Ferencvaros Stadion

The Ferencvaros Stadion, also known as the Groupama Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium in Ferencvaros, Budapest, Hungary and the home of Ferencvarosi TC. With a capacity of 22,000, the stadium was for a time the largest in Hungary (between the demolition of the larger Ferenc Puskas Stadium in 2017 and the opening of the Puskas Arena in November 2019). It was built on the site of the former Florian Albert Stadium, the club's previous home, which was demolished in 2013.

The French insurance group Groupama purchased the naming rights to the stadium. However, this name cannot be used when hosting FIFA and UEFA events, since these governing bodies have policies forbidding corporate sponsorship from companies that are not official tournament partners.

History

Planning

Since 1911, Ferencvaros had played their home games at Stadion Albert Florian, originally named Ulloi uti Stadion. The stadium had had a major upgrade from 1971 to 1974, and in the 21st century the club desired a stadium with an expanded capacity. Reconstruction of Stadion Albert Florian was rejected for financial reasons, and plans to demolish the stadium and replace it with an entirely new structure were presented at a press conference in April 2012 by Gabor Kubatov, the president of Ferencvaros. The proposed capacity of 22,600 would make it the second biggest stadium in Hungary.

The new stadium would be reorientated 90° and closer to Gyali ut, with a pitch 10 cm below ground level. Corporate hospitality, a restaurant, shop and museum were all planned, along with expanded changing facilities.

Construction

Market epito Zrt won the tender to construct the stadium, with a projected cost of 13.5 billion Ft. Construction started on 28 March 2013, with an estimated completion time of autumn 2014.

On 24 May 2013, Balazs Furjes, MP of the Hungarian Parliament and person responsible for the investment, announced that the stadium would be finished on

This page also has a version in other languages :  Групама Арена (russian)