National Arena Toše Proeski () is a sports stadium in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. It is currently used mostly 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, but also for concerts or athletics. It is the home stadium of

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

and Rabotnichki from

, who compete in the Macedonian First League, as well as the home ground of the

North Macedonia national football team The North Macedonia national football team () represents North Macedonia in men's international Association football, football. It is administered by the Football Federation of Macedonia. The team plays their home matches at the Toše Proeski A ...

on almost all occasions (the other venues rarely chosen being the Goce Delčev Stadium in

Prilep Prilep ( ) is the List of cities in North Macedonia, fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. According to 2021 census, it had a population of 63,308. Name The name of Prilep appeared first as ''Πρίλαπος'' in Greek (''Prilapos'') in 1 ...

, or SRC Biljanini Izvori in

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

). The stadium was previously known as the City Park Stadium (; Stadion Gradski Park) until 2009 and Philip II National Arena () until 2019. By an executive decision of

the government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

adopted on 9 April 2019, the National Arena was renamed "National Arena Todor Proeski" in honour of the Macedonian pop icon Todor "Toše" Proeski and as result of the

Prespa agreement Prespa (, , ) is a region shared between North Macedonia, Greece and Albania. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen in North Macedonia with 9,000 inhabitan ...

's obligation to ''de-

antiquization Antiquization (), also sometimes referred as ancient Macedonism (), is a term used mainly to critically describe the Identity politics, identity policies conducted by the Macedonian nationalism, nationalist VMRO-DPMNE-led governments of North M ...

''. With the capacity of just over 33,000, the National Arena is the largest stadium in the country and one of the largest in

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

. The stadium hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup.

Reconstruction and expansion

The project for the City Park stadium was designed in 1975 by architects Dragan Krstev and Todorka Mavkova from ''Beton''Construction Company. The South Stand started with construction in 1977. Construction of the South stand took 2 years and it was finished in 1978. The whole stadium was supposed to be finished the same year. Somehow the money from the budget were transferred to the federal budget and used for other projects. The reconstruction and expansion started after a long delay in project implementation in January 2008. The construction of a new north stand was finished in August 2009 and was put in use on 2 August 2009, the Macedonian national holiday " Ilinden". Ten days later, on 12 August, the

played a friendly match against then European Champions

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, as part of the 100-year anniversary of football in the country. The reconstruction of the southern stand started in 2009, which was put into operation on 30 July of that year for the match between

FK Rabotnički FK Rabotnichki () or more commonly Rabotnički (old transliteration) and Rabotnicki is a professional football (soccer), football club that plays at the Toše Proeski Arena, Toshe Proeski Arena in Skopje, North Macedonia. They currently compete in ...

and

Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

. On 8 September 2009, the construction of the new western and eastern stands started. The two new stands were open for the public on 24 April 2011. By mid July 2012, the majority of the stadium was completed with the reconstruction of the new pitch and athletic track. On 25 July 2012,

FK Vardar FK Vardar () is a professional Association football, football club based in Skopje, North Macedonia, which competes in the Macedonian First Football League, Macedonian First League. They are the most successful football club in Football in Maced ...

played

FC BATE Borisov FC BATE Borisov (, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; , ''BATE Barysaw,'' ), commonly referred to as BATE or BATE Borisov, is a Belarusian professional football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusian Premier League, of which th ...

in the second qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

to re-open the stadium. On 8 September 2012, the Independence Day of North Macedonia, a celebration was held when almost 50,000 visitors attended the event (in the stands and on the field). This event set the record of attendance for the stadium. :(Main Stand)-NORTH Stand-(10.338) VIP-(494),PRESS (284),Wheelchairs(48) :SOUTH Stand-(10.713) :WEST Curve-(5.962) :EAST Curve-(5.962) :Total Capacity:33.011

Construction cost

Since 2008, the stadium has seen investment of about two billion denari, or €32 million. The second phase, which got underway in November 2011, saw the reconstruction of the pitch and athletic track. The athletic track around the pitch, from the original 6 was extended to 8 running tracks and it uses

Tartan track Tartan track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. The original production was in 1967, and the product was later reformulated to eliminate the u ...

surface. Total cost for this phase is €3.5 million. The stadium was finished in 2013 with the completion of a new illuminated outer facade. The total construction cost for all actions related to the stadium in the period 2008–2013 reached over €60 million.

