The Aker Stadion (known as Molde Stadion for
UEFA competitions
UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur asso ...
and prior to sponsorship) is an
all-seater
An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football and Ame ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
stadium located at
Reknes in
Molde, Norway, and is the home of
Eliteserien
Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...
club
Molde. The stadium has a current capacity of 11,249 spectators.
The building was designed by architect
Kjell Kosberg. It cost , most of which was paid for by club-owner
Kjell Inge Røkke—after whom the ground has been nicknamed "''Røkkeløkka''". The main construction work took place 1997, and the stadium was inaugurated on 18 April 1998 in a league game against
Lillestrøm
Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...
, replacing
Molde idrettspark
Molde idrettspark, until 1998 known as Molde stadion, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Molde, Norway. It serves as the home ground for the athletics team IL Molde-Olymp and the football clubs SK Træff and reserve and development teams of ...
as Molde's home ground. The stadium was nominated for the
FIABCI Prix D' Excellence and awarded the City Prize in 1999. The record attendance of 13,308 was set in a league match against
Rosenborg in 1998. The same year, the arena hosted its first international match, where
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
beat
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
6–0. The following year, when Molde reached the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
, the stadium was converted to an all-seater, reducing its capacity. Since May 2006, the stadium name has been sponsored by Røkke's company
Aker. The grass pitch was replaced with
artificial turf in 2014.
History
Since 1955, Molde had been playing their home games at Molde idrettspark (at the time called Molde stadion), a municipal-owned multi-use venue. A new stadium was proposed to be located at the waterfront at Reknes. There were many local protests, including complaints about the size of the structure. Construction of the land fillings and preparation of the construction site started in March 1997, before final approval had been granted by the municipality.
The stadium was inaugurated on 18 April 1998, when the stadium was officially opened by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and Molde-fan
Kjell Magne Bondevik
Kjell Magne Bondevik (; born 3 September 1947) is a Norwegian Lutheran minister and politician. As leader of the Christian Democratic Party, he served as the 33rd prime minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2005, making him, af ...
. In the opening match, Molde beat
Lillestrøm
Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...
4–0 in their first home game of the season, attracting 13,010 spectators. During the season, this was the match in the country with the most spectators not hosted at
Rosenborg's home ground
Lerkendal
Lerkendal () is a borough in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. The borough was established on 1 January 2005 in a municipal borough reform that reduced the number of boroughs in the city. The borough of Østbyen lies to the ea ...
. On 27 May, the arena hosted its first international match, with Norway beating Saudi Arabia 6–0 in a
1998 World Cup friendly.
On 11 August,
CSKA Sofia
CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...
visited Molde for the second qualifying round of the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
, for which Molde failed to qualify.
The all-time spectator record was set on 26 September, when Molde hosted Rosenborg BK in front of 13,308 people.
During the fall of 1999, Molde played two qualification games for UEFA Champions League at the stadium. Following the aggregated victories over
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...
and
Mallorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean.
The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
, Molde qualified for the group stage, where they played
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
,
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and
Olympiacos
Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...
. Following entry into Champions League, the stadium was converted to an all-seater, with seats being installed on the lower sections of the short end stands. The reduced the attendance capacity permanently, because the club chose to not remove the seats afterwards.
In 2006, an agreement was made where Røkke's company Aker became the stadium name sponsor, with the stadium being renamed Aker stadion. The same season, the club was relegated to the
First Division, where the team played in
2007. Despite the relegation, average attendance increased, and Molde won the league. Since 2008, the team has again played in the top flight.
Molde later entered the UEFA Cup four times (renamed to Europa League in 2010), in
2000–01,
2003–04 and
2006–07,
2010–11, playing a total of eight home games, before they in 2012 again played qualification for the Champions League and
Ventspils
Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...
and
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
visited Aker Stadion. Molde were eliminated by Basel, but managed to qualify for the Europa League group stage and played against
Heerenveen
Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...
