The National Stadium, locally also referred to as Ta' Qali, officially known as Grawnd Nazzjonali (

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

for ''National Stadium''), is a

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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

located in

Ta' Qali Ta' Qali is a wide open space in the limits of Attard and Mosta in central and northern Malta respectively, which contains National Stadium, Ta' Qali, the national football stadium, the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre, Ta' Qali National Park, a ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. The stadium, which also contains the headquarters of the

Malta Football Association The Malta Football Association (MFA; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Malta. The Association organises the Maltese Football League for both men and women and several other competitions, including knockout competitions ...

, seats 16,997 people and is, by far, the largest stadium in the country. It serves as the

national football stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

and is the home stadium of the

Malta national football team The Malta national football team () represents Malta in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game played by Malta ...

. The stadium, together with three other stadiums, also hosts the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

History

Background and early years

Although officially the new stadium was inaugurated on 6 December 1981 with a Maltese Premier League encounter between

Zurrieq F.C. The Maltese National Amateur League I (referred to as the IZIBet Amateur League for sponsorship reasons) is the third-highest division in Football in Malta, Maltese football, replacing the Maltese Second Division and Maltese Third Division durin ...

and

Senglea Athletic F.C. Senglea Athletic Football Club is a professional Maltese association football, football club based in Senglea. Founded in 1943, the club currently plays in the Maltese Challenge League. History Senglea Athletic Football Club was founded in 19 ...

, certain records suggest that the stadium was already up and running by May 1981. Indeed, newspapers extracts indicate that the stadium hosted the final of the first ever national championship organised by the now defunct Malta Football Federation (not to be confused with the

, which at that time was known as the Main Football Association) between Valletta Vanguards FC and Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club on 3 May 1981. The highest ever attendance at the stadium was during a 1986 World Cup Qualifier encounter between Malta and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

played on 16 December 1984, when 35,102 people turned up to watch Malta narrowly lose to the runners-up of the previous

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

The Millennium Stand

On 3 September 2002, the

inaugurated the Millennium Stand. The Millennium Stand replaced the 5,000 seater East Stand, which had been declared as a dangerous structure for a number of years by then and hence had to be demolished. The construction of the Millennium Stand, which cost Lm3.5 million, was regarded as the ''"biggest infrastructural project ever undertaken by the Malta Football Association"'' whereas the stand itself has been described as ''"the jewel in the Malta FA's crown"''.

Pitch resurfacing

In 2016, the Maltese Football Association announced a €1.5 million project to replace the old grass surface with a modern hybrid grass surface, with the latter having been in service for 35 years. The project was conducted by SIS Pitches who are renowned for other works such as the Vodafone Arena and

iPro Stadium Pride Park Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Derby, England, which is the home ground of English Football League club Derby County. With a capacity of 33,597, it is the 16th-largest football ground in England. Pride Park is a busine ...

. The expenses were partly financed by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, with the rest being covered by the MFA.

Future

In July 2017, during the annual general meeting, the Malta Football Association announced five projects were announced by the association. Two of these projects, which also include the construction of new futsal hall and a parking adjacent to the Enclosure (West Stand), entail the re-development of the North and South Stands. A short clip shared by the association on its

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page suggests that the space behind both the goals will be removed and the two stands will be moved closer to the pitch. The re-development also entails removal of the corners, making stadium an "English-style" venue.

Events

UEFA European Under-17 Championship

The National Stadium was Malta's main venue during its hosting of the

2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, an annual football competition between men's under-17 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first time ...

. The stadium hosted 7 matches in all, including the opening ceremony, 3 group stage games, the semi-finals and the final. 9,422 people turned up to watch

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

win the championship by beating

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on penalties.

Games of the Small States of Europe

The Xth edition of the

Games of the Small States of Europe The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) is a biennial multi-sport event, launched by the Republic of San Marino, organized by and featuring the National Olympic Committees of nine European small state, small states since 1985. The Games a ...

was held in Malta and the National Stadium was chosen to hold the Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony was spectacular as colour, dance and fireworks made the evening a memorable one for those present at the stadium.

References

External links

Stadium Tour
at Ora Exacta In Fotbal

at mfa.com.mt
Ta’ Qali National Stadium
at StadiumDB.com {{Authority control Sports venues in Malta Football venues in Malta Athletics (track and field) venues in Malta

Attard Sports venues completed in 1981 1981 establishments in Malta Buildings and structures in Ta' Qali