Philip II Arena

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
National Arena Philip II of Macedonia
Арена Филип II Македонски

"Philip II of Macedonia" National Arena
Национална арена "Филип II Македонски"
Skopje X130.JPG
Former names City Stadium of Skopje
Location Skopje, Macedonia
Operator JPSSO
Capacity 33,460[1]
Record attendance 31,657 (Macedonia-Spain, 8 September 2015)
Field size 105 x 68 meters
Surface Grass
Scoreboard LED
Construction
Opened 1947
Expanded 2011
Architect Beton
Tenants
FK Vardar
FK Rabotnički
Macedonia national football team

National Arena Philip II of Macedonia (Macedonian: Арена Филип II Македонски, Arena Filip II Makedonski) is a multi-purpose stadium in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Named after the ancient King Philip II of Macedon, it is currently used mostly for football matches, but sometimes also for music concerts or other events. It is the home stadium of FK Vardar and FK Rabotnički from Skopje, both of which compete in the Macedonian First League, as well as the home ground of the Macedonia national football team on almost all occasions (the other venues rarely chosen being the Goce Delčev Stadium in Prilep, or SRC Biljanini Izvori in Ohrid). On 30 June 2015 the UEFA announced that the National Arena Filip II of Macedonia will host the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, Macedonia's first UEFA club competition final.[2]

Reconstruction and expansion

The project for the south stand was designed in 1977 by architects Dragan Krstev and Todorka Mavkova from Beton. Construction of the stadium in its present form began in 1978, with the building of the south stand, which took two years to finish. 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 Macedonia national football team played a friendly match against then World Champions Spain, as part of the 100-year anniversary of football in Macedonia.[3] 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 and FC Liverpool.[4] Soon after, the construction of the new western and eastern stands started. 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 played FC BATE Borisov in the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League to re-open the stadium.[5][6]

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, is the planned reconstruction of the pitch and athletic track. The athletic track around the pitch, from the original 6 will be extended to 8 running tracks and it will use Tartan track surface. Total cost for this phase is €3.5 million.[7] By 2013 it should be finished 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 is estimated to reach over €60 million.[8]

Name

Before the name change to Philip II Arena at the beginning of 2009, the stadium was known as the Skopje City Stadium (Macedonian: Градски стадион Скопје, Gradski stadion Skopje).

Notable matches

  • 1985–86 UEFA Cup First round, Second leg - 2 October 1985 between FK Vardar and FC Dinamo Bucureşti.[9]
  • 2007–08 UEFA Cup First round, First leg - 20 September 2007 between FK Rabotnički and Bolton Wanderers.[22]

Concerts

Gallery

References

  1. http://www.fkvardar.mk/players?cid=7307&l=125
  2. http://www.uefa.com/uefasupercup/news/newsid=2262118.html
  3. MacedonianFootball.com
  4. Liverpool Echo
  5. MacedonianFootball.com
  6. UEFA.com Vardar-BATE 0:0
  7. http://vest.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=E45487999BBA984296390FF0961A71D1
  8. http://www.beton.com.mk/en/istorija.shtml
  9. Vardar-Dinamo Bucureşti 1:0; UEFA Cup First round
  10. Vardar-Porto 0:3; European Cup First round
  11. Vardar-Pelister 1:0; Macedonian Cup final
  12. Macedonia-Denmark 1:1; UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
  13. Macedonia-Spain 0:2; UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
  14. Pobeda-Parma 0:2; UEFA Cup First round
  15. Vardar-CSKA Moscow 1:1; UEFA Champions League 2nd qual. Round
  16. Vardar-Sparta Prague 2:3; UEFA Champions League 3rd qual. Round
  17. Macedonia-England 1:2; UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
  18. Vardar-Roma 1:1; UEFA Cup First Round
  19. Macedonia-Netherlands 2:2; FIFA World Cup qualification
  20. Rabotnički-Lokomotiv Moscow 1:1; UEFA Champions League 2nd qual. Round
  21. Rabotnički-Lille 0:1; UEFA Champions League 3rd qual. Round
  22. Rabotnički-Bolton 1:1; UEFA Cup First Round
  23. Macedonia-Croatia 2:0; UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
  24. Macedonia-Scotland 1:0; FIFA World Cup qualification
  25. Rabotnički-Liverpool 0:2; UEFA Europa League 3rd qual. Round
  26. Rabotnički-Lazio 1:3; UEFA Europa League Play-offs
  27. Macedonia-Spain 0:1; UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
  28. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.