The Kukës Arena is a

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 ...

Kukës Kukës (; sq-definite, Kukësi) is a city in Albania. The city is the capital of the surrounding municipality of Kukës and county of Kukës County, Kukës, one of 12 constituent Counties of Albania, counties of the republic. It spans and had a ...

, Albania. It is mainly used for

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 is the home ground of the

Kategoria Superiore Kategoria Superiore (), also known as Abissnet Superiore for sponsorship reasons with internet service provider, Abissnet, is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Albania. At the top of the Albanian football league syste ...

club Kukësi. The stadium was built on the site of the pre-existing Përparimi Stadium, located near the center of

on Rruga Stadiumi (Stadium Street).

Incidents

During a friendly match between Kukësi U17 and Liria U17 on November 30, 2012, 17-year-old footballer Ilirjan Thaçi collapsed and died on the field after suffering a heart attack related to a previously undetected heart problem. Thaçi, born in 1995, was a defender on the books of FK Kukësi, his hometown club where he was also a lifelong supporter. He collapsed in the tenth minute of a friendly match and died of a

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

despite efforts to resuscitate him. The following weekend, a minute's silence was held before every match in Albania in memory of Thaçi, and there were also calls for the stadium to be renamed after Thaçi. In his memory, a mini-tournament was held between six youth teams from

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

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 ...

, organized by FK Kukësi president Safet Gjici.

Gallery

Stadiumi i Kf Kuksi.JPG, The old stadium from above (2015) Stadiumi Zeqir Ymeri 1.jpg, Interior overview of the old stadium (2015)

References

{{Football venues in Albania Football venues in Albania FK Kukësi