The Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium () was the main stadium of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and was used by Gençlerbirliği and Ankaragücü as their home venue, until its closure in 2018. It was built in 1930 and is part of the 19 Mayıs Sports Complex, which is located in the Ulus district. The stadium had a capacity of 19,209 (all-seater).

Ankaraspor Sincan Belediyesi Ankaraspor Kulübü, commonly known as Ankaraspor (), is a Turkish professional football club based in the country's capital Ankara. Founded in 1978, the club competes in the TFF Second League. The club was known as Osmanlıspor ...

also used the stadium until they moved to their new venue in the Yenikent district. The stadium was named after the date May 19, 1919, when

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

arrived at

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

to start the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. Official ceremonies to celebrate the May 19th Youth and Sports Day were also held at the stadium. In August 2018, demolition of the stadium began in order to make way for a new stadium to be built on the site.

Original stadium

The stadium was originally built from 1934 to 1936, designed by architect Paolo Vietti-Violi.

Stadium reconstruction project

The New Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium, is a complete reconstruction project by the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the Ankara City Council. The stadium's project was first introduced to the Turkish press on February 4, 2010 but because many problems, delays and changes on project, the construction could only start mid of 2022. The New Ankara Stadium will be located on the site of the current stadium. It was planned to be completed by a façade with a structure consisting of geometric patterns inspired by traditional Turkish mosaic art and architecture.Official EURO 2016 project Ankara
In the newest and chosen project from BKA Architecture, the capacity of the stadium will be 45,000.

Stands

In the stadium there were five stands: Gecekondu, Maraton, Saatli, Kapalı and Protokol. Gecekondu, Maraton and Kapalı were usually used by the home side supporters. Protokol belonged to statesmen and high-level officials from both the home side and the visiting side. Saatli was usually spared for the visiting team's supporters. Gecekondu was the cheapest part of the stadium.

Access

The stadium was situated at a very convenient location; minutes away from the historic city centre and railway station on foot, and accessible easily by various highways, as well as two different metro lines (M1 and M4) and several bus and

dolmuş In Turkey and Northern Cyprus, a () is a share taxi that runs set routes within and between cities. Background The name is derived from Turkish language, Turkish for "seemingly stuffed", in reference to how the vehicles were often filled to the ...

routes.

Matches and tickets

There are two types of tickets for the clubs playing in this stadium: seasonal and per match. Single match tickets can be purchased online from the Biletix website.

References

External links

Stadium pictureOfficial site for EURO 2016 Bid Turkey

Official site for EURO 2016 Bid Turkey – New Ankara Stadium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankara 19 Mayis Stadium Football venues in Turkey Sports venues in Ankara Sports venues completed in 1936 Süper Lig venues Athletics (track and field) venues in Turkey Sports venues demolished in 2018 Demolished buildings and structures in Turkey