Saparmurat Turkmenbashy Olympic Stadium ( tk, Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy adyndaky Olimpiýa Stadiony) 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 ...

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, that stood on the site now occupied by the new Olympic Stadium, built between 2013 and 2017.New design: Olympic Stadium resembling… a horse
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Overview

The stadium held 30,000 people and was built in 2003, named for

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov; tk, Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow, in Cyrillic: Сапармырат Атаевич Ныязов (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006), also known as Turkmenbashi, was a Turkmen politician who rule ...

. In 2017, it hosted Asian Olympic Council’s Asian Indoor & Martial Arts games that included participation from Australia and wider Oceania. The wider Ashgabat Olympic Park also hosted the 2018 World Weightlifting Championships. In 2007 the Turkmen government decided to reconstruct the stadium and to enlarge it. The new arena seats up to 45,000 people. The stadium closed in 2012, and was partially demolished in 2013 for

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

. The most prominent feature of the new renovations is head of an Ahal-Teke horse, which resembles the national emblem of the country.

Events

The stadium is mostly used 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 by the Turkmen national football team, but also for musical performances by Turkmen pop stars such as

Maral Ibragimova Maral may refer to: * Maral (tax), tax system practiced in Sri Lanka * Maral, a common name of the Caspian red deer The Caspian red deer (''Cervus elaphus maral''), is one of the easternmost subspecies of red deer that is native to areas betwe ...

. The reconstructed stadium was the site of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, also called the 5th Asian Indoor Games. The opening and closing ceremonies for the games were held on 17 and 27 September 2017.

References

External links

New Project
Football venues in Turkmenistan Sports venues in Ashgabat Athletics (track and field) venues in Turkmenistan

Multi-purpose stadiums in Turkmenistan Sports venues completed in 2003 2003 establishments in Turkmenistan {{Turkmenistan-sports-venue-stub

Overview

Events

See also

References

External links