Yesterday, we looked at a special new national stadium project in Albania. Today, we look at a recently completed national football stadium in Bucharest, Romania.
Photo by Filip Ghinea - Photography Chronicles
On 6 September 2011, Bucharest’s new 55,600 capacity national stadium opened as Romania hosted France in a Euro 2012 qualifier.
Photo by Filip Ghinea - Photography Chronicles
The new stadium has been built on the site of the old Romanian national stadium, itself originally opened in 1953.
Construction on the new stadium began in 2008, and the total cost was €234 million ($320 million).
The stadium features a retractable roof:
With a video board (somewhat reminiscent of BC Place in Vancouver) holding it all together in the middle:
Photo by Filip Ghinea - Photography Chronicles
The national stadium’s color-scheme is designed to match the colors of Romania’s national flag.
Photo by Alexandru Stoian
The stadium is located just outside the center of Bucharest, in the Lia Manoliu sports complex:
Unfortunately, while the stadium looks fantastic, it quickly became apparent during the Romania-France game – not a friendly, remember, but a competitive qualifier for Euro 2012 – that the grass was in no condition to play on. New turf has since been installed. The national stadium will host the 2012 UEFA Europa League final….presuming the grass is alright, anyway.
Special thanks to Photography Chronicles, Alexandru Stoian and pithicool for use of their fantastic photos.
