Each self-respecting football club has its own football stadium. The best teams in the world and Europe, be it Barcelona or Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Chelsea, Manchester United and others, have their own football arena. All stadiums of football clubs are completely different. In terms of value, style, architecture and capacity there are no identical designs. But the most interesting thing is that today the first place in the nomination "The most capacious football stadium in the world" is not a football power. So, get acquainted.
The largest stadium in the world
May Day Stadium - this is the name that has the largest football stadium in the world. It is located in the city of Pyongyang - the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Built in 1989 specifically for the XIII Festival of Youth and Students, the football stadium is able to accommodate 150 thousand spectators.
The architecture of this building is interesting. Sixteen arches bent into a ring create the roof of the stadium, and from a bird's eye view it seems that it is a magnolia flower. The height of the truly gigantic construction is more than 60 meters. In the tribune rooms are located gyms, pools, cafes, hotels. In addition to football matches held by the DPRK national football team, parades and entertainment events are held at the stadium. At one of them - according to wrestling in 1995 - a record number of viewers, respectively 150 and 190 thousand viewers, visited the show over two days (April 28 and 29).
Another festival that annually gathers the full stands of May Day Stadium is the Ariran festival. Athletes from all over the country staged gymnastic performances on the football field of the stadium, symbolizing the struggle of the army and people for the great future of the Korean people. As for football matches involving the national team, on June 16, 2015, in the qualifying match of the 2018 World Cup against the team of Uzbekistan (4: 2), “only” 42 thousand fans came to the match. Therefore, even in spite of its grandeur, the largest football stadium can not be compared with the famous Brazilian “Maracana”, on which several records of attendance of a football match were set.
Maracana Stadium
One of the records was recorded July 16, 1950 during the decisive match of the World Cup between the national teams of Brazil and Uruguay. On that day, according to official figures, 173,830 tickets were sold for the match. Many sources say that, taking into account the "free riders" who entered the match for free, the number of spectators was more than 200,000 thousand people. Knowing the crazy love of Brazilians for football, it is not difficult to believe it. The match itself, unfortunately the fans of the Brazilian national team, was lost by their favorites with a score of 1: 2. This was a tragedy for the whole country.
The construction of the Maracana football stadium began in 1948. By the beginning of the 1950 World Cup, the stadium stands were built, but the city authorities took another 15 years to complete the full establishment of the facility’s infrastructure. It was here that the “king of football” Pele scored the 1000th goal in his football career. After the reconstruction of 2007, “Maracana” lost the title of the largest football stadium in the world. Indeed, now the capacity of its stands is "only" about 80 thousand spectators. In 2014, the final match of the 20th World Cup was held here. And in the summer of 2016 at the "Maracan" will be the grand opening of the XXXI Summer Olympic Games.
"Camp Nou"
It is symbolic that the largest football stadium in Europe belongs to the best team of the continent to date. After all, it was the Catalan “Barcelona” in the 2014-2015 season that won the championship and the Spanish Cup and won the main European club trophy - the Champions League Cup. Until 1957, the club performed at Camp de Les Corts - the old stadium had such a name. The football field, infrastructure and stands were outdated by then. The stadium with a capacity of 60,000 thousand spectators could not accept everyone who wanted to enjoy the game of "blue-pomegranate."
Soccer stadiums of the world have applauded Barcelona players more than once. The then president of the club, Francesc Miro-Sans, put forward the idea of ​​creating a new arena. The construction began in 1953. Four years later, the opening of the Camp Nou. Translated from the Catalan language, the name of the stadium sounds like "a new field", or "new land". So he was called the club fans. At the time of the opening, the capacity of the stadium was 90,000 thousand spectators.
During its existence, the football stadium was reconstructed several times. At the same time, the capacity of the arena also changed. So, for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Spain, the number of seats increased to 120,000 thousand at Camp Nou. Today, after the introduction of the new UEFA rules governing the ban on standing places, the number of seats in the stadium is 98,787. But this is not all.
A new stage in the reconstruction of the stadium is scheduled for 2017. For four years, it is planned to increase the capacity of the arena to 105,000 spectators. An indoor stadium with 12,000 seats, an ice palace, social facilities and commercial areas, a new club academy and parking spaces will be built. The management of Barcelona confidently declares that after the reconstruction, Camp Nou will be the best football stadium in the world. And what about the “football house” of their eternal rivals from the capital of Spain - Real Madrid?
Santiago Bernabeu
In 1944, club president Santiago Bernabeu took a loan from a bank to build a new stadium. After three years, December 14, 1947, Real Madrid held its first official match in the new arena. At that time, the stadium accommodated 75,145 fans, of which the majority (47.5 thousand) took up standing places. Seven years later, the first reconstruction of the stadium was made. In 1954, the club and its fans could be proud that their stadium became one of the largest in the world. 102,000 spectators could receive the stadium, which in 1955 received the current name in honor of the club president.
More than once since that time, “Santiago Bernabeu” has undergone changes in its design. Today it is a modern stadium designed for 80 354 football fans. Just like Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu has been awarded the highest UEFA category 4. This means that the football arena can host the most important and prestigious competitions, whether it be the final matches of the World and European Championships or the main matches of club tournaments.
