AEK Athens' facility named Stadium of the Year 2022! OPAP Arena beat off strong competition to become one of the thirteen past winners of the Stadium of the Year contest. In addition to the AEK Athens arena, 35 other venues from six continents took part in the competition.

Strong rivals

In this edition of the contest, there were several stadiums that were considered favorites right off the bat by the editors of StadiumDB.com. Lusail Stadium, Jakarta International Stadium, or Polish venues - Stadion Floriana Krygiera and Stadion Władysława Króla - were seen as the main candidates to win the title. Although the podium was completed by arenas from Poland, if we added up the points won by them, still OPAP Arena would have more points. Check out full results! And here we have the top 10:

1. OPAP Arena (69,797 points)
2. Stadion Miejski im. Floriana Krygiera (23,201 points)
3. Stadion Miejski im. Władysława Króla (20,127 points)
4. Lusail Stadium (18,279 points)
5. Allianz Stadium (18,257 points)
6. Alphamega Stadium (17 606 points)
7. Jakarta International Stadium (17,301 points)
8. Stade du Senegal (15,386 points)
9. Chengdu Fenghuangshan Football Stadium (13,471 points)
10. Stadionul Rapid-Giulesti (12,006 points)

The competition for Stadium of the Year 2022 lasted from February 15 for less than 30 days. A total of 24,524 people voted - twice as many as last year! OPAP Arena accumulated 69,797 points, and the mobilization of the club, fans and people around the stadium is truly admirable. However, we congratulate all participants in the competition and thank all of you for so many votes! 

A well-deserved Greek victory

The Athens arena stands out not only for its dedicated fans. Many people from outside Greece also cast one of their votes for OPAP Arena. In addition to the functionality and modernity the stadium boasts, it also fits in well with the surrounding neighborhood and Athens. The predominantly cream color of the facility harmonizes with the buildings around it, as well as the park - the Nea Filadelfeia Forest - that stretches behind the north stand.

Remarkably, thanks to the new arena, AEK Athens has more than doubled its attendance at league matches compared to last season. Currently, an average of 25,926 spectators per game come to the OPAP Arena, making the stands more than 80 percent full. Check out the video containing photos and footage of the winning stadium and its surroundings. Thanks to this material, you will get to know even more about the facility, which was chosen as the best stadium built in 2022!

Stadium of the Year in the world of media

There's no doubt that local fans and the media, which covered the competition in the largest number around the world, played a big role in OPAP Arena's victory. The contest was written about in the popular Greek website Sport24, on the official website of AEK Athens, and on dozens of other websites and forums.

The poll also resonated in other parts of the world. In Australia, the nomination of Allianz Stadium was written about by the Sydney Times, and the participation of Lusail Stadium was mentioned in the pages of The Peninsula. ConstructAfrica wrote about participation of Stade de Yamoussoukro an the article on Sibiu stadium appeared on Romanian website Tribuna.