New stadiums: Something from the islands for last quarterfinalists

source: StadiumDB.com; author: michał

New stadiums: Something from the islands for last quarterfinalists Italy and Iceland complete the list of eight quarterfinalists, so there’s one new stadium in our database for each of these countries. Check out Trapani and Kópavogur.

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We know all of the teams left in the race to win Euro 2016. Italy and Iceland are the last two and we’ll spare everyone Brexit jokes after the upset by Iceland, let’s simply enjoy one stadium from each country.

Euro 2016

 

Euro 2016 Stadio Polisportivo Provinciale, Trapani

Planned in 1950s, the main football and athletic stadium for Trapani was actually located outside the administrative limits of the town, in Casa Santa. Lying near the Eryx mountain it offers a magnificent view from the west stand but, somewhat ironically, the west stand wasn’t part of the initial plan.

Euro 2016

Upon groundbreaking in 1957 the stadium was to have crescent-shaped seating bowl with no terracing in the west. If built, the stands designed by Cesare Macaluso would have held up to 12,000 people, but the structure was never finished, only getting some 60% of the planned crescent and no stands in the south.

In 1987 the layout changed as the new western grandstand was opened, holding almost 2,000 people under a roof. Further major changes only came after 2013, when Trapani Calcio signed a long-term lease and operation contract for the stadium. It was agreed that the 8-lane athletics track can be destroyed in order to bring fans closer to the field. Tubular stands for home fans (north) and traveling ones (south) were erected, creating an almost “rectangular layout”. Also, new seating, floodlights and synthetic turf were delivered, allowing the stadium to meet Serie B requirements.

 

Euro 2016 Kópavogsvöllur, Kópavogur

The town of Kópavogur lies directly south of Reykjavik and is among Iceland’s largest municipalities. This stadium is its biggest one, accompanied by training fields around. It was opened with its running track and a very small east stand back in 1975.

Euro 2016

Thanks to the construction of a large western stand in 2008-2009, it became one of the best and also biggest throughout Iceland. The new grandstand holds almost 1,500 people under cover, while also providing three floors for sporting infrastructure. This comes handy as the stadium is used by two local clubs Breiðablik (2nd league) and HK (1st league).

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