"Signal of Iduna Park"
The largest football stadium in Germany today belongs to the Dordmundsk Borussia. One of the most titled clubs of the German Bundesliga for a long time could not acquire a modern stadium. Back in 1961, the club’s management set a goal to build a new arena instead of the outdated Rothen Erde. But as it often happens, everything rested on money. Rather, in their absence. And who knows how much the Borussia fans would have expected a new football stadium if Germany had not won the right to host the 1974 World Cup.
Dordmund received permission, and with it - money for the construction of the stadium. With a new name, Westfalenstadion, the stadium was inaugurated on April 2, 1974. At that time, its capacity was 54,000 spectators. Of these, only 17,000 seats were sedentary. Since then, the football facility has been repeatedly reconstructed, and got its modern look already in 2006, when Germany earned the right to host the XVIII World Cup. At that time, an electronic access system to the arena was established, the number of seats for disabled fans was doubled, the VIP zone, team locker rooms and sanitary facilities were transformed.
A year earlier, the club’s management signed an agreement with the Signal Iduna group of insurance companies to rename the stadium. Now the stadium is called "Iduna Park Signal", and the club receives money from the company for this. The current capacity of the stadium is 81,264 seats. This allowed the club to set a European home attendance record for fans in 2014. More than 1 million 855 thousand people visited the Iduna Park Signal Stadium that season. It is worth adding that the arena has the highest category of UEFA.
The best stadiums in Europe
In 2010, UEFA developed a new Regulation on the infrastructure of the stadium, according to which stadiums receive categories of value. The highest category is 4 category, which gives the right to arenas to qualify for various significant tournaments. Today, more than 50 stadiums have the highest category of UEFA. These include England’s famous stadiums such as Wembley (with a capacity of 90,000 spectators), Old Trafford (75,797), Manchester’s Emirates Stadium (60,361).
The largest stadiums in Germany, in addition to Idun Park Signal, are the Berlin Olympic Stadium (74,228) and the Munich Allianz Arena (69,901). In Italy, the most spacious stadium has two names - "San Siro" or "Giuseppe Meazza". The fact is that in this arena in Milan, the football clubs Inter and Milan conduct their games. Fans of Milan prefer the old name of the stadium - San Siro, while fans of Inter prefer the name Giuseppe Meazza, which was given in honor of one of the best Italian football players who played for their club. The capacity of the stadium is 80 018 spectators.
The Olympic Stadium in Rome, which is home to two irreconcilable rivals - “Roma” and “Lazio”, seats 72,700 fans. The main stadium in France is considered to be the Stade de France built in 1998 (80,000 spectators). The opening and final match of the upcoming European Football Championship 2016 should take place in this arena.
And where are the Russian stadiums on this list? Alas, in this regard we are still lagging behind the leading European powers. But, fortunately, not everything is so hopeless.
Russian football stadiums
As you know, Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup. Photos of football stadiums, which should be built or reconstructed by this time, can already be easily found today. We will look at some of the future buildings. Moscow football stadiums should include Luzhniki Stadium and the already built Otkrytie Arena.
Luzhniki Stadium
The largest stadium in Russia has been closed for reconstruction since 2013. Here, according to the idea of ​​the tournament organizers, the opening and final match of the championship should take place. At this point, builders will build a visor on the roof of the stadium, bring the stands closer to the football field, install large screens in the bowl of the stadium, replace plastic seats and carry out other important work. The capacity of the stadium should be 81,000 seats.
Spartak Stadium, or Otkrytie Arena
Moscow “Spartak”, one of the most famous clubs in Russia, only in 2014 built its own football stadium. The stadium received the name "Otkrytie Arena" in honor of the sponsor - the bank "Otkrytie", which will pay the club more than a billion rubles for six years. In addition to the ultra-modern stadium, designed for 45,000 spectators, the club management and sponsor are planning to build a club base, swimming pool, sports complexes, hotels and a residential community for 15-20 thousand residents. Truly grandiose plans!
Zenit Arena
One of the most expensive stadiums not only in Europe, but throughout the world is being built in St. Petersburg. The construction of the stadium with 61,000 seats was launched in 2007. The end date announced for 2009 was repeatedly rescheduled, and for June 2015 the stadium is only 75 percent ready. In monetary terms, the initially announced construction amount of 6.7 billion rubles seems a joke compared to the recently announced figure. 50 billion rubles - a new price for the construction of the stadium. It is hoped that the Zenit Arena will be not only the most expensive, but also the most modern and comfortable stadium in the world.
Other stadiums in Russia
So to summarize some of the results. The stadiums in Moscow, Otkritie Arena (45,000 spectators), in Sochi - Fisht (40,000), in Kazan - Kazan Arena (45 105) are already ready. The main stadium of the country “Luzhniki” (81 000) and the Yekaterinburg stadium “Central” (35 000) are under reconstruction. The Zenit Arena (61,000), the Nizhny Novgorod stadium (45,000) in Volgograd, the Arena Pobeda (45,000) in Saransk, and the Saransk Mordovia Arena "(46 695), in Samara -" Cosmos Arena "(45 000), in Rostov-on-Don -" Rostov Arena "(45 000), in Kaliningrad -" Arena Baltic "(35 000).
Together with the modern stadiums of the city, in which the World Cup matches will take place, they will receive new roads, hotels, transport, shops and other opportunities for the development of infrastructure. Thousands of boys will gain an additional incentive for playing sports, in particular, football. And the fans, of course, will believe and wait for victories from the Russian team. We wish good luck to builders, coaches, football players and all those who are preparing this holiday for us.