The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, locally known as Kaloor Stadium, 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 ...

Kochi, Kerala Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Ke ...

, India. The stadium has a capacity of 60,000 spectators. For Indian Super League matches it is restricted to 39,000. The stadium is widely touted to have hosted one of the loudest audiences for association football matches in the world. The stadium has played host to a number of international cricket and football matches but after 2014 it didn't hold any cricket match due to ISL. The extensive grounds of the stadium serve as venue for important exhibitions, cinema events and political rallies in the city. The most innovative aspect of the stadium is its unique lighting towers of 2 kW Floodlights which when switched on fully can provide lighting levels for HD telecast. The Structure of the tower is itself one of a kind in India.

Greater Cochin Development Authority Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) is the statutory body overseeing the development of the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. Headquartered at Kadavanthra, GCDA oversees the development of the major part of Greater Cochin a ...

leased out the Jawaharlal Nehru International stadium at

Kaloor Kaloor is a downtown region in the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (news ...

to the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) for a period of 30 years. The stadium acts as the home ground for teams including Kerala cricket team,

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established ...

( Indian Super League). Stadium holds the privilege of having the fifth loudest crowd (128 db) in the world, during ISL 2016 final match where Kerala Blasters played against

Atletico de Kolkata ATK (formerly Atlético de Kolkata) was an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competed in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football and were the league champions during the inaugural 2 ...

. Kochi was one of the six host cities for 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India. As of 19 August 2017, the stadium has hosted 10 ODIs.

History

Early years and football's popularity

The Kaloor Stadium was originally constructed as a cricket stadium. But considering that Kerala is one of the few regions in India where football enjoys considerable popularity it was used for football matches also. Indeed, in a match between India and Iraq in 1997, approximately 1,00,000 spectators filled up the venue, thus overcrowding it, which remains a record at this place. This was in the Nehru Cup International Football Tournament in 1997, which was the first tournament at the venue. The stadium won several laurels for being constructed in a timely manner. The stadium was completed under the watchful eyes of late V. Joseph Thomas IPS who was the head of the

. He was a huge fan of soccer from his college days at St. Thomas College, Palai and also served as the patron of the Kerala State Athletics Association. The stadium was inaugurated by then

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1996. It has 1.3 kilometres in outer circle.

International cricket

After 1998, football went down and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

took the centre-stage for many years, drawing sell-out and high money grossing games. In fact, the highest money grosser at the venue was made in a cricket ODI match between India and its arch-rival

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in April 2005. The first ODI played on this ground was between India and Australia on 1 April 1998. Kaloor stadium hosted the first match India played after

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

's retirement. The pavilion was renamed as Sachin Tendulkar pavilion as an honour to him before this match between India and West Indies on 21 November 2013 which India won by 6 wickets. The stadium underwent a massive renovation including a modern turf, an aesthetic modern roofing and a four-lane road from the south side of the stadium. The first

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

game at the stadium was on 9 April 2011, when the

Kochi Tuskers Kerala Kochi Tuskers Kerala was a franchise cricket team that played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) representing the city of Kochi, Kerala. The team was one of two new franchises added to the IPL for the 2011 season, alongside Pune Warriors India ...

hosted the

Royal Challengers Bangalore Royal Challengers Bangalore (often abbreviated as RCB) are a franchise cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was founded in 2008 by United Spirits and named after the company's liquor ...

. It was the first IPL match for the Kochi Tuskers. Five of their 2011 home games were played in this stadium, and the other two were played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium,

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

. The stadium hosted the semi-final and final of the 2013 Duleep Trophy.

Return of football and the ISL

In 2011, Chirag United claimed the tenancy of the venue. However, the premier football club of India was still not able to fill up the stadium's massive capacity. Football returned to prominence at the venue after the launch of Indian Super League in 2014. The stadium is the home ground to

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

, co-owned by Cricket legend

, who has massive fan-following in the city. Some of the games involving the home team drew crowds in excess of 55,000 in the inaugural edition. The first Indian Super League game at the stadium was on 6 November 2014, when the

hosted the FC Goa. It was the first ISL match for the Kerala Blasters. The stadium had an average attendance of over 40,000 for the Indian Super League matches in 2014. The game between Kerala Blasters FC and Chennaiyin FC saw 61,323 spectators on 30 November 2014. The stadium was the venue for 2013 Santosh Trophy finals.

In popular culture

The famous "Maro Maro" song composed by A.R. Rahman for the Tamil movie Boys directed by Shankar, climax scenes of the Tamil movie Velayudham starring Vijay, Malayalam movie Run Baby Run starring

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...

and many other Indian Films were shot in the stadium.

ODI matches held

Indian Premier League

The cricket stadium in Kochi was expected to serve the Chennai Super Kings or the

as a home venue apart from

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

for the initial IPL seasons. However both the franchises initially refused and later promised to reconsider the offer, fearing a decline in revenues. Eventually no matches of the first 3 IPL seasons were played in Kochi. The auction for expanding the initial eight franchises to ten for the 2011 season was held on 22 March 2010. Rendezvous Sports World made the second highest bid of 15333 million, and elected to base its team in Kochi. The first IPL match held at the stadium was between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Royal Challengers Bangalore on 9 April 2011. The match was also Kochi Tuskers first ever IPL match.

