Marina Arena, also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, India. The stadium is located at Sydenhams Road in Park Town besides the Chennai Central suburban railway station. It has a capacity of 40,000. In 1946, the Corporation Stadium was built in a portion of the land occupied by the People's Park in Central Madras. The stadium hosted nine

test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

matches between 1956 and 1965. The stadium was refurbished in 1993 and was named after India's first

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. It hosted the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After ...

, 1995 South Asian Games, and other international football matches in the 1990s. Currently, it is used to mostly host

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 ...

matches and athletic competitions, and is sometimes used for hosting functions and concerts. The stadium is used by the Tamil Nadu football team and the Tamil Nadu women's football team for playing its official home matches.

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

team Chennaiyin FC and

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League (abbreviated as the IWL) is the women's top tier professional football league in India, founded in 2016. Currently, a total of 8 teams from across the country participate in the league. The competition was planned ...

team Sethu FC also use the stadium as their home ground. The complex also houses an indoor stadium with a

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 8,000 built in 1995. It has a skating rink and facilities to host other indoor sports. The Pro Kabaddi League team Tamil Thalaivas play their home matches at the indoor complex.

History

In 1946, the Corporation stadium was built on a portion of land occupied by the People's Park in Central Chennai. It had a capacity of 20,000 and consisted of six

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

pitches with

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

and football fields on either side surrounded by a wide athletics track. The stadium was used to host sport matches and other official events such as the parade during Mountbatten's visit to Madras in 1946. It hosted nine

matches from 1956 to 1965. In the early 1990s, C. R. Viswanathan, then the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Football Association, approached the then

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the Governor (India), governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de ...

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016), popularly known as Amma, was an Indian actress, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years between 1991 and 2016. She ...

with a plan to refurbish the old Corporation stadium into new modern facility. The stadium was refurbished in 1992 in a span of 234 days, at a cost of and the capacity was expanded to 40,000. It was named after India's first

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The stadium hosted the

international football tournament in January-February 1993. It later hosted the football matches at the 1995 South Asian Games, and other international matches. An indoor stadium with a capacity of 8,000 was added at a cost of in 1995. In 1998, the indoor stadium hosted the World Volleyball Grand Prix tournament. In 2012-13, the

Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...

renovated the stadium at a cost of . The indoor stadium was refurbished at a cost of and added a new skating rink. A new synthetic athletics track, new football turf, and

floodlights A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibil ...

were added, and new accommodations were constructed. A new warm-up facility was constructed to the north of the stadium at a cost of . The stadium underwent further renovation in 2023 before it served as the host of the fifth Khelo India Youth Games in January 2024.

Facilities

The stadium has a natural football turf surrounded by a eight lane synthetic

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

and a seating capacity of 40,000. The indoor complex has a seating capacity of 8,000 and is used to host several indoor sports. There are two concrete

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor ...

s, two

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

courts, three clay

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 Summ ...

courts, one

throw ball Throwball is a non-contact ball sport played across a net between two teams of seven players on a rectangular court. Throwball is popular in Asia, especially on the Indian subcontinent, and was first played in India as a women's sport in Chenn ...

court, a

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located in ...

, a handball court, a

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

hall, a

boxing ring A boxing ring, often referred to simply as a ring or the squared circle, is the space in which a boxing match occurs. A modern ring consists of a square raised platform with a post at each corner. Four ropes are attached to the posts and pulled p ...

, and a

kabaddi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

field. There are also facilities for

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, and carrom besides a fitness center and a conference hall. The indoor complex can also be re-configured to hosts functions and concerts.

Notable records

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Chennai panorama

In 1953,

Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was a former Captain of Indian cricket team and appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partn ...

and

Pankaj Roy Pankaj Roy (; 31 May 1928 – 4 February 2001) was an Indian cricketer who played in 43 test matches, including once as captain. He was a right-handed opening batsman, perhaps best known for establishing the world record opening partnership in ...

were involved in a 413-run partnership for the first

wicket In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1956, a

record which remained unbroken till 2008 and still remains the second highest till date. The

Indian national cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and is a full member nation of the International Cricket Council with ...

won its first test series against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

after winning the fifth and final test match of the series at the venue.

References

{{Chennai Topics Volleyball venues in India Sports venues in Chennai Football venues in Tamil Nadu Indoor arenas in India Football in Tamil Nadu Multi-purpose stadiums in India Athletics (track and field) venues in India Monuments and memorials to Jawaharlal Nehru Basketball venues in India Indian Super League stadiums Sports venues completed in 1993 1993 establishments in Tamil Nadu 20th-century architecture in India

History

Facilities

Notable records

See also

References