Sportland Arena is an
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
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 ...
. Located next to Estonia's largest stadium
A. Le Coq Arena
A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet.
A may also refer to:
Science and technology Quantities and units
* ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation
* ''A'' value, a measure of ...
, it is part of the Lilleküla Football Complex. The stadium is named after the sporting goods retail company ''Sportland''.
Sportland Arena is used as a home ground by
TJK Legion. Due to its
artificial turf surface and
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 ...
, the stadium also serves as the home ground 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 ...
,
FCI Levadia
Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn, commonly known as FCI Levadia, or simply as Levadia, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home groun ...
and
Tallinna Kalev in the winter and early spring months.
History
First opened in 2003, the stadium underwent renovation for the 2018 season, for which a 1,198-seat grandstand was constructed on the south side of the ground.
The stadium was also awarded the FIFA Quality Pro certificate, which is the highest quality standard for
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 ...
football fields.
The start of the
2022 Premium Liiga season saw Sportland Arena used as a home ground by 5 out of the 10 Estonian top-flight teams (
Flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
E ...
,
Levadia,
Kalju,
Kalev,
Legion
Legion may refer to:
Military
* Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army
* Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army
* Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...
), which resulted in 23 out of the first 45 matches being held in one stadium. In total, Sportland Arena hosted 51
Premium Liiga matches during the 2022 season, meaning 28% of the whole league campaign was played in this stadium.
This received heavy criticism by the Estonian football community, who mockingly suggested the league to be renamed as "Sportland Arena Liiga".
Future
The future of Sportland Arena will see the stadium have a capacity of 4,500, so it would be eligible for the
UEFA Stadium Category 3 certificate and would thus be able to host international matches.
The south stand was constructed in 2018 and the remaining three stands are to be completed by 2025.
[https://www.jalgpall.ee/docs/EJL%20Arengukava%202021-2025_landscape.pdf]
Gallery
File:Sportland Arena 1.jpg, Sportland Arena in 2017
File:Sportland arena.png, Sportland Arena in 2020
References
{{Reflist
Football venues in Estonia
Sports venues in Tallinn