Morača Sports Centre ( Montenegrin: ''Sportski centar Morača'', Спортски центар Морача) is a multi-sports venue that is located in

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

. The venue is located in the new part of Podgorica, on the right bank of

Morača River The Morača ( sr-cyrl, Морача, ) is a major river in Montenegro that originates in the northern region in Kolašin Municipality under Mount Rzača. It meanders southwards for before emptying into Lake Skadar. Its drainage basin covers . ...

, after which it got its name. Construction of the sports complex began in 1978, and various sporting facilities are scattered within it, across a five

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

area. Besides being a sports venue, Morača Sports Centre also hosts various concerts and events.

History

The new venue was inaugurated with a friendly basketball game between the Yugoslav national team and

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

. The complex's main indoor hall hosted six preliminary-round games of

EuroBasket 2005 The 2005 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2005, was the 34th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. It also served as Europe qualifier for the 2006 FIBA World Championship, giving a berth ...

. The venue underwent a major refurbishment for the tournament in order to meet the arena standards imposed by

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

. With the immense growth of the popularity of

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

in Montenegro, two brand new open-air swimming pools were added to the facility in 2009, which also hosted the 2009

FINA Water Polo World League The FINA Water Polo World League was an international water polo league organized by FINA, which plays annually, typically from winter through to June. League play featured continental tournaments for men and women, from which the top teams emerge ...

. In 2018, the arena's main hall underwent renovations and expansion, in order to meet the arena standards of the EuroLeague. Its

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

was increased to 6,000, and

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...

lounges were also added. The cost of the renovation project was €4.5 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s.RENOVIRANJE SC MORAČA.
/ref> Also, former indoor pool arena (which was in disrepair and unused for over a decade) was repurposed as a basketball / volleyball / handball hall, with seating capacity of 2,200. The venue will host the

2022 European Women's Handball Championship The 2022 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro from 4 to 20 November 2022. It showed an impressive action by the norwegian right-back Nora Mørk, who was the top scorer of the EHF EURO 2022, a ...

for the preliminary rounds.

Facilities

The sports complex's main indoor hall serves as the primary multi-purpose indoor arena in Podgorica. It is best known as home arena of

SD Budućnost Podgorica Budućnost Podgorica, commonly abbreviated as SD Budućnost, is a sports society organisation from Podgorica, Montenegro. By number of titles and historical results, it is the most successful sports society in Montenegro, and one of the most suc ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

and handball teams. * Main Hall (capacity 6,000 seats in the stands) * Bemax Hall (capacity 2,200 seats in the stands) * Olympic size (50m x 25m) open-air swimming pool (capacity 1,900 seats in the stands) *

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

size (33,40m x 25m) indoor pool (capacity 664 seats in the stands) *

Combat Sports A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the opp ...

Hall *

Sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

Hall * Business facilities (restaurant, gym) * Media room * Outdoor

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

/ handball court * Outdoor

running track An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...

Sporting events hosted

* SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2012

References

External links

Reconstruction of the Sports Center MoračaRENOVIRANJE SC MORAČA
Basketball venues in Montenegro Handball venues in Montenegro Sport in Podgorica Indoor arenas in Montenegro Buildings and structures in Podgorica Volleyball venues in Montenegro Sports venues completed in 1978 1978 establishments in Yugoslavia KK Budućnost {{Montenegro-sports-venue-stub