The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, also locally known as Kaloor Stadium, is a football stadium in

Kochi, Kerala Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

.Initially, it had a capacity 80,000 to 100,000 spectators, which was limited since 2017 for the

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 ...

(ISL), after it hosted

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international association football, football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India from 6 to 28 Octo ...

under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

security guidelines. It is the home ground of the ISL club

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian association football, professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in Indi ...

. 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 a statutory body headquartered in Kadavanthra, Kerala, India, established in 1976. It is responsible for the development planning of the Kochi Municipal Corporation (except two wards), nine adjac ...

leased out the Jawaharlal Nehru International stadium at

Kaloor Kaloor is a city in the Kochi, city of Kochi, in the Kerala, state of Kerala, India. It is from the Ernakulam Town railway station, Ernakulam North Railway Station. Kaloor Junction is also the name of a major intersection in this part of the ci ...

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

Kerala football team The Kerala football team (Malayalam Language, Malayalam: കേരള കാൽപന്തുകളി ഗണം), formerly known as ''Travancore-Cochin football team'', is an Indian state level semi-professional association football, football ...

(

). As of 19 August 2017, the stadium has hosted 10

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s. 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 Football Club (also known as Atlético de Kolkata in association with Atlético Madrid) was an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competed in the ISL, the top flight of Indian football. They were ...

. Kochi was one of the six host cities for

held in India. It was extensively renovated before the event.

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 100,000 spectators filled up the venue, thus overcrowding it, which remains a record at this place. This was in the

Nehru Cup International Football Tournament 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 ...

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 football 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 (ISO 15919, ISO: ) 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, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Shankar Dayal Sharma Shankar Dayal Sharma (; 19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1992 to 1997. Born in Bhopal, Sharma studied at Agra, Allahabad and Lucknow and received a doctorate i ...

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 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 ...

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, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in April 2005. The first ODI played on this ground was between India and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

'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) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

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

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

hosted the

Royal Challengers Bangalore The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...

. 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 Holkar Cricket Stadium is located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is owned and operated by Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association and serves as its headquarter. It is the home ground of Madhya Pradesh cricket team as well as MP women's team. ...

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

. 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

in 2014. The stadium is the home ground to

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

, one of the teams with the most fanbases in the ISL. Some of the games involving the home team drew crowds in excess of 55,000 in the inaugural edition. The first

game at the stadium was on 6 November 2014, when the

hosted the

FC Goa Futebol Clube de Goa is an India, Indian professional association football, football club based in Fatorda, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of Football in India, Indian football. The club was established on 2 ...

. It was the first ISL match for the Kerala Blasters. The stadium had an average attendance of over 40,000 for the

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 Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * ''13'' (Borgeous album), 2016 * ''13'' (Brian Setzer album), 2006 * ...

finals.

In popular culture

The famous "Maro Maro" song composed by

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinema ...

for the Tamil movie

Boys A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is usually described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy ...

directed by Shankar, climax scenes of the Tamil movie

Velayudham ''Velayudham'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language superhero film directed by Mohan Raja and produced by V. Ravichandran under Aascar Film. It stars Vijay in the titular role with Hansika Motwani and Genelia D'Souza, while Santhanam, Sar ...

starring Vijay, Malayalam movie Run Baby Run starring

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

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 The Chennai Super Kings, also known as CSK, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of the eight debut franchises when the league was establ ...

or the

as a home venue apart from

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 ...

and

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

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 Rahul Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is a former cricket player, ex-captain and ex-coach of the Indian national cricket team. Known for his outstanding batting technique, Dravid scored 24,177 runs in international cricket and is widely re ...

(223 runs from 292 balls in 5 matches) * Highest Score:

Marlon Samuels Marlon Nathaniel Samuels (born 5 February 1981) is a Jamaican former cricketer who played internationally for the West Indies in all three formats, and a former ODI captain. He is a right-handed middle order batsman and an off-spinner. He was a ...

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

. * 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 former New Zealand cricketer, and the current head coach of the England men's cricket team in all formats. Representing New Zealand, he captained the team in all formats. McCullum was renow ...

(Kochi) * Most Wickets :

Vinay Kumar Vinay Kumar (born 12 February 1984) is an Indian former cricketer and cricket commentator who has represented India at Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 levels. He is a right-arm medium fast bowler who played domestic cricket for ...

(Kochi) (6) * Highest total in an innings :

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

(74/10) * Highest Score:

Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (, born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive openers and one of the greatest batsmen of his era, he played for Delhi Capitals in I ...

