The Selman Stërmasi Stadium ( sq, Stadiumi Selman Stërmasi) 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 ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. It is currently used mostly 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 and is the home ground of

KF Tirana Klubi i Futbollit Tirana (KF Tirana) is an Albanian football club based in the country's capital city, Tirana. The men's football club is part of the multi-disciplinary sports club SK Tirana, and is the most successful in Albania, having won 54 ...

. The stadium holds 9,500 people (all seated). It is named after

Selman Stërmasi Selman Stërmasi (9 May 1908 – 9 October 1976) was an Albanian football player and coach who was an instrumental figure in the early history of KF Tirana. He is generally considered to be one of the club's greatest figures and KF Tirana along w ...

, one of KF Tirana's best players of all time. The stadium was also used by Dinamo and Partizani until 2010, however, due to failure to cooperate on the admittance fees, these teams were not allowed to use the stadium any further.

History

The stadium is located approximately 400 m from the west side of the Lana stream and of former exhibition site "Shqiperia Sot" (now Top-Channel Television headquarters). It was built in 1956 and named ''Dinamo Stadium'' until 1991 when it was given its new name. The Football Association of Albania and KF Tirana decided posthumously name the stadium after the eminent KF Tirana player, coach and president, Selman Stërmasi. The stadium has recently ended a long phase of construction, which involved development of the main pitch, central seated area, facilities around the ground and general lineaments. There are still improvements expected to be made, such as side seated areas, an electronic clock and a KF Tirana shopping centre just under the central seated stand. The internal facilities include a press conference room. The main parking area is located at the front of the stadium which leads to the entrance.

Renovation

In December 2014, work started yet again on Selman Stërmasi Stadium and the

Skënder Halili Complex The Skënder Halili Complex is the training ground, sports training facility and Youth system, academy headquarters of Albanian Association football, football club KF Tirana. It is located off of Rruga e Kavajës, near the Birra Tirana factory. The ...

in order to fully renovate these grounds to be used by

. The stadium's exterior, interior and playing surface was renovated and 8,150 seats were replaced as part of the renovations taking place.

Gallery

File:Selman Stërmasi Stadium (2).jpg File:Selman Stërmasi Stadium (3).jpg File:Selman Stërmasi Stadium (4).jpg File:Selman Stërmasi Stadium (5).jpg File:Selman Stërmasi Stadium (6).jpg

References

External links

Worldstadiums.com
Football venues in Albania Sport in Tirana Multi-purpose stadiums in Albania KF Tirana Buildings and structures in Tirana {{Albania-sports-venue-stub