AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis () is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. Completed in 2016, it is the home ground of

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

and has a total

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 ...

of 8,058. Since 2021, it also hosts the home games of the Cyprus national team.

Name

The stadium's official name is "AEK Arena – George Karapatakis", in honor of the father of the President of AEK, Mr Andros Karapatakis.

History

AEK Arena was built on land owned by the

GSZ Stadium GCZ Stadium or Gymnastic Club Zenon Stadium (; Γ.Σ.Ζ., ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Larnaca, Cyprus. Usually it is referred to as the 'neo GSZ Stadium' to distinguish it from the old GSZ Stadium, which it replaced. It is currently used mos ...

and GSZ have agreed to build a stadium on this land. The stadium is owned by

, and was built by its own cost. The responsibility of the construction was assigned to Balltown Holdings (Public) Ltd, which was founded for this purpose by AEK. The construction of the stadium was planned to be done in two phases. The first phase began on 7 September 2015. Initially, only 3 of the 4 stands would be built. However, in the course of the implementation of the project, a mandate was given to build the fourth stand. The stadium was inaugurated on Monday 17 October 2016 with the match between AEK and

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

for the 7th matchday of the

2016–17 Cypriot First Division The 2016–17 Cypriot First Division was the 78th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. The season began on 20 August 2016 and ended on 21 May 2017. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016. APOEL were the defending champions. APOE ...

. AEK won the match with 4–0 score. The first goal which achieved in AEK Arena was scored by Jorge Larena. The official inauguration took place on 27 November 2016. The first match of European competition was held on 29 June 2017 for the first qualifying round of Europa League 2017–18, when ΑΕΚ faced Lincoln Red Imps F.C. AEK won the match with 5–0 score.

Funding

The cost of building the stadium: 1)

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

7 million for the first phase 2)

3 million for the second phase

Categorisation

Since September 2022, AEK Arena is classified as a UEFA Category 4 stadium.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:AEK Arena 2016 establishments in Cyprus Football venues in Cyprus Multi-purpose stadiums in Cyprus Sports venues in Cyprus Sports venues completed in 2016 Sport in Larnaca Buildings and structures in Larnaca