Toumba Stadium

PAOK Stadium
Location Thessaloniki, Greece
Coordinates 40°36′49.82″N 22°58′20.72″E / 40.6138389°N 22.9724222°E / 40.6138389; 22.9724222Coordinates: 40°36′49.82″N 22°58′20.72″E / 40.6138389°N 22.9724222°E / 40.6138389; 22.9724222
Owner A.S. PAOK
Operator PAOK
Executive suites 14 5-man suites each 12
Capacity 28,703
Record attendance 45,252 (19 December 1976)
Field size 106 m × 71 m (348 ft × 233 ft)[1]
Surface Grass
Scoreboard LED
Construction
Broke ground 1957
Built 1958–1959
Opened 6 September 1959[2]
Renovated 2004, 2013
Expanded 1962, 1965, 1972
Construction cost ₯ 6,000,000
Architect Minas Trempelas
Structural engineer Antonis Triglianos
Tenants
PAOK
Website
PAOK FC official website

Toumba Stadium (Greek: Στάδιο Τούμπας) is a football stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is the property of amateur A.S. PAOK. It is a family donation from Ioanni Dedeoglou and later the plot was donated to build the P.A.O.K. Sports Arena in Pylaia Thessaloniki. The Toumba Stadium started construction in 1958 and completed in 1959. Patrons on the project were part of the Ministry of Culture and Sport (Greece) and paid the amount of 1,100,000 drachmas. The Hellenic National Defence General Staff owned the space and contributed decisively to expropriate it for Toumba Stadium. The then defense minister Georgios Themelis vouched for the expropriation of the area of Toumba Stadium during the Konstantinos Karamanlis government in 1958. The old stage of PAOK Fountain Square downtown was expropriated for the construction the Theological Seminary, and the surrounding area was given to Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The architect of the project was Minas Trempelas and the engineer was Antonis Triglianos. Important for its construction was the contribution and of its own group of fans, who were invited twice to assist financially through the "Special Fund for the Erection of the New Phase of PAOK", adopted by the administration of the club, while some friends of PAOK worked selflessly through personal work during the process of construction. It was finished on 6 September 1959 as the club's prime sporting venue and served as the home ground for the club's football team, which was participating in the then HFF Panhellenic Championship until today, for the needs for the Superleague Greece of Greek Football Cup, the obligations of PAOK in the European Cup UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

The stadium is located in the district of Toumba in eastern Thessaloniki. Its original capacity was 45,000 until the installation of seating on all stands in 1998 reduced the capacity to 32,000 (seated). The introduction of security zones in 2000 further reduced the capacity to the current capacity 28,703 seats. A record attendance of 45,252 has been recorded in a 1st division football match between PAOK and AEK on 19 December 1976. The stadium's official name is simply "PAOK Stadium", however it is commonly referred to as "Toumba" after the district it's located in.

Toumba Stadium has hosted several games of the Greece national football team. The stadium was selected as one of the training venues for the football tournaments of the 2004 Olympic Games, and due to this it was heavily upgraded. The relevant works commenced in 2003 and the stadium was again ready to be used in the summer of 2004 while boasting a brand new look. The most important modification was the construction of a new four-storey building behind the main west stand (Gates 1, 2 and 3). The new building of the stadium houses a number of VIP boxes and VIP lounges, service areas for TV and the press and new club offices. A new roof was also installed over the west stand, while other works included new seats, upgrades for the dressing rooms, a new pitch and re-enforcement of the concrete pillars below the north curved stand (Gate 4 and Gate 4A). After the advent of the new major shareholder of PAOK Ivan Savvidis buying the majority stock of PAOK in 2012, a gradual renovation began in Toumba Stadium. The big changes began in 2012–2013, but the main changes were made in 2014–2015 for the European obligations PAOK in UEFA Europa League, starting from the central part of the stadium. The presidential suite was manufactured by major shareholder Ivan Savvidis, which became a gradual renovation in journalistic theory for convenience and functionality in the building of the third floor and the major changes made in 2014-15 for its European obligations team in UEFA Europa League. In early September 2015, the turf was changed in Toumba Stadium.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://paok-26.blogspot.com/2010/10/forza-to.html
  2. ↑ http://www.worldofstadiums.com/europe/greece/paok-stadium/
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