Stadion Balgarska Armia ( bg, Стадион „Българска Армия“, en, 'Balgarska Armia Stadium', ) is the club stadium of the

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

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 ...

club

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

. It's situated in the

Borisova gradina Borisova gradina or Knyaz-Borisova gradina ( bg, Борисова градина or Княз-Борисова градина, translated as Boris' Garden or Knyaz Boris' Garden) is the oldest and best known park in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. I ...

in the centre of

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. The stadium has four sectors and a total of 22,995 (18,495) seats, of which 2,100 are covered. The pitch length is 106 meters and the width is 66 meters.Bulgarska Armia Stadium
''Sportal.bg'' Retrieved 20 Feb 2013 The capacity of the stadium is divided in four sectors: *Sector A: 6417 seats *Sector B: 4889 seats *Sector V: 5689 seats *Sector G: 6000 (1500 seats) The sports complex also includes tennis courts, a basketball court, and gymnastics facilities, as well the CSKA Sofia Glory Museum. The

press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

room has 80 seats.

History

Built in 1923 for AS-23, the stadium was known as Athletic Park until 1944, when AS-23 merged with two other clubs to form Chavdar Sofia. From 1944 until 1948 it was called Chavdar Stadium. Between 1948 and 1990 it was the People's Army Stadium, and since 1990 it is the Balgarska Armia Stadium. The current structure was built by architect Anton Karavelov in the period between 1965 and 1967 on the old grounds of AS-23. It was reconstructed again in 1982, which included the introduction of

floodlights A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is Night game, being held during low-li ...

. In 2000, the stadium was equipped with a new Dynacord surround sound system, capable of 48 kilowatts and 107

decibels The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose ...

. The electric lighting is also of the latest generation and is covering the pitch with 2100 lux. Despite the improvements over the years, parts of the stadium are in a deteriorating condition, especially sector B, which has been completely closed down for spectators and covered with advertising instead, in order to hide the growing plant and fungi life underneath. The seating of the stadium is also in a poor condition, with many seats being either partially broken or missing completely, with the main cause being hooliganism over the years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stadium, Balgarska Armiya PFC CSKA Sofia Football venues in Bulgaria Sports venues in Sofia