Männiku Stadium ( et, Männiku staadion) is a

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 ...

stadium in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, and the home of

FC Nõmme United FC Nõmme United is an Estonian football club based in Nõmme, a district in Tallinn. The club was founded in 2000. They currently play in the Esiliiga, the second-highest division in the Estonian football. Their home ground is Männiku staadion ...

. The stadium is located about 6 km south of the city centre, in the district of

Nõmme Nõmme ( Estonian for ''"Heath"'') is one of the 8 administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 39,422 () and covers an area of , population density is . The district is largely a middle-cla ...

. It is part of the Männiku Football Centre.

History

A sports ground was located at its current location by Võidu street already in the 1930s. In the 1990s, the stadium housed the offices of the

Estonian Football Association The Estonian Football Association (EJL; et, Eesti Jalgpalli Liit) is the governing body of football, beach soccer and futsal in Estonia, established on 14 December 1921. It organizes the football league, including the championship which is calle ...

and also served as a training base for

FC Flora FC Flora, commonly known as Flora Tallinn, or simply as Flora, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Lilleküla Stadium. For ...

. In 2000, the owner of the stadium Enn Loog founded Nõmme United and the club started to operate at Männiku Stadium. In 2004, an

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

ground with

under-soil heating Under-soil heating is a method used in various sports stadia (with a grass surface) which heats the underside of the pitch to avoid any elements from bad weather, such as snow and ice, from building up and ultimately helps the club avoid having to ...

was constructed on one side of the former stadium and in 2006, a natural grass field was built adjacent to that. The stadium's new administrative building cost €1.5 million and was opened in April 2016. That also marked the opening of the Männiku Football Centre. Further expansion and modifications are set to be done to the stadium in preparation for Nõmme United's debut in Estonian top flight Premium Liiga in 2024.

Männiku Football Centre

Männiku Stadium is part of the Männiku Football Centre ( et, Männiku Jalgpallikeskus). In addition to the natural grass ground, the complex also has an artificial turf football pitch (90 × 60m), upon which an air dome is installed during the winter months. The stadium's administrative building also facilitates a hostel, conference room, gym, sauna, and a cafeteria.

History

Männiku Football Centre

References

See also