,
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
,
Steaua Bucuresti and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
at Aker Stadion.
In 2015–16,
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...
,
Fenerbahçe and
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
visited Molde during the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
group stage, after they've beaten
Standard Liège
Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège.
They are one of the most ...
in the Play-off and before
Sevilla
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...
came to Aker Stadion in the Round of 32 in February 2016. On 19 November 2013, Aker Stadion hosted its second international match, a friendly Norway were defeated 1–0 by
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Aker Stadion has been proposed used during the annual
Moldejazz
Molde International Jazz Festival (MIJF) or Moldejazz (established 1961 in Molde) takes place annually in July, and is known as one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It was initiated by the local Storyville Jazz Club. Since 1964 it has re ...
, Norway's largest jazz festival, but this has been rejected several times by the festival management. The issue was intensified in 2004, when a much smaller arena was used for a quickly sold-out
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
concert. On 6 October 2007,
StatoilHydro
Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. ...
arranged a free concert at the stadium with
Ane Brun and
Röyksopp
Röyksopp (), a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland.
Berge and Brundtland were introduced to each other through a mutual friend in Tromsø, Norway. They enjoy ...
to celebrate the completion of their near-by processing plant for the gas field
Ormen Lange. In a 2012 survey carried out by the
Norwegian Players' Association The Norwegian Players' Association ( no, Norske Idrettsutøveres Sentralorganisasjon or NISO is a trade union for professional football, handball and ice hockey players in Norway. Established in 1995, it is member of the Norwegian Confederation of ...
among away-team captains, Aker Stadion was found to be the league's fourth-best stadium, with a score of 4.27 on a scale from one to five.
The club decided on 4 October 2013 to lay
artificial turf on the field, which it hoped would be in place ahead of the 2014 season. The club was especially concerned with the poor surface during March, April, October and November. It also cited the possibility of hosting all trainings at the stadium and that the field could be used 2,000 instead of 130 hours per year. The stadium hosted its second international match on 19 November 2013, when Norway was defeated 0–1
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in a friendly match watched by 9,750 spectators. It was the first time since 2002 that a home Norway game was not played at the national stadium,
Ullevaal Stadion
Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...
. In October 2017, the artificial turf was changed to a newer generation.
Facilities
The stadium was designed by Kjell Kosberg of Kosbergs Arkitektkontorer. In addition to featuring the stadium, the complex has of commercial space. The whole structure cost NOK 212 million, of which NOK 160 million was for the stadium itself. The stadium is located at Reknes, just west of the city center, on the shore of the
Moldefjord
The Moldefjorden is a fjord in Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is a long branch off of the main Romsdal Fjord. The fjord begins at the Julsundet strait (in the west) and heads east, past the city of Molde, then it con ...
. The exterior of the building is clad with two colors of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, glass and aluminum. The building was financed by Kjell Inge Røkke, although NOK 10 million was paid by the municipality and NOK 2.7 million by
Norsk Tipping
Norsk Tipping is a Norwegian gambling company headquartered in Hamar, Norway. Founded in 1948, Norsk Tipping is owned by the Norwegian government and administered by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture. The company offers a wide range of lottery ...
.
In 1999, the structure won the City Prize, that is awarded to the Norwegian building project that is both profitable, innovative and increases the value of the surrounding area. The stadium was also nominated to FIABCI's Prix D' Excellence.
There are four stands in two tiers built as a continual whole and a capacity of 11,167. Prior to 1999, the lower tiers along the short sides had terraces, allowing an initial capacity of 13,308. There are 13 entrances, 52 toilets and 9 kiosks.
The stadium has thirteen
executive boxes in the north stand, varying in size between . The arena is , measuring .
It includes a restaurant and café, in addition to a medical clinic. The pitch is of natural grass, with 4% artificial turf sown in.
