is also the home venue of the Slovenia national football team. The stadium will be one of two main venues for UEFA Euro 2012 qualifications.^[2]

National team matches

Culture

Although the stadium was primarily build for football it is also planned to host many cultural events. The first was a joint project of two comedians, Lado Bizovičar and Jurij Zrnec, that was titled Notpadu lajv?! and this performance took place on 20 September 2010. Around 22.000 people gathered on this event. In the future the stadium will be one of the main venues in Ljubljana for hosting large scale music concerts and other cultural events.

Records

The stadium is a record holder for most spectators on a home football match of Slovenia national football team. This was achieved on 11 August 2010 on the opening match when Slovenia played against Australia. 16,155 people gathered to see that match. That is also the highest attendance on any football match in Slovenia after the independence of the country in 1991.

Gallery

References

1. ^ http://www.zurnal24.si/nogomet/nogomet-stozice-stadion-vrata-odprl-slovenija-avstralija-180756/clanek
2. ^ http://www.rtvslo.si/sport/nogomet/ep-2012-srbi-in-severni-irci-v-maribor-italijani-v-ljubljano/229701