Laugardalsvöllur (, or more precisely 'Laugardalur Stadium') is
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
's
national football stadium and the home venue for the
Iceland national football team
The Iceland national football team () represents Iceland in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland, and have been a FIFA member since 1947 and a UEFA member since 1957. ...
located in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
. It has a seating capacity of 9,500 and about 28,321 for concerts.
History

The idea of building a sporting venue in
Laugardalur, along with some other entertainment facilities, dates back to 1871. At that time, the population of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, was only about 2,000. Laugardalur was also nearly 3 km (1.9 mi) away from residential areas. Little came out of this proposal for the next 60 years or so.
In 1943, the town council set up the Laugardalsnefnd committee. Its task was to make proposals and ideas for the area. The committee then delivered the result later, which included building a new football stadium and a
new swimming pool.
Construction of the field started in 1949 and lasted until 1952. A year later in 1953, construction of a new stand started. The stand had a capacity of 4,000 when completed.
The first match was played on Laugardalsvöllur in 1957 when the
Iceland men's national football team played against
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, two years before the official opening on 17 June 1959. A few years later, the stand was renovated and expanded, starting from 1965 to 1970.
Under the new stand there was opened a
track-and-field facility, which operated until 2007, although there has always been
all-weather running track around the pitch (upgraded in 1992). Later the year 1992, floodlights were inaugurated for the match against
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.
In 1997, another new stand was built against the old stand, across the pitch. Constructions started a year earlier. It has a capacity of 3,500. At the same time, the old stand was relieved by matching it with the new stand by seating capacity.
Big renovation and expansion of the old stand started in 2005. After the completion in 2007, the stadium has a capacity of 9,800. Additional capacity can be added by bringing in two temporary stands seating 1,500 each, giving the stadium a
maximum
In mathematical analysis, the maximum and minimum of a function (mathematics), function are, respectively, the greatest and least value taken by the function. Known generically as extremum, they may be defined either within a given Interval (ma ...
capacity of 12,800 but after the new requirements of
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 ...
for national football stadiums, this addition method has been forbidden. No major renovations or expansions have occurred since 2007.
The largest attendance for a football match ever seen at Laugardalsvöllur was 20,204 in 2004 in a
friendly match
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...
between Iceland and
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The largest attendance for the venue about 25,000 during a concert in 2007. On 24 July 2018, American rock band
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
played at the stadium in front of 25,000 people, at that time the largest rock concert ever held in Iceland.
In 2024, renovations began in order to install hybrid grass and a heating system underneath the field.
Facilities
The stadium comprises two big stands facing each other. West Stand is the main stand and the larger one. It is the only stand to hold all the facilities needed for the stadium, excluding
stadium seating
Stadium seating or theater seating is a seating arrangement where most or all seats are placed higher than the seats immediately in front of them so that the occupants of further-back seats have less of their views blocked by those ahead of them. ...
. For the purpose of football matches and other competitions, the stand has 4 changing rooms for players (mainly) and 2 others for
referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...
s, which also have the capability of accommodating facility for a doctor or
drug test
A drug test (also often toxicology screen or tox screen) is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or saliva, oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent ...
. There are two other rooms for football matches and
athletics tournaments administration.
Future
There have been plans by
KSÍ (the Football Association of Iceland) to renovate and expand Laugardalsvöllur since 2014, one year after the
Iceland men's national football team reached the play-offs for the
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...
in 2013. The team's success kept going until they went to
UEFA Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...
and reached the
quarter-finals
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
. Both Icelandic football fans and KSÍ have been asking Reykjavík city, the current owner of the stadium, for a new stadium because seats have sold out for 7 out of 10 national football team matches in 2013–2015. Despite the attendance, Laugardalsvöllur had a deficit of 3.9 million ISK in 2015, but Reykjavík city then added its contribution of 11 million ISK, leaving a 7 million ISK profit.
Two options are being considered and both include removing the running track and placing stands in its place in addition to moving the pitch closer to the west stand and keeping the west stand in place. One option is a 17,500 capacity stadium with an open roof and heated pitch, costing 7-11 billion ISK. The second option is a 20,000 capacity stadium with a
retractable roof
A retractable roof is a roof system designed to roll back the roof of a structure so that the interior of the facility is open to the outdoors. Retractable roofs are sometimes referred to as operable roofs or retractable skylights. The term o ...
over the stadium for the possibility of
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 ...
, that would increase the utilization of seating capacity in the long term. The second option would cost 11-18 billion ISK.
Having a heated pitch is necessary, due to cold and snowy winters in Iceland and also because of the new requirements of
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
, which indicates that matches for some teams in the
qualification competition, for the
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...
, shall also be played in the winter. The grass would then be maintained itself with an
automatic irrigation sprinkler system.
In 2024, a memorandum of understanding was signed to only develop the venue as a
soccer-specific stadium
A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...
in the future. With the removal of the running track and other athletics equipment, athletics would move to a dedicated area.
Gallery
File:Laugardalsvöllur.jpg, Laugardalsvöllur during a Euro 2008 qualifying game
File:IcelandvsSlovakia.jpg, Laugardalsvöllur during the friendly match Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
-Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, in 2009
See also
*
List of football stadiums in Iceland
References
External links
*
Football Association of Iceland(archived 27 March 2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laugardalsvollur
Football venues in Iceland
Athletics (track and field) venues in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
Sports venues in Reykjavík
Knattspyrnufélagið Fram
Sports venues completed in 1959
1959 establishments in Iceland