Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadyumu – stadium description

Though it bears the exact same name as its predecessor (May 19 Stadium), this one is a completely different structure, built in a new location. Along the nationwide strategy, the old ground's land was set for sale, while the modern replacement was pushed away from the city centre. In fact, pushed outside the city altogether, to the growing suburb of Tekkeköy. Here, beside a brand new raised highway, indoor arena and congress centre, well over 100,000 square meters for a 34,000-capacity stadium was selected.

The design was created by renowned Turkish architect Bahadir Kul, who created an almost fluent outer form with partially-covered promenade that spans far beyond the stadium bowl in the south. In reality this bold idea didn't turn out as impressive.

Some of the clear lines were lost in construction, though it should be noted that cost was the primary cause. Otherwise, all design features from early renderings were included. The stadium is lower in the south and has larger glass surface there to allow more sunlight to the field. Almost all of the bowl is opaque with only red mesh cutting the outer cladding into undulating segments.

Construction was officially launched in August 2013, though preliminary works were 6 months in at that time already. According to the contract, it was supposed to take 600 days to deliver. Unfortunately, these estimates soon proved wrong and growing delays allowed the building to be prepared in mid-2017, after almost 4 years of work.