(Delhi Daredevils) vs

(80 runs from 47 balls) * Best Bowling :

Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma (; born 2 September 1988) is an Indian cricketer who has represented India in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He is a 6 ft 4 in tall right-arm fast-medium bowler. In 2011, he became the fifth youngest player to take 100 Te ...

(5/12) vs.

* Highest partnership : Sangakkara and

Cameron White Cameron Leon White (born 18 August 1983) is an Australian former Australia national cricket team, international cricketer who captained the national side in Twenty20 Internationals. A powerful middle order batsman and right-arm leg-spin Bowler ...

(90 runs off 69 balls)

Highest partnerships by wicket

Kerala Blasters FC

The stadium is the official home ground for the

since 2014. Kerala Blasters had won their first ISL home match against FC Goa for 1–0 conducted on 6 November 2014. The game between

FC and

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural sea ...

saw 61,234 spectators on 30 November 2014.

had the highest average attendance (47,427) for football clubs outside of Europe in domestic league matches, at that time. 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 Sushanth Mathew (born 18 May 1981) is a retired Indian professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder, who currently works as a technical director and coach in academies. Career Sushanth was born in the Ambalavayal, Wayanad, ...

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 coach and former player who is the current head coach of Serie A club Monza. Usually deployed as a centre-back, he is widely considered as one of the best defenders of ...

and

Mikaël Silvestre Mikaël Samy Silvestre (born 9 August 1977) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He is best known for a nine-year spell at Manchester United F.C., Manchester U ...

and it became a proud and memorable moment for sports fans in Kerala. The opening ceremony of Hero

2017/18 was hosted in the stadium.

Viva Kerala FC

The former

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

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 ...

team Viva Kerala FC (Chirag United Club Kerala) played their home matches for the 2011–12 I-League season and also selected matches at the venue.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

On 5 December 2013, the

Executive Committee chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter decided that host of 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be India upon evaluation of bid sent by

AIFF AIFF may refer to: * Audio Interchange File Format * All India Football Federation, the national governing body of Association football in India Film festivals * Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * Alexandria Internation ...

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 11 December 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.

Forca Kochi FC

The stadium is the home ground of the

Super League Kerala The Super League Kerala (SLK), officially known as the Mahindra & Mahindra, Mahindra Super League Kerala due to sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional sports league, franchise association football, football league in the state of Kerala ...

club Forca Kochi FC since 2024.

Kerala Strikers

The

Celebrity Cricket League The Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) is an exhibition men's cricket league in India. It consists of eight teams of film actors from different film industries of Indian cinema. The league commenced in 2011. Salman Khan is the brand ambassador ...

team Kerala Strikers played its home matches in the stadium since 2012 upon till 2016.

Accessibility

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

and

Palarivattom Palarivattom is a ward of Kochi, Kerala. It is known for a four-directional intersection at its highway signal point on the Kochi Bypass. The district is a commercial area, which gained importance as a connecting point between the city's dif ...

, a common stretch among many city bus routes. The Stadium Link Road from the southern side allows access from

Thammanam Thammanam is a ward of Kochi, Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining ...

and

Kathrikadavu Kathrikadavu is a region in the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. It lies almost midway between the two major intersections (junctions) in Kochi, namely Kaloor and Kadavanthra. Kathrikadavu is mainly a residential area, though of l ...

, 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

stretch have a stop at the stadium. The JLN Stadium metro station 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.

Gallery

File:Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, Kerala.png, Stadium before a

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

Match. File:Jewaharlal Nehru Stadium Kochi ISL.jpg, Stadium before an ISL Match. File:Manjappada unfolding their tifo.jpg,

Manjappada Manjappada (; ) is an organised Supporters' groups, supporters' group of the Kochi-based professional Association football, football club Kerala Blasters FC, which competes in the Indian Super League, the top-tier league of Football in India, ...

(Yellow Army) during a match in Kochi. File:Jewharlal Nehru Stadium Kochi ISL 2016 Final.jpg, 2016 Indian Super League final between ATK and

References

External links

360-degree view of stadium
{{Authority control Indian Super League stadiums Kerala Blasters FC Chirag United Club Kerala Sports venues completed in 1996 1996 establishments in Kerala 20th-century architecture in India Football venues in Kerala Football venues in India Sports venues in Kochi

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

Viva Kerala FC

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

Forca Kochi FC

Kerala Strikers

Accessibility

Gallery

See also

References

External links