Arena Națională ({{IPA-ro|aˈrena nat͡si.oˈnalə}}, National Arena) is the national stadium of Romania, in the Lia Manoliu National Sports Complex in Bucharest. Opened in 2011, it replaced the former National Stadium. It was built for the Romania national football team, hosting its games as well as the Romanian Cup Final and the Romanian Supercup.

The 2012 UEFA Europa League Final was held at the new stadium. This was the first final of a major European football club competition hosted by Romania.^[4] UEFA has announced that the UEFA Euro 2020 Finals would be held in multiple cities all over Europe in a pan-European tournament format to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the tournament. On 19 September 2014 Bucharest has won the UEFA Euro 2020 bids and it was decided that the National Arena will host four matches (as part of the 'Standard Package'), consisting of three group stage matches + one round of 16/quarter-final match.

Construction

The old stadium was demolished between 18 December 2007 and 20 February 2008, although a symbolic removal of seats took place on 21 November 2007, after Romania defeated Albania 6-1 in a qualifying match for Euro 2008.

The construction phase generated some controversy over costs and delays, with Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu claiming that the works were 20 weeks behind schedule in May 2009.^[5]

On 8 October 2009, it was decided that the stadium should also include a retractable roof worth €20,000,000.^[6]

Construction was temporarily halted in December 2009 due to unfavorable weather conditions.^[7]

Facilities

The venue holds 55,634 people. 3,600 VIP seats are available, with another 126 seats allotted for the press (with a possible expansion to 548 seats). The stadium includes some 360 restrooms and a retractable roof, which can be opened or closed in 15 minutes. It is also endowed with a floodlight system and 2100 parking spaces.^[8] The roof design is very similar to that of the National Stadium in Warsaw. These two stadiums also have a similar capacity and age.

Usage

The National Stadium is a Category 4 venue and as such, it hosted the UEFA Europa League 2011–12 final, as announced by UEFA at Nyon on 29 January 2009.^[9] It was required to host at least two major events beginning in July 2011, one with an attendance of 10,000 and the second with an attendance of at least 40,000.^[8]

History

The official inauguration was initially scheduled for 10 August 2011, and was to feature a football match between Romania and Argentina.^[10]

However, on 26 July, Argentina officially cancelled the friendly match after their manager Sergio Batista departed the team, so the stadium was instead inaugurated on 6 September 2011, with a UEFA Euro 2012 Group D qualifier match between Romania and France.^[11] The game ended 0–0 in front of a crowd of 49,137.

Notable high audience matches

The highest audience for a football game was achieved at the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match between Romania and Netherlands, hosted on 16 October 2012, which brought 53,329 people to the stadium.^[11][12]

The 2nd highest audience was achieved at the UEFA Europa League Final hosted on 9 May 2012. The game between the two Spanish teams, Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, brought 52,347 people to the stadium.^[13]

Association Football

Romania national football team matches

On 6 September 2011, the Romanian national football team, played the opening match against the French team which ended with a goalless draw, after Argentina cancelled the official inauguration, a friendly match between Romania and Argentina on 10 August 2011.

These are the matches played at Arena Națională by Romania:

Concerts

Transport

The stadium is served by public transport with buses, trolleybuses, trams and the subway system.

See also

• Stadionul Național (1953)
• List of football stadiums in Romania

References

External links

• Arena Națională Official website

  title = UEFA Europa League
Final Venue|  before = ''Aviva Stadium''
''Dublin''|  after = ''Amsterdam Arena''
''Amsterdam''|  years = '''2012'''