Kaftanzoglio Stadium ( el, Καυτανζόγλειο στάδιο) is a sports stadium in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. The stadium was built with money donated by the Kaftanzoglou Foundation, in honour of

Lysandros Kaftanzoglou Lysandros Kaftanzoglou (Greek: Λύσανδρος Καυτανζόγλου, 1811 – 1885) was a Greek architect of the 19th century and Chancellor of the National Technical University of Athens. He was born in Thessaloniki. During the massacre ...

, hence its name. At the time of its opening on 27 October 1960, the stadium was one of the highest quality stadiums in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

.FACILITIES – KAFTANZOGLIO STADIUM
. IAAF World Athletics Final Thessaloniki. Retrieved on 2009-09-08. It currently has 27,770 seats, owing to a comprehensive renovation before reopening to host football matches for the 2004 Summer Olympics, which was centered in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

.2004 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. p. 324. It was the largest stadium in

until 1982, but has since been surpassed in capacity by the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

in Athens. Is has been the home stadium of Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. since 1960. On 15 October 1969, the attendance record was set with 47,458 fans present for a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

qualifying match, witnessing

defeat Switzerland by a 4–1 score. In 1973 it hosted the European

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 ...

Final, which resulted in a 1–0 victory for

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

over

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

Athletics events

The stadium regularly hosts

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

events. It hosted the Greek national championships in 2009 and it has been used for both

athletics at the Mediterranean Games Athletics is one of the sports at the quadrennial Mediterranean Games competition. It has been one of the sports competed at the event since the inaugural edition in 1951. Editions Events As of the most recent 2018 edition, the athletics progra ...

and the

European Cup in athletics The European Cup is a former athletics competition for European teams that was replaced by the European Team Championships starting in 2009. The European Cup saw most of the major nations of Europe compete. Originally known as the Bruno Zauli Cup, ...

. It was the host stadium for the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final.

References

External links

*
General Secretariat for Sports
{{coord, 40, 37, 31.79, N, 22, 58, 1.21, E, region:GR_type:landmark, display=title Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. Football venues in Greece Sports venues in Thessaloniki Venues of the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic football venues Tourist attractions in Thessaloniki Multi-purpose stadiums in Greece Athletics (track and field) venues in Greece