Neo GSP – stadium description

Inspired by modernist art., the New national stadium of Cyprus was built in 1999 as the main arena of a multi-use Pancypria complex in the southern outskirts of Nicosia. Neo GSP, as the name suggests, replaced the old GSP stadium that existed in downtown. The GSP abbreviation stands for Gymnastikos Sullogos Pankipria, or the Pancypria Gymnastic Association who operate it.

The complex consists of three conjoined stadia, two of them athletic. The third is football-specific and it’s precisely the one we’re covering here. Its most distinctive feature is the waved roof supported by 16 masts and rising above the landscape like the mountains in the background. The roof only covers a portion of the main stand, but at the same time the entire main stand of the secondary athletics stadium beside it.

The western grandstand of Neo GSP houses almost all of the infrastructure within the stadium, including player, media and club facilities, as well as 31 private boxes. Overall the stadium holds over 22,500 people, which makes it the single largest in Cyprus.

It’s also the only venue meeting all major UEFA criteria, which is why it hosts majority of the national team games and club fixtures within European competitions. Interestingly, Neo GSP has also served as an “asylum” for teams from Israel and Ukraine when their countries weren’t considered safe.

On a weekly basis the stadium has two grand hosts, the Cypriot powerhouses APOEL and Omonia. Derbies between them are the greatest domestic fixtures played here, including both opening and attendance-record matches. But while the first 15 years of tenancy increased their average crowds significantly, neither club can fill more than a third of available seats on a regular basis.