AEL FC Arena is a football stadium in

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, with a current seating capacity of 16,118. Since its completion in 2010 and for 8 seasons, it has been the home ground of AΕL. Owner of the ground is Gipedo Larissa A.E. The stadium was developed in a total of 144,000 square meters in the Mezourlo Hill, district of Neapolis,

. Construction of the stadium started in September 2009 and was completed in November 2010. According to

UEFA stadium categories UEFA stadium categories are categories for association football, football stadiums laid out in UEFA's Stadium Infrastructure Regulations. Using these regulations, stadiums are rated as category one, two, three, or four (renamed from elite) in asce ...

, AEL FC Arena is rated as category three of four, (renamed from elite) in ascending ranking order. The

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

is 16,118 all covered, with the possibility to expand to 18,000. It also includes 38 VIP boxes, for 12 spectators each. The stadium complex, called Crimson Park, includes parking lots for 1,104 vehicles, commercial spaces, a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

, and a 1,500-seat open-air theater, 12

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s and lies near the Neapolis Indoor Hall. The new sports venue is ideally located - regarding the urban location - with a fair accession in the transport system and has good accessibility from two main motorways and proximity to the city's center. The stadium was inaugurated on 23 November, followed by a concert by

Filippos Pliatsikas Filippos Pliatsikas (Greek: Φίλιππος Πλιάτσικας) is a musician, composer and lyricist. He was the main composer, lyricist, and lead singer of the Entekhno rock group Pyx Lax (Πυξ Λαξ) and now a solo artist. Career Fi ...

(himself a fan of the team) and Dionysis Tsaknis.

History

The first football match at AEL FC Arena took place on December 5, 2010 in the framework of its 13th Super League game 2010–11, in the match between AEL FC and

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of ...

, which ended with a score of 1–2. The first goal scored on the field came at 11' by PAOK's Chilean footballer,

Pablo Contreras Pablo Andrés Contreras Fica (; born 11 September 1978) is a Chilean retired footballer who last played for Melbourne Victory and the Chile national football team as a centre back or even as a right back. Contreras began his career at Colo-Colo ...

Gallery

File:AEL Arena.jpg, AEL FC Arena File:AELFCARENA.jpeg, Aerial view File:AEL FC Arena Inside View.jpg, Inside view File:AEL FC Arena Main Building.jpg, External view File:AEL FC ARENA.jpg, The stadium under heavy

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

References

External links

AEL FC Arena at AEL's official website

AEL FC Arena project page
Football venues in Greece Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. Buildings and structures in Larissa {{Greece-sports-venue-stub