Mumbai Football Arena is a football stadium in Mumbai, India. It is located in the

Andheri Sports Complex The Andheri Sports Complex also known as Shahaji Raje Krida Sankul is a multi-purpose facility located on Veera Desai Road in Andheri West, Mumbai, India. It was built in 1988 at Rs. 30 crore for schools that lacked the necessary infrastructur ...

. It is one of the only few dedicated football stadiums in the country, which has been hugely appreciated by football pundits and has hosted many games for the national team.

Routine usage

It serves as the home stadium of Mumbai City FC of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

. The football stadium holds 7,960 spectators for many ISL games and was expected to be one of the venues for the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India between 6 and 28 October 2017, after the ...

. The

India national football team The India national football team represents India in international football and is governed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The team is affiliated to FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Indian team, which was once cons ...

played a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

international friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

on 3 September 2016 beating Puerto Rico national football team 4–1 in front of a packed stadium. This was the first international friendly hosted by the city in 61 years.

Notable events

The stadium also hosted the 2017 Hero Tri-Nation Series between India, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Mauritius, which was won by India after topping the table. It hosted the

2019 Indian Super League Final The 2019 Indian Super League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 Indian Super League season, the fifth season of the Indian Super League. It was played between Bengaluru FC and FC Goa, on 17 March 2019 at the Mumbai Football Arena, Mumba ...

featuring

Bengaluru FC Bengaluru Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bangalore, Karnataka. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 20 July 2013, and began its first ...

and

FC Goa Football Club Goa is an Indian professional football club based in Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 26 August 2014. Nicknamed as '' Gaurs'', the club plays their ho ...

. Bengaluru F.C won the match due to a late goal from defender

Rahul Bheke Rahul is a popular male name in India and has a variety of meanings. The earliest meaning found in the Upanishads is "conqueror of all miseries." Later use of the word is attributed to the Buddha, who named his son ''Rahula'' as he felt that fam ...

. This was Bengaluru F.C's first

after losing in the final the previous year. It was one of the host venues of 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup. In June 2018, the stadium hosted all 7 matches of the 2018 Intercontinental Cup, in which the Indian men's football team played against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

in a four-way tournament. India beat Kenya 2–0 in the final to win the tournament. The stadium was sold out for all the games after the first home game against Chinese Taipei after

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team. Widely regarded as the greatest Indian footballer of all time, h ...

made an emotional appeal asking the fans to come and watch the national team play in the stadium.

Redevelopment

Aditya Thackeray Aaditya Uddhav Thackeray (born 13 June 1990) is an Indian Politician who served as a Cabinet Minister of Higher Education, Cabinet Minister of Tourism and Environment for the Government of Maharashtra. He is also an MLA of Maharashtra Legis ...

, a local politician, and

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

star

Ranbir Kapoor Ranbir Kapoor (; born 28 September 1982) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi-language films. He is one of the highest-paid actors of Hindi cinema and has featured in ''Forbes India''s Celebrity 100 list since 2012. Kapoor is the rec ...

are known to have played an important role in the redevelopment of the stadium.

Design and atmosphere

Before the beginning of 2022-23 Indian Super League season, the stadium was renovated and bucket seats were installed throughout the stadium ,giving it an even attractive look. The stadium is hugely appreciated by fans and players alike for it catering an electric atmosphere whenever a match is held there.

References

Sports venues in Mumbaihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mumbai_Football_Arena.jpg Football venues in Maharashtra Indian Super League stadiums Sports venues completed in 1988 1988 establishments in Maharashtra {{India-sports-venue-stub