David Abashidze Stadium is a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Zestafoni Zestafoni or Zestaponi ( ka, ზესტაფონი, tr, ) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti, which is a part of Imereti ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It is used mostly for

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 ...

matches and is the home stadium of

FC Zestafoni Football Club Zestafoni is a Georgian football club based in Zestafoni. They play their home games at David Abashidze Stadium. Zestafoni was founded on 18 June 2004 by the initiative of the shareholders of JSC Giorgi Nikoladze Zestafoni Ferro-Al ...

. The stadium is able to hold 4,100 people and opened in 1952. Zestafoni David Abashidze Stadium (former Central Stadium) was built by the Zestafoni Ferro-alloy Plant. A couple of matches were held on the stadium before its opening in 1951. In 1952-1989 and 1999-2003 of Georgian Championship team

FC Metallurg Zestafoni Football Club Zestafoni is a Georgian football club based in Zestafoni. They play their home games at David Abashidze Stadium. Zestafoni was founded on 18 June 2004 by the initiative of the shareholders of JSC Giorgi Nikoladze Zestafoni Ferro- ...

held matches on the Zestafoni central stadium, in 1990-1998 it was a home stadium for

FC Margveti Zestafoni Margveti Zestafoni was a Georgian association football club based in Zestafoni between 1990 and 2000. History In 1990 the Georgian Football Federation was founded to hold their own football competition and leave the Soviet football league syste ...

. Since 2004, FC Zestafoni has held home matches in the stadium. In 1981, reconstruction work was done on the arena; the west stand was roofed and the east stand was constructed. After these works capacity of the stadium increased to 8000 seats. In 2004, after establishing

, central stadium was repaired and is still being repaired to renew the arena and comply with international standards. In 2005, works were done to renew the grass surface on the stadium. Georgian workers have constructed new drainage system of German technology. The field is watered with a watering system from an American Company “Rainbird”. (This watering system was successfully used on eight stadiums during the 2004 European Championship in Portugal.) On the Zestafoni central stadium, the field surface, “Natural Green Carpet”, was made by the Ukrainian firm “Lidia-Park”.

management plans to build a new base for the club. Some new football fields have been constructed in Zestafoni (among them one with an artificial surface). Relevant infrastructure is being made – work out rooms are being repaired, building of new tribunes with personal seats is planned, along with the installment of a modern score-board. On 9 April 2010 the Stadium was named after David Abashidze who contributed tremendously to the development and revival of football in Zestafoni. Capacity of the stadium has been increased to 4 558 individual seats.

See also