Stadion Aleksandar Shalamanov ( bg, Стадион „Александър Шаламанов“) 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 ...

in the Slavia district 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 ...

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 ...

named after the football legend

Aleksandar Shalamanov Aleksandar Stefanov Shalamanov ( bg, Александър Cтефанов Шаламанов) (4 September 1941– 25 October 2021) was a football player and professional alpine skier and is known as the only Bulgarian who has participated in t ...

. It is currently used for football matches and is the home ground of the local football club

PFC Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground ...

. The stadium has a seating capacity of 25,556 and is one of the biggest sport facilities in

. *The stadium is part of a multifunctional sport complex, which includes two football training grounds, one multi-purpose indoor hall and an ice-hockey arena with a capacity of 2,000 spectators. *Also, as of 2009, the

Bulgaria national under-21 football team The Bulgaria national under-21 football team ( bg, Mладежки национален отбор на България по футбол) is considered to be the feeder team for the Bulgaria national football team. This team is for Bulgarian pl ...

plays some of its home matches at this stadium. In April 2014, a contract for building a new stadium to replace the old one was signed between PFC Slavia and the German company IFS. The capacity shall be expanded to 24,000, with an option for 33,000 spectators for major events. The deal was co-signed by the

Bulgarian Football Union The Bulgarian Football Union ( bg, Български футболен съюз, Bǎlgarski futbolen sǎyuz; BFS) is a football association based in Bulgaria and a member of UEFA. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and field ...

. The national teams shall be obliged to play their host matches at the new stadium. Also, the football union will bid with this stadium for a standard package of

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

matches. On 25 October 2021, a day after Slavia's legend

died, the team announced that the stadium would be renamed in his honour and would take the name Aleksandar Shalamanov Stadium.

Old Slavia Stadium

The original home ground of Slavia was located just to the northwest of Ruski Pametnik near the center of Sofia. It was built in the mid-1920s and demolished in the late 1940s.Map of Sofia, 1946
''"Sp. Club Slavia"'' can be seen in square V4 ('В4' in Cyrillic).

References

Football venues in Bulgaria Sports venues in Sofia Multi-purpose stadiums in Bulgaria

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 ...

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