Skonto Stadium

Skonto Stadium
Location E. Melngaiļa 1a, Riga, Latvia
Opened June 28, 2000[1]
Capacity 9,500[2]
Tenants
Skonto FC 2000-present
Latvia national football team 2000 - present

Skonto Stadium (Latvian: Skonto stadions) is a football stadium in Riga, Latvia. The stadium has 9,500 seats and was built in 2000. This is the biggest football stadium in Latvia.

Contents

Description

Skonto Stadium is located in the heart of Riga - Street E. Melngaiļa 1a, Riga, Latvia. It is the biggest football stadium with 10, 000 seats, VIP lounges, offices, press centre and cafes.

Use

Skonto Stadium is mostly used for hosting football matches. Since its opening in 2000, it has been the home stadium for the Latvian Higher League club Skonto Riga and Latvia national football team, as well as Latvia U-21.

International artists have performed at this venue, including Aerosmith and Metallica in 2008, both of whom reached the maximum capacity for concerts, with 32,000 and 33,000 fans, respectively. Several other artists have performed there too, for example, Snoop Dogg, Massive Attack, Depeche Mode and Akon.

In 2003 Skonto stadium hosted the twenty-fourth Latvian Song and Dance Festival, but in 2008 a friendly match between Latvian and Georgian football veterans was played at this venue.

In 2009 Latvian football club FK Ventspils used this stadium for its home matches in the UEFA Europa League matches, because of technical problems with its own stadium.

Attendance

The largest attendance seen by the Skonto Stadium so far in a football match was 10,000 people in 2004 for the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying playoff game between Latvia and Turkey.

References