Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, from which the surrounding residential area has taken its name, is an

all-seater stadium 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 ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Scotland. Used primarily 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 ...

, it has been the home ground of the

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

(SPFL) club

Aberdeen F.C. Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional Association football, football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the and have List of unrelegated association football clubs, never been relegated from the top division of th ...

since they were formed in 1903. Prior to then, the ground hosted the original Aberdeen F.C. from 1899 until the merger that created the present club. 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 ; Pittodrie is the fourth largest stadium in the SPFL and the largest stadium in Scotland outside the

Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the Demographics of Scotland, area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in ...

. Pittodrie has been the location of a number of firsts in the field of stadium design, including the invention of the dugout, and in 1978 became one of the first all-seater stadium in the United Kingdom. , Pittodrie has hosted fifteen matches involving the Scotland national team. The ground has also staged

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, with four Scotland international fixtures being held there including a match against the Barbarians. In club football,

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

temporarily shared Pittodrie during part of the 2004–05 season.

History

The original Aberdeen football club was formed in 1881. They played at various venues within the city, until a former dung hill for police horses was cleared and readied for football in 1899. The land was leased from Mr Knight Erskine of Pittodrie, with an agreement to construct a terrace on what is now the site of the Richard Donald Stand. The first game, a 7–1 win over

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

, was played on 2 September 1899. The club was merged on 18 April 1903 with two other local clubs, Victoria United and Orion, to form Aberdeen FC. 8000 spectators turned up to watch the new Aberdeen FC play its first game at Pittodrie, a 1–1 draw in the Northern League against

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

on 15 August 1903. The club joined the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

in 1904. Increasing popularity of the team and rising attendances led to major developments at Pittodrie in the 1920s. The club purchased the ground, which they had been leasing, with the final payment made on 1 December 1920. The Main Stand, where the club offices, dressing rooms and trophy room are located, was constructed in 1925. This was partly funded by the sale of Alex Jackson to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. Also in the 1920s, the dugout was introduced to football by Aberdeen coach

Donald Colman Donald Cameron Cunningham (14 August 1878 – 4 October 1942), known as Donald Colman, was a Scottish football player and coach (or trainer) in the early years of the 20th century, most notably for Aberdeen. His career in senior football did n ...

, who was interested in sitting lower to the pitch in order to inspect the players' footwork. The club won its first major trophy in 1947, when it won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hearts.

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 introduced at Pittodrie on 21 October 1959, when English league side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

were beaten 3–2 in a friendly. By 1 August 1968, the Main Stand had become all-seated as part of a £100,000 improvement of the ground. This coincided with a change of name from Pittodrie Park to Pittodrie Stadium. On 6 February 1971, a fire destroyed part of the Main Stand, and gutted the dressing rooms and club offices. The Scottish Cup trophy, which was held by Aberdeen at the time, had to be rescued by firemen. In 1978, Pittodrie became the first all-seated stadium in Great Britain, after the south terracing was fitted with bench style seating. This improvement pre-dated the

Taylor Report The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...

on British football grounds by a decade and coincided with a distinct upturn in the fortunes of the home team, now managed by

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

. The south side became the South Stand in 1980, following the installation of a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

roof which covered most of the seats. A year later, the benches were replaced by individual seats. Both during the subsequent run in the 1980s and at numerous other times over the century the stadium has been in operation, there have been many memorable nights for the local fans. However, Pittodrie's greatest night is generally regarded as 16 March 1983. Aberdeen fought back from 2–1 down in a

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

quarter-final second leg tie against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

to win 3–2. A full house witnessed this victory, which took the Dons through to the semi-finals, and they went on to win the trophy by defeating

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. The club installed 24 executive boxes in the Main Stand, and built a new roof over the Merkland Road End in 1985. Undersoil heating was installed in 1987. Richard Donald stand on a Match Day

The most recent development of the stadium came in the 1992–93 season when the Beach End stand on the east side of the ground was demolished, with the new Richard Donald stand - named after the club's long serving chairman - constructed in its place. On 1 August 1993, the new stand was opened with a League Cup tie against

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

. The official opening was carried out later in 1993 by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

. It is currently the only two tier stand in the stadium. The stadium has remained relatively unchanged since then, although some minor improvements, such as the introduction of an electronic stadium entry system for the 2006–07 season, have been carried out. The site of the stadium is only 550 yards away from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, and with only the King's Links golf course between the stadium and the beach, the ground is one of the coldest football grounds in Britain. As a result of a ground sharing agreement, Pittodrie was used by

for their home matches during the early part of the 2004–05 season. This was required because Inverness CT's own