Floodlight
A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions. More focused kinds are often used as a stage ...
is provided with 176 lamps, mounted at a low . The speaker system has 32 kW.
The stadium is located within walking distance of the city center. There is no public transport that serves the arena, but all city and regional buses serve the city center's bus terminal, which is within walking distance. On game days,
Aukra Auto
Aukra Auto is a bus and truck operating company based in Aukra, Norway. The company has a monopoly on bus transport on the island Gossen and between it and Molde. The largest owner of the company is Nettbuss (66%).
Their Aerobus transports peopl ...
operates a bus service from
Aukra
Aukra is municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Romsdalen. The administrative centre is the village of Falkhytta, which is part of the Aukrasanden urban area.
The municipality is made up of the island of ...
, while
Nettbuss
Vy Buss, formerly branded as Nettbuss, is the largest bus company in Norway, owned by Vy. It was established on 10 February 2000 as the continuation of the bus operations from former NSB Biltrafikk. In addition to bus services in major parts of ...
operates from
Eidsvåg Eidsvåg may refer to:
People
* Bjørn Eidsvåg, a Norwegian singer, songwriter and priest
Places
* Eidsvåg, Nesset, a village in Molde municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway
* Eidsvåg, Bergen, a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in V ...
,
Kleive,
Batnfjordsøra
Batnfjordsøra is the administrative centre of Gjemnes Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located at the end of the Batnfjorden at the mouth of the river Batnfjordelva. European Route E39 passes through the villa ...
and
Sjøholt
Sjøholt is a village in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located along the northern shore of the Storfjorden, about east of the village of Skodje. The village of Stordal is located about to the south, ...
.
Tide Sjø operates a
fast ferry to
Helland
Helland ( kw, Hellann) is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated north of Bodmin. The meaning of the name Helland is unclear: it is possible that the origin is in Cornish ''hen'' & ''lan'' (i.e. old churc ...
and
Vikebukt
Vikebukt is a village in Vestnes Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Along the eastern side of the mouth of the Tresfjorden, it is located just south of where the fjord meets the Romsdalsfjorden. The village has a population (2013 ...
. There are a very limited number of parking spaces at the stadium, and these are limited to holders of VIP tickets.
Attendance
The stadium has hosted more than 10,000 spectators 38 times,
including the international game between
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, which attracted 13,114 spectators.
Molde FK has attracted such attendance thirty-four times in
Eliteserien
Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...
, of which thirteen have been against Rosenborg BK and eight in derbies against
Aalesunds FK
Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian football club from the town of Ålesund, that competes in the Eliteserien, the first tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was founded on 25 June 1914. ...
. In addition, two high-attendance matches have been played in Champions League and one in the
Norwegian Cup
The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...
. The all-time record dates from the 1998
derby with Rosenborg BK, which was followed by 13,308 spectators.
The highest average attendance at Aker Stadion over a league season was 9,817, set in the 2011 season. The lowest average attendance at Aker Stadon came in the 2004 season, when an average of 5,554 spectators watched each game.
The following list includes the attendance for Molde FK during the home domestic league matches. It excludes
cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...
and
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
tournaments. In 2007, the club played in the 1. divisjon. The table includes average, minimum and maximum attendance, in addition to the attendance rank among the top-league teams.
See also
*
Molde Idrettspark
Molde idrettspark, until 1998 known as Molde stadion, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Molde, Norway. It serves as the home ground for the athletics team IL Molde-Olymp and the football clubs SK Træff and reserve and development teams of ...
*
List of Eliteserien venues The Eliteserien is the top association football league in Norway. It was established in 1963 as the 1. divisjon and has consisted of between 10 and 16 teams. Fifty-six different venues have been used to host matches.Fagerli and Lunde (1999): 387
Cu ...
References
{{Portal bar, Association football, Norway
Molde FK
Football venues in Norway
Eliteserien venues
Sports venues in Molde
Sports venues completed in 1998
1998 establishments in Norway