Podgorica City Stadium

Podgorica City Stadium

Stadion Pod Goricom - UEFA
Location	Podgorica, Montenegro
Owner	City of Podgorica
Capacity	17,000 (Football)
Field size	105 x 70 meters
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1945
Renovated	2000s
Tenants
Montenegro national football team FK Budućnost Podgorica

Podgorica City Stadium (Montenegrin: Stadion pod Goricom) is an all - seater multi-purpose stadium in Podgorica, Montenegro. Mostly utilized for football matches, it has a seating capacity of 17,000. The stadium is the home ground of Montenegrin First League club FK Budućnost Podgorica and is also the most frequently used host stadium for the Montenegrin national football team.

History

Varvari fans at pod Goricom

Podgorica City Stadium was built in 1945, after World War II. Before the war, FK Budućnost Podgorica and other clubs from Podgorica played their matches in a field near that location.

The stadium's original capacity was about 5,000 spectators. The stadium burned down completely in 1952, but was later rebuilt, with a new capacity of about 17,000 seats. The new stadium has four stands - west, east, south and north.

In 1989, floodlights were installen in the City Stadium in Podgorica (at this point in time the town was known as Titograd). During the 80's, the main stand (west) was reconstructed. The new stand has a seating capacity of 6,000 and a modern roof.

After the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, more construction work followed at the stadium. The east stand was torn down, and a new north stand was built. Capacity was reduced to 12,000.

The latest construction work took place between 2004 and 2006. The south and north stands were renovated, with two tiers (lower tier and upper tier). On both sides, capactity of the lower tier is 1,000 seats, and capacity of upper tier is 2,000. Both stands are all-seater with roofs. During the last reconstruction, a new east stand was built, with 7 rows and a capacity of 1,000 spectators. This is to be extended soon, which will bring the stadium's capacity to over 18,000.

The north stand is the home of FK Budućnost Podgorica fans, the popular Varvari (Barbarians). The other stands in the stadium are freely available. Varvari often account for a large percentage of the attendance at games featuring FK Budućnost. They are the largest ultras group in Montenegro.

Pitch

The pitch measures 105 x 70 meters.

Users

During its history, the Podgorica City Stadium was used by a few clubs and Football Association of Montenegro.

It is host stadium for the Montenegro national football team.

Before the independence of Montenegro, the Podgorica City Stadium hosted the final of the Republic Cup of Montenegro. Following this tradition, Podgorica City Stadium is now the host venue of every Montenegrin Cup final.

Clubs which played their host matches at the Podgorica City Stadium are:

• 1945 - today: FK Budućnost Podgorica
• 1953 - 1997: FK Mladost Podgorica

Highest attendances

Notable matches played at the stadium include:

• SFR Yugoslavia - Luxembourg 0:0 (ECQ, 27 October 1971) - att: 15,000
• FK Budućnost - NK Hajduk Split 1:2 (1st League, 27 August 1975) - att: 20,000 - largest crowd
• SFR Yugoslavia - Wales 4:4 (ECQ, 15 December 1982) - att: 17,000
• FK Budućnost - Deportivo La Coruna 2:1 (Intertoto Cup, 9 July 2005) - att: 10,000
• Montenegro - Hungary 2:1 (first match of national team, 24 March 2007) - att: 12,000
• Montenegro - Italy 0:2 (WCQ, 28 March 2009) - att: 12,500
• Montenegro - England 2:2 (2012 Euro Cup Qualifying, 7 October 2011) - att: 12,500

Montenegro v Russia

Main article: UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group G

On 27 March 2015, Montenegro home match againist Russia awarded as 3-0 win to Russia after match was abandoned after 67 minutes due to crowd violence and scuffle between players (caused by Dmitri Kombarov being hit by an object thrown from the Montenegrin sector). The original score was 0-0 and Russia missed a penalty moments before the match was abandoned. This was a second delay of the match as in the first minute, Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit by a flare that caused 33 minutes delay.