Baku Olympic Stadium – tournament stadium description

Baku Olympic Stadium's Euro 2020 games

Average attendance: 15,497

Location

Azerbaijan's national stadium is the main part of sports and recreation complex located northeast of the country's capital, near Lake Boyukshor. Because of its scale and exposition, the venue has its own transport hub, roughly 850 metres south. It's served by both the red and green subway lines, as well as the Sabunchu light rail line. Slightly closer to the stadium, fans can find stops of 7 bus lines.

History of the stadium

Design works of the facility lasted 7 years. The Turkish architectural studio TOCA was developing design documentation from 2006 to 2010. In the last year of the aforementioned works, it finally presented the first concept for the appearance of the venue.

In the first place, it was necessary to pump out thousands of tons of extremely industrially contaminated water. After the local reservoirs were drained and soil was brought from another site, the plot on the shores of Lake Boyukshor could become a construction site.

Works started in the summer of 2011, but it took another two years to start laying the foundations. At that time, the Korean company Heerim, which managed the investment, created an updated concept of the stadium. Due to a very tight schedule, construction had to start before the design works were completed.

Architecture

Enclosed in circular shape, the stadium covers a massive 225,000 square metres. Spectator access is possible via three large ramps leading to elevated esplanade surrounding the building. From there 26 gates lead to the stands. Interestingly, the roof of the facility does not protect all fans from rain, especially those sitting in the lowest rows.

The facade of the stadium is covered with loosely placed ETFE cushions. Not building an opaque facade made the venue easier to ventilate while not impeding its ability to transform into giant screen at night.

Other events

The arena regularly hosts the Azerbaijani national team and matches of the country's champions, if they qualify for the Champions League. In 2019, the Europa League final took place at the stadium. In 2015, the opening and closing ceremonies of the European Games were also held there. As part of the aforementioned event, athletics competitions were organized at the facility.

Euro 2020 capacity

Bakı Olimpiya Stadionu will host a maximum of 34,000 spectators during Euro 2020. This will be 50% of the stadium's total capacity. The conditions for the participation of fans from abroad include meeting the visa requirements and a negative test for the presence of coronavirus.