Baku Olympic Stadium ( az, Bakı Olimpiya Stadionu), is a stadium, designed and constructed to meet the international standards for stadiums set by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

(IAAF). It is the largest stadium in Azerbaijan. Construction of the 225,000-square-meter stadium on a 650,000-square-meter site was completed in February 2015. The six-storey, 65.7 meter structure near Boyukshor Lake,

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, opened on 6 March 2015. The main tenant of the stadium is Azerbaijan's national football team, who moved from their previous home at the

Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium The Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium ( az, Tofiq Bəhramov adına Respublika Stadionu) is a multi-purpose stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. It served as the home ground for the Azerbaijan national foo ...

. In June 2015 the stadium served as the main venue for the

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from European nations and several transcontinental countries. The Games were envisioned and are governed by the European Olympic Committees ...

, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies, and the athletic games. The venue hosted three group games and a quarterfinal at the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europ ...

. A green area is being developed around the stadium, which is accessible via public transport.

History

The foundation ceremony

The foundation of the Baku Olympic Stadium was laid on 6 June 2011 in a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijani football. The ceremony was attended by the President of Azerbaijan

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

and his spouse

Mehriban Aliyeva Mehriban Arif gizi Aliyeva (; az, Mehriban Arif qızı Əliyeva Paşayeva, ; born 26 August 1964) is an Azerbaijani politician and physician who is the vice president and First Lady of Azerbaijan. She is married to Ilham Aliyev, the president o ...

, FIFA president

Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result o ...

, UEFA president

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...

, prominent members of the global football community, heads of various federations, football veterans and other guests. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was informed about the future plans for the construction of the stadium. Speaking at the ceremony, Blatter said: :''"This is really beautiful, grand building, and more than 60 thousand football fans coming to the stadium will be able to enjoy football."'' Aliyev then placed a symbolic metal capsule inside a football. His son Heydar, scoring a goal in a symbolic gate, dropped the ball into the foundation. Presidents Aliyev with Blatter and Platini, operated a switch starting the concrete pour, and signed a football, which was preserved in memory of the ceremony.

Construction

Despite the groundbreaking ceremony taking place in 2011, the construction of the stadium started only in November 2012 with the excavation and backfilling of the stadium area. The stadium was completed on February 28, 2015, and the opening took place on 6 March 2015. President Aliyev participated in the opening ceremony. The total layout of the stadium is 617,000m² and has a capacity for 68,000 people. It is six stories tall. Baku was ready to host the first European Games in 2015. The Olympic Stadium Project was seen as the most important and prestigious project undertaken by Azerbaijan for the games. Main stadium layout area is 87,000m², total confined space 215,000 m², Maximum Height from ground 60m². Construction of Olympic Stadium in Baku

The project was funded by the

SOCAR The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic ( az, Azərbaycan Respublikası Dövlət Neft Şirkəti), largely known as SOCAR is fully state-owned national oil and gas company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and ...

. A Turkish company Tekfen Construction and Installation Co.,Inc, were given a design & build contract. Along with the stadium, there were built a number of hotels, a parking venue (3,617 car places), and green space (81,574 square meters). Stadium contains VVIP, VIP - CIP Suites total 127 each with 720 spectators capacity, total interior special area of 25,200m² and total car parking capacity for 3,078 cars. 1,800 seating capacity warm up area, MEP Building, information centre and two external buildings are other building of the Project.

Events

The stadium hosted

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

and ceremonies during

2015 European Games The 2015 European Games, also known as Baku 2015 or Baku 2015 European Games ( az, Bakı 2015 Avropa Oyunları), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic ...

. The Stadium hosted all of Qarabag's Champions League group stage matches in the

2017–18 UEFA Champions League The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League was the 63rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 26th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

. The stadium hosted the

2019 UEFA Europa League Final The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

on 29 May 2019.

UEFA Euro 2020

The stadium hosted three group stage matches and one quarter-finals match at the

, which was postponed to 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and all ...

Notable matches

Karabakh - AS Roma, 27 September 2017 18

References

External links

{{Coord, 40.429766, 49.91979, type:isle, display=title Football venues in Baku Athletics (track and field) venues in Azerbaijan Multi-purpose stadiums in Azerbaijan UEFA Euro 2020 stadiums 2015 European Games venues Sports venues completed in 2015 2015 establishments in Azerbaijan