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 in the Nanakita Park, Izumi-ku, Sendai City,

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Built in 1997, it is home to

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J2 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after p ...

Mynavi Sendai Ladies is a women's football (soccer), football club playing in Japan's football league, WE League. Its hometown is the city of Sendai. Kits Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors Stadium Their home stadium is Sendai Stadium, Yurtec Stadium Sendai, in Izu ...

and Sony Sendai. The stadium was specifically designed for football, and the stands are arranged close to the pitch. For games where the spectator capacity is insufficient, nearby

Miyagi Stadium , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an athletic and football stadium in the town of Rifu in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The stadium's capacity is 49,133. The crescent-shaped roof extending past the edge of the stadium is meant to ev ...

is occasionally used as a substitute.

History

The naming rights for the stadium were sold beginning on March 1, 2006 until February 28, 2009. In that period, the stadium is officially known as . In 2009, the turf were replaced, and Vegalta played the first half of the season at Miyagi Stadium. The stadium was damaged after the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. It ranks among the top stadiums in Japan for its presence, comfort, and accessibility, and was once ranked second in an evaluation by a famous Japanese football media.

International matches

Football

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

used the stadium as their base for training camp during the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, and cast images of the team members footprints are on display outside the stadium. The Sendai Cup (An international youth football tournament) has been held annually since 2003. Italy, France

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

have participated, along with the hosts,

. Exhibition matches between Vegalta Sendai and

A.C. ChievoVerona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, ...

and S.S. Lazio have been played at Sendai Stadium as well. The match with Chievo in 2003 was the final club game for

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierho ...

Rugby

On June 16, 2007, the stadium was the venue for

vs.

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in the

2007 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2007 IRB Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held between six Pacific Rim sides; Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks (New Zealand's second XV). This was the first year that Australia A had competed &n ...

. It was the first time an international rugby game had been played in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

. On June 15, 2008, Japan defeated

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

35–13 at the stadium in the

2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup The 2008 Pacific Nations Cup was a rugby union tournament held between six national sides on the Pacific Rim: Australia A, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand Māori (just for this year). The inaugural competition was held in 2006. This y ...

Access

* Nanboku Line: 8 minutes walk from Izumi-Chūō Station.

References

External links

Pictures of Sendai Stadium
(Much information on this site is out of date)
WorldStadiums.com entry
Sports venues in Sendai Football venues in Japan Rugby union stadiums in Japan Vegalta Sendai American football venues in Japan 1997 establishments in Japan Sports venues completed in 1997 {{japan-stadium-stub