Asta Arena – stadium description

What is Asta Arena like in brief?

The stadium on Bydgoska Street was built before World War II, when Piła was still within Germany’s borders. At the time, its main tenant was the football club Erika Schneidemühl, and the venue was known as Erika-Sportplatz.

After World War II, the stadium was expanded. Although football matches continued to be played there, the venue gradually became associated primarily with speedway. However, the sport appeared in Piła only irregularly – after the team withdrew following the 1967 season, league racing disappeared from the stadium for a quarter of a century.

The return of speedway in the 1990s proved highly successful and marked the beginning of the best period in the history of speedway in Piła. Polonia Piła became one of the country’s leading teams, with the club’s greatest achievement coming in 1999, when it won the Polish championship. After relegation from the Ekstraliga in 2003, a difficult period of ups and downs followed.

The venue has also hosted a number of prestigious speedway events, including the 1997 Speedway World Team Cup Final.

The most recent major modernization of the stadium took place in 2024–2025, when the stands were rebuilt and new floodlight masts were installed, among other upgrades. Today, the venue has a capacity of just over 4,000 spectators, while the speedway track is 348.8 m long. Since 2023, following a sponsorship agreement, the stadium’s official name has been Asta Arena.

What is the pre-war history of the speedway stadium in Piła?

During the interwar period, the area where the present speedway stadium of Polonia Piła is located, was leased by the football club Erik Schneidemühl from the owner of a nearby restaurant, August Batzdorf. The club arranged its pitch here, and in 1927-1928 built its stadium. The former team leader Gustav Kroll played a major role in the construction of the venue. The arena was known as Erika-Sportplatz before the war.

What were the beginnings of speedway racing at the stadium in Bydgoska Street in Piła?

After World War II, Piła became part of Poland. Soon after the war, the first speedway competitions were organised in the stadium. The facility was later extended, and the club Polonia Piła, which used it in the years 1956-1967, participated in the second and third league competitions.

Before the 1968 season, the club, largely due to financial problems, withdrew from the league. For the next quarter of a century, the stadium did not host any league races, although individual speedway tournaments were occasionally organised there.

When was speedway revived at Polonia Piła stadium?

In the early 1990s steps were taken to bring a speedway team back to Piła. In December 1990 a founding meeting of the Foundation for Rebuilding the Speedway Track in Piła was held. Thanks to the hard work of many people, in the 1992 season Polonia joined the second league competition.

One of the biggest investments in the stadium in the 1990s was the assembly of benches on the eastern stand, as well as the construction of a modern referee tower, putting up a digital scoreboard and building a stage as well as a club building.

When did the golden age of Polonia Piła take place?

In 1994 Polonia advanced to the first league (since 2000 under the name Ekstraliga). It was the beginning of the best period in the history of Piła speedway. In the years 1996-2000, Polonia speedway riders kept their place on the podium of the Polish team championship, in 1999 winning the national championship.

In that period, Polonia brought up many talented riders, such as Rafał Dobrucki, Jarosław Hampel or Tomasz Gapiński, and in its team performed a titled Dane, Hans Nielsen.

How is the situation of Piła speedway going in the 21st century?

In 2003 the club was relegated from Ekstraliga. At the end of the year the team was dissolved. In its place, a new entity was created under the name PKŻ Polonia, which joined the second league competition. It was the beginning of a difficult period of ups and downs, during which the name of the club changed many times and there were hiatuses in functioning. In the spring of 2022, after a two-season break, the club was once again revived and joined the competition.

What speedway racing events were held at the Polonia Piła stadium?

Apart from league competitions, other important speedway races have taken place at the stadium. The venue on Bydgoska Street has hosted, among others, the finals of the World Team Cup (1997), the Under-21 World Championship (1998, 2013 – one of the final rounds), the European Pairs Championships (2011) or the European Club Cup (2000), as well as the final of the Golden Helmet (Turniej o Złoty Kask) (2018).

The final of The Golden Helmet tournament was also supposed to be held at the Piła stadium in 2019, but just before the start of the competition some riders questioned the condition of the track and the event, in a controversial manner, was canceled.

What were the latest changes to the speedway stadium in Piła?

In December 2020, Piła mayor Piotr Głowski and the director of the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre, Dariusz Kubicki, announced plans for the modernization of the stadium during a press conference. In October 2021, the city received funding for the project from the “Polski Ład” government programme.

Due to problems with settling the tender procedure, only limited works were carried out in 2023, including the modernization of the speedway track, installation of a drainage system, replacement of the safety barriers, and irrigation of the football pitch. The main phase of the redevelopment began in February 2024 and lasted around a year.

As part of the investment, the stands were rebuilt and fitted with individual seats, while also being adapted for disabled spectators. At the same time, however, the stadium’s capacity was reduced from 12,000 to around 4,000 seats. The floodlighting and sound system were also replaced, and the circulation layout around the venue was reorganized.

Ahead of the 2026 season, following Polonia Piła’s promotion to the 2. Ekstraliga, further works were carried out in order to meet licensing requirements, including upgrades to the paddock area.

What are the specifications of the speedway track in Piła?

The speedway track at the stadium is 348.8 m long, with a width of 10 m on the straights and 15 m on the bends. The venue is equipped with floodlights. Inside the track there is a football pitch with slightly below-standard dimensions. The stands have a capacity of 4,029 seats.

What is the name of the speedway stadium in Piła?

In the summer of 2023, the venue received a title sponsor, which became the telecommunications provider ASTA-NET. The stadium thus changed its name to Asta Arena. The contract was signed for five years.