Doosan Arena

Doosan Arena, previously known as Stadion mesta Plzne (Plzen City Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Plzen, Czech Republic. It is located in Strunc Park near the confluence of the Mze and Radbuza rivers. The stadium is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Viktoria Plzen. The stadium holds 11,700 people. It is also known as Stadion ve Struncovych sadech (Stadium in Strunc Park), named after Emil Strunc, a former regional chieftain of the Sokol Movement (some people incorrectly think it is named after a famous local footballer Stanislav Strunc).

History

The stadium was opened in 1955 for the regional Spartakiad. After various construction enlargements, its capacity was 35,000 people, 7,600 of which were seated. In 2002–03 it underwent reconstruction to comply with the needs of football association and the capacity lowered significantly to 7,425 people.

2011 reconstruction

In April 2011, work costing approximately 360 million Czech koruna got under way to modernise the stadium in line with UEFA criteria. While the reconstruction was in progress, the capacity of the stadium was reduced to 3,500 spectators. At the end of August 2011, part of the 2011 reconstruction had finished, leaving the stadium with a new capacity of around 8,500. In December 2011, the reconstruction was finished with a resultant capacity of almost 12,000.

In 2011, Plzen played in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League group stage. However, home matches were played at Synot Tip Arena in Prague due to the reconstruction. In January 2012, the stadium was approved for use in Plzen's 2011–12 UEFA Europa League match with Schalke 04.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Doosan Arena (russian)