ODI records at the venue

Batting * Highest Total: 321/6 (50 overs) by West Indies vs. India on 8 October 2014. * Lowest Total: 191 (48.3 overs) by India vs. Zimbabwe on 13 March 2002. * Most Runs : Rahul Dravid (223 runs from 292 balls in 5 matches) * Highest Score: Marlon Samuels (West Indies) 126* runs from 116 balls vs. India on 8 October 2014. * Average 1st innings total : 273 * Average 2nd innings total : 225 Bowling * Most Wickets :

(10 Wickets, 33 Overs, 4 Matches) * Best Bowling :

5/32 (India vs. Australia on 1 April 1998)

Highest partnerships by wicket

List of centuries

Key

* * denotes that the batsman was

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. * Inns. denotes the number of the innings in the match. * Balls denotes the number of balls faced in an innings. * NR denotes that the number of balls was not recorded. * Parentheses next to the player's score denotes his century number at Edgbaston. * The column title Date refers to the date the match started. * The column title Result refers to the player's team result

One Day Internationals

List of Five Wicket Hauls

Key

One Day Internationals

IPL records at venue

* Most Runs :

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer representing New Zealand, who played all formats, including as captain. McCullum was renowned for his quick scoring, notably recording the f ...

(Kochi) * Most Wickets : Vinay Kumar (Kochi) (6) * Highest total in an innings :

(162/4) * Lowest total in an innings :

(74/10) * Highest Score: Virender Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils) vs

(80 runs from 47 balls) * Best Bowling : Ishant Sharma (5/12) vs.

* Highest partnership : Sangakkara and

Cameron White Cameron Leon White (born 18 August 1983) is an Australian former international cricketer who captained the national side in Twenty20 Internationals. A powerful middle order batsman and right-arm leg-spin bowler, White made his first-class cr ...

(90 runs off 69 balls)

Highest partnerships by wicket

Kerala Blasters FC

The stadium is the official home ground for the

in Indian Super League since 2014. Kerala Blasters had won their first ISL home match against FC Goa for 1–0 conducted on 06/11/2014. The game between

FC and Chennaiyin FC saw 59,323 spectators on 30 November 2014.

has the highest average attendances (47,427) for football clubs outside of Europe in domestic league matches. In the inaugural season of Indian Super League,

finished fourth in the group stages with 19 points from 14 games and qualified for Semi-final after beating Pune City FC. Kerala Blasters FC was unbeaten in six of their seven home games. In semi-final which happened to be the last home match of this year for Kerala Blasters FC, Kerala Blasters FC won in emphatic fashion by trouncing toppers Chennaiyin FC with scoreline 3–0. One of the goals was scored by Malayali midfielder Sushanth Mathew away from 30 yards through a curling long-ranger, shot over renowned footballers

Alessandro Nesta Alessandro Nesta (; born 19 March 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Usually deployed as a centre-back, he is widely considered one of the best defenders of all time. He was best known for his pace, artistic ta ...

and

Mikaël Silvestre Mikaël Samy Silvestre (born 9 August 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. Silvestre began his career at Rennes in 1996, before moving to Italian club Inter Milan in 1998. He joined Manchester United in 19 ...

and it became a proud and memorable moment for sports fans in Kerala. The opening ceremony of Hero Indian Super League 2017/18 was hosted in the stadium.

Chirag United Club Kerala

The former

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

football team Chirag United Club Kerala (erstwhile Viva Kerala) played their home matches in the stadium for the 2011–12 I-League season.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

On 5 December 2013, the FIFA Executive Committee chaired by FIFA President

Joseph S. Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result o ...

decided that host of 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be India upon evaluation of bid sent by AIFF with Kochi as one of the eight possible venues. Later, Chief Minister of Kerala Mr.Oommen Chandy stated that they will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Sports Ministry in that regard after an exclusive cabinet meet on the issue. Government has appointed senior IAS officer Mr. APM Mohammed Hanish as Nodal Officer as per Fifa's direction. On December 11, 2014, FIFA team inspected the stadium and emphasised to improve the quality of pitch and need of bucket seats in the second tier of the stadium. With Kochi registering an average crowd of 47,000 for ISL, the city has gathered attention from the authorities in terms of attracting crowd. On 6 April 2015, AIFF cleared Kochi as one of the venues after receiving FIFA's technical committee report. Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Goa and Kolkata are the other venues.

Kerala Strikers

The

Celebrity Cricket League The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an amateur men's cricket league in India. It consists of nine teams of film actors from nine major regional film industries of Indian cinema. The league commenced in 2011. Salman Khan is Brand Ambassador ...

team Kerala Strikers played its home matches in the stadium since 2012.

Accessibility

The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium is located in the heart of the city. It lies beside the Banerjee Road between

and Palarivattom, a common stretch among many city bus routes. The Stadium Link Road from the southern side allows access from Thammanam and Kathrikadavu, although there is no public transport along this route. The stadium is situated at from the North (Town) and South (Junction) railway stations respectively. All city buses passing through the

- Palarivattom stretch have a stop at the stadium. The

JLN Stadium metro station J. L. N. Stadium is a station of Kochi Metro. It was opened on 3 October 2017 as a part of the extension of the metro system from Palarivattom to Maharaja's College. The station is located between Palarivattom and Kaloor. The name of the stat ...

of the Kochi Metro is situated right in front of the stadium. The presence of a prominent bus stop as well as a metro station makes it a prime location and one which can be easily accessed from any part of the city.

References

External links

360-degree view of stadium
{{Football stadiums in India Cricket grounds in Kerala Football venues in Kerala Sports venues in Kochi Chirag United Club Kerala Indian Super League stadiums 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup venues Kerala Blasters FC Tourist attractions in Kochi Sports venues completed in 1996 1996 establishments in Kerala Kochi Tuskers Kerala

History

Early years and football's popularity

International cricket

Return of football and the ISL

In popular culture

ODI matches held

Indian Premier League

ODI records at the venue

Highest partnerships by wicket

List of centuries

Key

One Day Internationals

List of Five Wicket Hauls

Key

One Day Internationals

IPL records at venue

Highest partnerships by wicket

Kerala Blasters FC

Chirag United Club Kerala

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

Kerala Strikers

Accessibility

See also

References

External links