Stadion Miejski w Gdyni (''Municipal Stadium in Gdynia'') 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 A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. It is the home ground of Arka, but has also hosted several international games, including those of the Polish youth national team. The stadium holds 15,139 people and replaced an obsolete ground by the same name that stood here since 1964. In 2017 Stadion Miejski was one of the host stadiums of

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

and will host several matches of the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

including the third place match.

Construction

Designed by Warsaw-based firm SPAK, Gdynia was able to improve stadium standards, though the structure also earned some criticism as the roof only partially covers the seating area and was constructed using steel supports, thus creating obstructed view seating in some sections. Despite this, the Gdynia municipality preferred said design over a more efficient cantilever-style roof due to budget constraints. Demolition of the previous stadium began on December 1, 2009, with challenging foundation work started over the duration of a harsh winter. By May 2010, the first completed stand reached its maximum height at 20 rows of terracing. The work carried out by Budimex-Dromex was due to end in late 2010, but were finished in the early weeks of 2011 after delays.

Inauguration

The opening ceremony of the stadium was held on 19 February 2011, with a historical exhibition match against

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

. The choice of opposition is due to Arka's historical links with Beroe as their first

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

opponent in 1979. The game ended 1–1 with goals from Evgeni Yordanov and Emil Noll.

References

Sport in Gdynia Buildings and structures in Gdynia Sports venues in Pomeranian Voivodeship {{Poland-sports-venue-stub

Construction

Inauguration

See also

References