Field size 105 x 70 metres Renovated 2004–2006 Capacity 17,000 Owner Podgorica | Surface Grass Address Podgorica, Montenegro Opened 1945 | |
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Location Vaka Đurovića street, Podgorica, Montenegro Operator Football Association of Montenegro, FK Budućnost Record attendance 20,000 (Budućnost - Hajduk Split, 1975) Teams Montenegro national football team, FK Budućnost Podgorica Similar Millennium Bridge, Ribnica, Gradski stadion, Stadion Trešnjica, Zimbru Stadium | ||
Podgorica City Stadium (Montenegrin: Stadion pod Goricom) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Podgorica, Montenegro. Mostly used for football matches, it has a seating capacity of 15,230. The planned capacity of stadium, after the next reconstruction of the east stand, is over 18,000. The stadium is the home ground of Montenegrin national football team and FK Budućnost Podgorica (Montenegrin First League).
Contents
History
Podgorica City Stadium was built in 1945, following 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 around 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 installed in the City Stadium in Podgorica (then known as Titograd). During the 1980s, 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, the stadium underwent additional construction work. 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 stand were renovated, with two tiers (lower tier and upper tier). On both sides, the capacity of the lower tier is 1,000 seats, and the capacity of upper tier is 2,500. Both stands are all-seater with roofs. During the last reconstruction, a new east stand was built.
The stadium's current capacity is 15,230, but for international games there are about 13,000 free-seats, because most seats on the south stand are reserved for guest supporters. The north stand is the home of FK Budućnost Podgorica fans, the popular Varvari (Barbarians). Varvari often account for a large percentage of the attendance at games featuring FK Budućnost. They are the largest ultras group in Montenegro.
Current capacity
Since 2006, Podgorica City Stadium has had four stands. From 1992 to 2006, there was three stands (after the old east stand was torn down). Below is current capacity of all stands with technical details.
Next works
Works on rebuilding the East Stand have been announced to start in 2017, and are planned to increase the stadium capacity to over 20,000.
Pitch and floodlights
The pitch measures 105 by 70 meters. The stadium is well-known for close distance between pitch and stands. The Pitch was totally renovated in 2014 and today is among the best football pitches in the Balkans.
Floodlights were installed 1989 for the first nighttime match, Budućnost-Rad (First League, 28 May 1989). Twenty years later, new 1900 lux floodlights were installed.
Users
During its history, the Podgorica City Stadium was used by a few clubs and Football Association of Montenegro.
It is the 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:
Records
Highest attendances and notable matches
Notable matches played at the stadium include:
Before 2006
After 2006
Controversies and accidents
During the history, stadium in Podgorica was a place of numerous accidental situations, especially on FK Budućnost matches. Crowd violence escalated in the early 1970s, and after that—in the new century.
FK Budućnost games
In 2004, at the First League Budućnost-Partizan Belgrade match, blocks, construction materials and similar objects were thrown from the north stand to the pitch and the match was halted for 15 minutes. A year later, the Budućnost-Crvena Zvezda Belgrade match was suspended for two hours after home supporters (Varvari) threw tear gas on the pitch and, after that, attacked visitors' ultras. In Spring 2006, there was crowd violence at the local rivals match Budućnost-Zeta. In the Montenegrin First League, a few matches of FK Budućnost were suspended due to crowd violence or crowd-invasion to the pitch.
Montenegro games
With the full crowd at every important match, and the architecture of the stands which are only four meters away from the pitch-lines, games of Montenegrin national team are playing in the highly-electric atmosphere. During the past years, Montenegrin FA is sanctioned by UEFA and FIFA in numerous occasions.
In 2011, after the Montenegro-England match, Montenegrin ultras intruded upon the pitch. During the game, missiles and flares were hurled at goalkeeper Joe Hart while he was in front of Ultra Montenegro group. The same thing occurred a year later in the match between Montenegro and Poland.
On 27 March 2015, Montenegro had a home match against Russia. The match was abandoned after 67 minutes due to crowd violence (during the match, the Russian goalkeeper was hit by Dmitri Kombarov, who was hit by an object). The original score was 0-0 and Russia missed a penalty moment before the match was abandoned. Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit by a flare, causing a second 33-minute delay. After that game, barriers were constructed in the upper portions of the stadium to prevent similar incidents in the future.