Location Bucharest, Romania Closed 22 November 2007 Owner Bucharest | Built 1953 Opened 2 August 1953 | |
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Former names Stadionul 23 August (1953-90) Operator Romania national football team Capacity 60,120 (football, rugby)
70,000 (concerts) Similar Stadionul Romcomit, Stadionul Regie, Stadionul Florea Dumitrache, National Arena, Stadionul CFR | ||
Stadionul Național ([stadiˈonul nat͡sioˈnal], The National Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium in Bucharest, Romania. The stadium held 60,120 people.
Contents
History
It was built in 1953, for the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students. According to the book București published in 1968 by Institutul Proiect București, Complexul Sportiv 23 August was designed by the well known architect Vily Juster.
It was first known as Stadionul 23 August, and later on as Stadionul Național. The sports complex that included Național Stadium, is named Lia Manoliu after the famous Romanian athlete.
It was used mostly for football matches.
It hosted numerous concerts after the 1989 Revolution, including Michael Jackson's Dangerous World Tour concert on October 1, 1992, as well as the HIStory World Tour concert on September 14, 1996. Some 100,000 people attended the concert, which was also the only one to be broadcast live by the HBO channel; it has since been the highest rated program to air on HBO and had the largest TV audience in history.
In October 2005, it was decided to rebuild the stadium completely; however, initially no funding was found, so some repairs proceeded in lieu of rebuilding. Later, funds became available and the rebuilding is expected to begin in November 2007. The plan calls for completion of a new five-star arena by April 2010. The last football match played was a 6-1 win against Albania on November 21, 2007. After the match, a few seats were removed from the stadium, as a symbolic start of the rebuilding operations. The stadium has subsequently been demolished to make room for a new one.
Attendance
List of matches of Romania national football team on National Stadium (former 23 August), with more than 80,000 persons.