Notable matches

1985–86 UEFA Cup The 1985–86 UEFA Cup was the 15th season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The final was played over two legs at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, ...

First round, Second leg – 2 October 1985 between FK Vardar and FC Dinamo București. * 1987–88 European Cup First round, Second leg – 30 September 1987 between FK Vardar and FC Porto. * 1992–93 Macedonian Cup Final – 23 May 1993 between FK Vardar and FK Pelister. *

UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying Qualifying for UEFA Euro 1996 took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups, with each team playing the others in their group both home and away. The winners of each group and the six best runners-up qualif ...

– 7 September 1994 between Macedonia and Denmark. *

– 12 October 1994 between Macedonia and Spain. * 2000–01 UEFA Cup First round, First leg – 14 September 2000 between FK Pobeda and AC Parma. * 2003–04 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round, Second leg – 6 August 2003 between FK Vardar and CSKA Moscow. * 2003–04 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round, First leg – 13 August 2003 between FK Vardar and AC Sparta Prague. *

UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying Qualification for the 2004 UEFA European Championship took place between September 2002 and November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups, with each team playing the others in their group twice, once at home and once away. The top te ...

– 6 September 2003 between Macedonia and England. *

2003–04 UEFA Cup The 2003–04 UEFA Cup was won by Valencia in the final against Marseille. It wrapped up a league and UEFA Cup double for Valencia. Porto could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and a ...

First round, Second leg – 15 October 2003 between FK Vardar and AS Roma. *

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America ...

– 9 October 2004 between Macedonia and Netherlands. * 2005–06 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round, First leg – 27 July 2005 between FK Rabotnički and Lokomotiv Moscow. * 2006–07 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round, Second leg – 23 August 2006 between FK Rabotnički and LOSC Lille. *

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, UEFA's former second-tier club association football, football tournament. The 2008 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, E ...

First round, First leg – 20 September 2007 between FK Rabotnički and Bolton Wanderers. *

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

– 17 November 2007 between Macedonia and Croatia. *

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

– 6 September 2008 between Macedonia and Scotland. * 2010–11 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round, First leg – 29 July 2010 between FK Rabotnički and Liverpool. *

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

– 4 June 2011 between Macedonia and Republic of Ireland. * 2011–12 UEFA Europa League Play-offs, Second leg – 25 August 2011 between FK Rabotnički and SS Lazio. * 2012–13 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round, Second leg – 25 July 2012 between FK Vardar and BATE Borisov. * 2015–16 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round, Second leg – 21 July 2015 between FK Vardar and APOEL. * 2015–16 UEFA Europa League Play-offs, First leg – 20 August 2015 between FK Rabotnički and Rubin Kazan. * UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying – 8 September 2015 between Macedonia and Spain. *

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 ...

– 9 October 2016 between Macedonia and Italy. *

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournament ...

– 11 October 2016 between Macedonia and Scotland. * 2017 UEFA Super Cup – 8 August 2017 between Real Madrid and Manchester United * 2017–18 UEFA Europa League Play-offs, First leg – 17 August 2017 between FK Vardar and Fenerbahçe. * 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage – 14 September 2017 between FK Vardar and Zenit Saint Petersburg. * UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs semi-finals – 8 October 2020 between North Macedonia and Kosovo. *

UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

- 23 March 2023 between North Macedonia and Malta. *

- 16 June 2023 between North Macedonia and Ukraine. *

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...

- 25 March 2025 between North Macedonia and Wales. *

- 6 June 2025 between North Macedonia and Belgium. *

- 7 September 2025 between North Macedonia and Liechtenstein. *

- 13 October 2025 between North Macedonia and Kazakhstan.

