The EMS Stadium is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Kozhikode, Kerala Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

, India. It is currently 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. The stadium is currently home of

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

side

Gokulam Kerala FC Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Calicut, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of Indian football league system. They won the 2020–21 I-League to become the ...

, together with

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League, known as ''Hero Indian Women's League'' for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp is the women's top tier professional football league in Indian football. Founded in 2016, currently a total of 18 teams from across the ...

side

Gokulam Kerala FC (women) Gokulam Kerala FC Women is an Indian women's football section of Gokulam Kerala FC, based in Calicut, Kerala. They participated in Indian Women's League, the women's premier football league in India. They won the first IWL In 2019–20. T ...

. It could hold more than 50,000 spectators and was built in 1977. The stadium is named after communist leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad who was the first

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

Renovations

The stadium was reconstructed and reopened in February 2005 by hosting the home matches of SBT in the national football league. The stadium has installed improved floodlight. It is renovated as international stadium for football and cricket. The stadium may also be leased to

Kerala Cricket Association The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA; ml, കേരളാ ക്രിക്കറ്റ്‌ അസോസിയേഷന്‍) is the governing body of the game of cricket in the Kerala state of the Republic of India. It is affiliated to t ...

while

Kerala Football Association The Kerala Football Association (abbreviated ''Kerala FA''), formerly the Travancore-Cochin Football Association, is one of the 37 Indian state football associations that are affiliated to the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The Kerala F ...

would like the stadium in their possession. The grand stand will have a VIP lounge with seating capacity for 200, a VIP lounge, a dressing room for players and a media centre.

Football

It was the home ground of

Viva Kerala FC Viva Kerala Football Club (also known as Chirag United Club Kerala) was an Indian professional association football club based in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. The club was originally formed in 2004, as ''Viva Kerala''. They participated in ...

in the I-league, though now Kerala United FC is the team from Kozhikode trying to get into I League. It was also the home ground of

in the

I-league The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

. This stadium is famous for the football crazy fans of Kozhikode. Famous scissors cup finals, super cup finals,

Santhosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state football leagues in India, state-level association football, football competition contested by the L ...

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament is one of the most prestigious football Tournaments held in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. The tournament was very popular from the beginning & attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament played until ...

is held here. The stadium is the home ground for Gokulam Kerala team in I-League since 2017. Gokulam Kerala had won their first I-League home match against East Bengal FC for 2–1 and Shillong Lajong FC for 3–2.

Major football matches hosted

1980 AFC Women's Championship The 1980 AFC Women's Championship was the 3rd edition of the AFC Women's Championship (now the AFC Women's Asian Cup). The tournament was hosted by India (with two teams ''India N'' and ''India S'') and was the first time the competition was he ...

1980 AFC Women's Asian Cup previously called Women's Championship Football, which the Indian team won silver was held here.

1987 Nehru Cup

The stadium hosted the 1987

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international association football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to ...

, which was won by the Soviet Union

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament

2016 Sait Nagjee Trophy Teams

National Games

The stadium hosted football matches for the 35th National Games.

Other uses

Cricket

It also hosted the veterans of India and Pakistan cricket match in which legends like Ijaz Ahmed,

Syed Kirmani Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played cricket for Indian cricket team, India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for Cricket in ...

and others played. In 1994, touring West Indies had taken Mumbai in a three-day encounter. West Indies were dismissed for 176 and Bombay ended the day at 53/2. The match, however, had to be called off after the opening day owing to law and order problems in the wake of a

bandh Bandh (Devanagari: बंद) (literally: shutting down) is a form of protest used by political activists in South Asian countries such as India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the s ...

Other Event

It also hosted many cultural events held at Kozhikode like malabar mahotsavam. It also hosted the inaugural performance of world tour of

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

–winning musician.

Accessibility

The Kozhikode EMS Stadium is located in the heart of the city. It lies beside the Pavamani Road between

Rajaji road Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

and New Bus stand, a common stretch among many city bus routes. The Stadium

Mavoor Road Mavoor Road is the busiest High street of Kozhikode city in Kerala, India. This road connects the Mananchira pond area with the Kozhikode Medical College. After the medical college, the road is extended further to the little village of Mavoor ...

from the Western side allows access from

Mananchira Mananchira is a man-made freshwater pond situated in the centre of the city of Kozhikode (Calicut) in Kerala, southern India. The pond is 3.49 acres (14,120 m2) in area, is rectangular in shape and is fed by a natural spring. History Mananchira ...

and Arayadathupalam, although there is no public transport along this route. The stadium is situated at 2.5 km from the

Kozhikode railway station Kozhikode railway station also known as Calicut railway station is one of the largest railway stations in the state of Kerala, India. At in financial year 2018–19, it is the largest in terms of passenger revenue in Palakkad division. The sta ...

and railway stations respectively. The stadium is from

Calicut International Airport Calicut International Airport , also known as Kozhikode Airport or Karipur Airport, is an international airport located in Karipur, Malappuram district of Kerala, India. It serves the Malabar region of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Palak ...

, and from

Thamarassery Thamarassery, formerly known as Thazhmalachery, it is one of the taluk in Kozhikode district and major hill town in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, India, 30 km north-east of Kozhikode (Calicut) City and 29 km east of Koyilandy. It li ...

References

External links

EMS Stadium
at CrickInfo {{Coord, 11.256405, 75.785708, display=title, format=dms, type:landmark_scale:3000 1977 establishments in Kerala Buildings and structures in Kozhikode Chirag United Club Kerala Cricket grounds in Kerala Football venues in Kerala Gokulam Kerala FC Sport in Kozhikode Sports venues completed in 1977 Sports venues in Kerala