Avicii Arena, originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; "the Globe"), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockholm, Sweden. The arena represents the Sun in the

Sweden Solar System The Sweden Solar System is the world's largest permanent scale model of the Solar System. The Sun is represented by the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, the largest hemispherical building in the world. The inner planets can also be found in Stockhol ...

, the world's largest scale model of the Solar System.

Construction

Avicii Arena is the largest spherical building on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

and took two and a half years to build. It has a diameter of and an inner height of . The volume of the building is and it has a seating capacity of 16,000 spectators for shows and concerts, and 13,850 for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

. In the upper area there are 40 VIP boxes and a restaurant. The steel, concrete and glass construction designed by the architects Berg Arkitektkontor AB is supported by a MERO space structure. It represents the Sun in the

, the world's largest scale model of the Solar System.

History

Globen was inaugurated on 19 February 1989 after a construction period of less than three years. The first major events were Melodifestivalen, the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Men's European Volleyball Chamiponships. In 2009, the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

to the Stockholm Globe Arena were officially acquired by Swedish telecommunications company

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Sweden, Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in ...

, and it became known as the Ericsson Globe. In 2021, it was announced that the arena would be renamed the Avicii Arena in honour of the late Swedish DJ

Avicii Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...

, who died in 2018. To commemorate the new name, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a performance of the Avicii song " For a Better Day", with vocals provided by fourteen-year-old Swedish singer Ella Tiritiello.

Events

The Globe is primarily used for

, and is the former home arena of AIK,

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

, and Hammarby IF. It is also used for musical performances as well as other sports than ice hockey, for example

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

(indoor football). The third team to play a home game in their league was

Huddinge IK Huddinge IK (or ''Huddinge Hockey''), is a Swedish ice hockey team from Huddinge, a southern suburb in Stockholm County. The team is currently playing in the third highest league in Sweden, Hockeyettan. In the middle of the 1990s, a women's fl ...

(three home games there, all in 1993), followed by Hammarby IF (20 home games in The Globen to this day) and AC Camelen (one game in 1998, in the sixth level league, with 92 spectators). The first international game played in Globen was between Hammarby IF (Sweden) and Jokerit (Finland) a couple of weeks before the grand opening, although the players were only 12 years old at the time (born 1977) and it was a friendly game. The arena has been the home of the finals of

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Swedish national public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national parliament). Prior to 2019 ...

's yearly music competition ''

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Son ...

'' until 2012. The show returns to the arena for the first three heats of the 2022 competition. Ericsson Globe hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and 2016. In March 2021, it hosted the

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...

despite the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. In November 2021, it hosted the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament Major Stockholm 2021.

Artwork

A small cottage in aluminum with a base was placed upon the Globe on 26 May 2009. The artist, Mikael Genberg, intended it to illustrate two important symbols for Sweden: the high-technology Globe building and the traditional, simple small countryside cottage in Falu red with house corners painted in white. The house was positioned some distance from the exact top position of the Globe. Genberg also hoped to eventually place a similar cottage on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

. The cottage remained on the Globe until October 2009. (The sequence starts automatically within a few seconds.)

Concerts

Skyview

Skyview is an exterior inclined elevator which transports visitors to the top of the arena for a virtually unobstructed view of Stockholm. It has two spherical gondolas, each able to accommodate up to 12 passengers, which travel along parallel tracks on the exterior of the south side of the globe. Skyview opened in February 2010 and carried 160,000 people during its first year of operation.

References

External links

Stockholm Globe Arenas, website.
(English).
Stockholm Globe City

Hockeyarenas.net entryWeb cams monitoring the construction on the ''Globe Arena''
{{Authority control Event venues established in 1989 Sports venues in Stockholm

Globen Avicii Arena, originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; "the Globe"), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockho ...

Indoor arenas in Sweden Indoor ice hockey venues in Sweden Domes Ice hockey in Stockholm Ice hockey venues in Sweden Sweden Handball venues in Sweden Athletics (track and field) venues in Sweden Indoor track and field venues 1989 establishments in Sweden Avicii