Caledonian Stadium Caledonian Stadium is a football ground in the Longman area of Inverness, Scotland, near the banks of the Moray Firth. It hosts home matches of Scottish League One club Inverness Caledonian Thistle. History Inverness Caledonian Thistle was fo ...

did not meet the requirements for entry into the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

until improvements were carried out and the

increased. In 2005 the stadium size criterion for entry to the SPL was reduced to 6,000, thereby allowing Inverness Caledonian Thistle to return to their home stadium partway during the season. In March 2020 the club announced plans to reduce the operational capacity of Pittodrie to 15,500. Despite this, attendances in the 2023-24 season have been reported from 15,000 to 18,652. Aberdeen PittodrieStadium

Structure and facilities

The Main Stand was the original

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

within the ground, and contains much of the staff and offices responsible for the day-to-day running of the stadium, from the boot room to the trophy room. Teams enter the pitch from a tunnel to the extreme left of this stand. As befits a main stand, this section of the ground includes both padded seating for club officials and VIPs, and several executive boxes at the rear. There are a number of pillars running along this stand, supporting the roof. As a consequence, views in some places are restricted. It remains, however, the most expensive stand from which to watch matches. To the east of the Main Stand is the club shop, which doubles as a ticket office. The Richard Donald Stand is named after former club chairman Dick Donald. Completed in 1993, it houses over 6,000 fans, although this is a reduction on its Beach End predecessor. It is a

construction with two tiers and a row of twelve executive boxes in between. It is commonly referred to as simply the "RDS". It was built by the present chairman's construction firm, the Stewart Milne Group, at a cost of £4.5 million. Within this stand are a number of banqueting rooms, which are used for corporate hospitality and outside bookings. Taking its name from the street behind it, the Merkland Stand (also known as 'the Paddock' or 'King Street End') sits behind the goal, on the west of the ground. The Merkland is Aberdeen F.C.'s family stand, with reduced prices for under-twelves and families. There is also a section for disabled supporters near the pitch. The stand itself is a covered enclosure, with two pillars supporting the roof. The entrance to the stand is dominated by a

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

constructed from

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, a local stone. Named simply after its position within the ground, the South Stand was originally an undeveloped embankment which was later remodelled as a standing terrace. Seating and a cantilever roof were later added, although some of the 8,400 seats remain uncovered. Since 1993, the easternmost part of the stand has been used to house away fans. Sections P, Q and R are designated for this purpose. The

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

gantry and commentary positions are housed in this stand.

Future developments

Despite improvements and its ground-breaking past, it appears that the future of Pittodrie as a football stadium is uncertain. Plans are in action for the club to move to a New Aberdeen Stadium. The principle of a move, rather than a redevelopment of Pittodrie, has already been recommended by

Aberdeen City Council Aberdeen City Council is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for Aberdeen City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Aberdeen was formerly governed by a municipal corporation, corporat ...

. An earlier plan to move to the edge of the city, which corresponded with Scotland's failed joint bid for the

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

tournament, was scrapped. In June 2006, the club's two major shareholders agreed a plan to sell the land on which the stadium sits to clear some of the club's debt. During the late 2010s, construction began at Kingsford on the western edge of the city which led to the completion of a new training facility, Cormack Park, in 2019;Sir Alex Ferguson: Cormack Park can help Aberdeen to 'highest level'
BBC Sport, 31 October 2019 however, the proposed stadium on the same site was put on hiatus due to economic issues, and in 2021 alternative designs at the city's beachfront close to Pittodrie were released.

Other uses

Since its construction, there have been fifteen

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international matches staged at Pittodrie. Normally the national team's home matches are played at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, but during times of redevelopment of the national stadium, or matches which are expected to draw a low crowd, the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

has made use of other stadia in the country. Playing at Pittodrie, Scotland have won ten matches, drawn two and lost three. The most recent was a 1–0 loss to

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on 9 November 2017.

Rugby union

Since 2005, Pittodrie has hosted four

internationals.

Concerts

Pittodrie has been used for concerts; both

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

have played at Pittodrie.

References

; Sources *

External links

Pittodrie at Google Maps
{{UEFA Super Cup venues Aberdeen F.C. Football venues in Aberdeen Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. Sports venues in Aberdeen Rugby union stadiums in Scotland Scottish Premier League venues Scottish Football League venues Scottish Professional Football League venues Scotland national football team venues Sports venues completed in 1899 1899 establishments in Scotland