Concerts

*1995 – Lepa Brena held a concert in front of 35,000 people. *1996 – Dragana Mirković held a concert in front of 15,000 people. *2004 –

Toše Proeski Todor "Toše" Proeski (, ; 25 January 1981 – 16 October 2007) was a Macedonian singer and songwriter. Considered a top act of the local Music of North Macedonia, Macedonian and Balkan music, Balkan music scene, Proeski's music was popular acro ...

held a concert in front of 20,000 people. *2005 – Svetlana Ražnatović held a concert in front of 30,000 people. *2006 –

held a concert in front of 30,000 people. *2007 –

held a concert in front of 50,000 people. *2007 –

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

held a concert in front of 20,000 people. *2007 –

Tarkan Tarkan may refer to: People * Tarkan (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Tarkan (singer) (born 1972), Turkish pop singer Other uses

* Tarkhan, an ancient Turkic and Mongol nobility title * Tarkan (comics), a fic ...

held a concert in front of 6,000 people. *2009 –

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

held a concert in front of 15,000 people. *2012 – Garo & Tavitjan Brothers with the project Macedonian heart beats in 7/8 featuring

Nina Badrić Nina Badrić (; born 4 July 1972) is a Croatian pop singer and songwriter. She began performing in the early 1990s, and competed in " Dora" – the Croatian selection for Eurovision Song Contest 4 times. She won 7th place in 1993 with "Ostavljam ...

Željko Bebek Želimir "Željko" Bebek (born 16 December 1945) is a Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian-Croatian vocalist and musician most notable for being the lead singer of the SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme from 1974 until 1984. He has since ...

Dado Topić Adolf "Dado" Topić is a Croatian rock musician. He was the lead singer and founder of Time, a 1970s progressive rock band from the former Yugoslavia. From 1970 to late 1971, he was also the lead singer of the popular prog-rock band Korni Grupa ( ...

Tereza Kesovija Tereza Ana Kesovija (; born 3 October 1938) is an internationally acclaimed Croatian recording artist. She was one of the most recognizable figures on the music scene in the former Yugoslavia and is renowned for her wide vocal range and operati ...

, Josipa Lisac,

Kaliopi Kaliopi Bukle (, ; born 28 December 1966 as Kaljopa Bukleska (Macedonian: Каљопа Буклеска)), known professionally as Kaliopi, is a Macedonian singer-songwriter. In her career, Kaliopi has progressed from singing lead vocal with ...

, Hari Varešanović, Sergej Ćetković,

Goran Karan Goran Karan (born 2 April 1964) is a Croatian singer-songwriter. He specializes in songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music and is known for his powerful and refined tenor voice. Karan's collaboration with composer Zdenko Runjić led to some of h ...

, Jelena Tomašević,

Antonija Šola Antonija Šola (; born 5 June 1979) is a Croatian musician, singer-songwriter, lyricist, actress and music producer. She is known for playing a main role of " Tina Bauer-Fijan" in first Croatian soap opera Zabranjena ljubav (2004–2008). In ad ...

, and Aki Rahimovski, held a concert in front of 61,000 people honoring the 21 years of Macedonian independence. *2014 –

Željko Joksimović Željko Joksimović ( sr-Cyrl, Жељко Јоксимовић, ; born 20 April 1972) is a Serbian vocalist, composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He plays 12 different musical instruments including accordion, piano, guitar a ...

held a concert in front of 50,000 people. *2016 –

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

held a concert in front of 15,000 people. *2019 – Sting held a concert in front of an undisclosed number of people

Gallery

File:UEFA Super Cup 2017 - Skopje, Macedonia 06.jpg, Uefa Super Cup 2017 File:UEFA Super Cup 2017 - Skopje, Macedonia 02.jpg, Uefa Super Cup Ceremony File:Philip II Arena 2017-1.jpg File:SStandPhilipIIArena.jpg, View from the south stand File:National Arena Skopje.jpg, Exterior shot Skopje (9454036456).jpg, View from

Skopje Fortress The Skopje Fortress (; ; ), commonly referred to as Kale (from '' kale'', the Turkish word for 'fortress'), is a historic fortress located in the old town of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. It is located in Centar municipality "the medie ...

File:Skopje bulevard kliment ohridski.jpg, Skopje view of Kliment Ohridski boulevard and Toše Proeski Arena

References