The Józef Piłsudski Cracovia Stadium () 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 ...

located in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Cracovia. Originally, the first Cracovia stadium was built in 1912. It was demolished in mid-2009. From then until late 2010, an entirely new construction was raised in roughly the same location where the old stadium stood. After reconstruction the stadium holds 15,114 people. The stadium meets the criteria for UEFA Category 3 The stadium's design and construction has been frequently awarded in many architectural contests. In 2010, it was honored with the Janusz Bogdanowskie award, given by the Archi-Szopa Association for the best architectural construction in Kraków City. The stadium is located south of

Błonia Park Błonia Park is a vast meadow with an area of 48 hectares directly adjacent to the historic centre of the city of Kraków, Poland. The history of the park began in 1162, when a wealthy nobleman Jaksa z Miechowa – founder of the Polish branch ...

(in the Zwierzyniec district of Cracovia), near the stadium of Cracovia's archrival

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, ...

. The stadium is named after Polish

Chief of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state. Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of state depends ...

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

The

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

match between

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

on 9 October 2016 was played in the stadium due to Ukraine's Ukraine's non-recognition of Kosovo's travel documents. Ukraine's

2022–23 UEFA Nations League The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was the third season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from June to Se ...

home fixtures were also played in this stadium due to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. From 2023 to 2025, the venue was used by

Puszcza Niepołomice MKS Puszcza Niepołomice () is a professional association football, football club located in Niepołomice, Poland. The team competes in the I liga, the second level of the Polish football league system. The team's colors are yellow, white and gr ...

to host their home games following promotion to the top-flight, due to the stadium in Niepołomice not meeting the Ekstraklasa requirements.

Construction

The stadium design was made by a consortium of Polish and Spanish architectural companies, Estudio Lamela Sp. z o.o, Estudio Lamela S.L., Sener Sp. z o.o. and Sener Ingenieria y Sistemas S.A. The general constructor was the consortium of German Alpine Bau Deutschland AG, Austrian Alpine Bau GmbH and Polish Alpine Construction Polska Sp. z o.o and KPBP „Budus” S.A. Cost was planned at 157 mln PLN. In June 2009, the process of construction began. Firstly, the old Cracovia stadium, built in 1912, was demolished. Construction was completed in September 2010. Cracovia played its first official match in the new stadium on 25 September 2010.

Characteristic

Overall

The new stadium is located within the square of these streets: Kraszewskiego, Focha, Kałuży and Zwierzyniec. The exact location has been slightly changed in comparison to the old one. The stadium still occupies the central part of the plot, but now it is parallel to the Focha street. The stadium is a typical football-specific stadium. The field dimensions are the FIFA standard 105 x 68 meters. The distance between sideline and first row seats varies from 6m (North Stand), by 8m (East & South Stands) to 10m (West Stand). The stadium has three one-level stands and one two-level main stand. The facility is an

all-seater An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football and Amer ...

and it is fully roofed. The building out of all four corners means that the division into separate stands is not readily visible from the exterior of the building the stadium creates a single compact structure. Height of the stands are respectively 14, 10, 12 and 19 meters

South stand

South stand is the main stand of the stadium. Capacity is 4691 spectators. This is the only two-level stand in the stadium. The stand is divided into five sections. Three of them are located on the first level and these are: Sections G, E (14 rows each) and a VIP section which can hold 476 people with 11 rows. The other two, Section F and H (with eight and nine rows respectively) are located on the second level of the stand. Krakow Cracovia 1

West stand

West stand is located on the side of Ignacego Kraszewskiego Street. It is divided into two sections, I & J. Both have 22 rows. West stand is the largest of the three one-level stands on stadium. Section J is a section prepared especially for guest spectators. Its capacity is 1057 people. The section has its own separated entrance and foyer dedicated only to fans from visiting team.

East stand

East stand is the smallest stand of the stadium. The main representative square is located between this stand and Kałuży Street. The stand is divided into two standard sections: B (only sectors B4 and B5) and D. This is the place where the most fanatic Cracovia fans supports their team during the matches. Moreover, there are 42 places for disabled persons with another 42 dedicated for their care assistants.

North stand

The opposite to the main stand, North stand is divided into sections A and B (sectors B1, B2, B3). Each of them have 16 rows.

References

External links

Stadium page at the official Cracovia website

Stadium photos at the official Cracovia website

Stadium info at Stadiony.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Józef Piłsudski Stadium Football venues in Kraków Sports venues in Kraków Sports venues completed in 1912 KS Cracovia