Stadion im. Józefa Piłsudskiego (Stadion Cracovii) – until 2009

Capacity6 500
1100 (Covered seats)
350 (Visitors places)
Country Poland
CityKrakow
ClubsMKS Cracovia SSA
Build year1912
Last renovation year2005
Retire year2009
Other names Stadion Edwarda Cetnarowskiego (1940's), John Paul II Stadium (2005-2006), Promised Land (nickname).
Floodlights 1400 lux
Inauguration 31/03/1912 (Cracovia - Pogoń Lviv, 2-2)
Renovations 1915, 1925, 1926, 1946, 1966, 1969, 2005
Record attendance 35,000 (1961)
Design Franciszek Mączyński (1912)
Address Kaluzy 1, 30-111 Krakow

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Stadion Cracovii – historical stadium description

First, single-tiered wooden stands were erected in 1912 after half a year construction work. Financed by the club, but not on a ground owned by Cracovia – the terrain was leased from nearby Norbertan Sisters’ Order. On March 31st 1912 first game was played against Pogon Lviv, Poland’s oldest team back in the days.

At that time the ground was equipped with an athletics track and this is what was left after Russian army came to Krakow during WWI in 1914. Wood from the stands was supposedly used to supply resources to the army. New terracing was built in a few months and more changes came in 1925-1926. First stands were modified, then flooded in 1925 and then athletics track scrapped for a cycling track.

Not only flooding came as a natural disaster at Kaluzy St. In 1935 a hurricane torn off the main stand’s cover. Then in 1963 unknown perpetrators set fire to the stands which burnt down immediately. Another rebuilding took 3 years (1966) and redeveloping the cycling track another 3 years. Between the hurricane and fire a Nazi bomb landed in the stadium, destroying it partly back in 1939.

Though stands were redeveloped numerous times and the pitch was also moved slightly, this ground remains the oldest to be used in professional football in Poland. Current structure was built in 2010 along Polish-Spanish group Estudio Lamela’s design.

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Pictures

2007

2005

1925

1924

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