The Letná Stadium ( ), is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. It is the home venue of

AC Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional association football, football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in cen ...

and often hosts the home matches of the

Czech Republic national football team The Czech Republic national football team (), recognised by FIFA as Czechia, represents the Czech Republic in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR). H ...

. The stadium's capacity is 18,887 seats.

History

The first

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

en stadium at its location opened in 1921. The origins of

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

in Prague can be traced back to races held at the stadium, starting on 9 June 1928. It is unknown as to when the track was removed. In 1930 it hosted the third Women's World Games. The stadium burned in 1934 and a new main

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

was built in 1937. In 1969 all the other grandstands were replaced by reinforced concrete ones and capacity was extended to 35,880 spectators. The 1994 reconstruction into its present form saw Letná closed for nine months, until the stadium met all international standards. The

running track An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...

was removed and all spectator places were now seated. Letná has frequently hosted international matches, in October 1989 the venue saw a crowd of 34,000 watch home side

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

defeat

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in a qualifying match for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Letná continued as an international stadium, hosting matches of the

from 1995, including qualification matches for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

, in which the Czechs defeated the Netherlands and Norway. The playing surface was renovated in 2001, including the installation of a new

under-soil heating Under-soil heating is a method used in various sports stadia (with a grass surface) which heats the underside of the pitch to avoid any elements from bad weather, such as snow and ice, from building up and ultimately helps the club avoid having ...

and watering system. This necessitated Sparta playing league matches at the end of the 2000–01 season at the nearby

Stadion Evžena Rošického Stadion Evžena Rošického, also known simply as Strahov, is a multi-purpose stadium in Strahov, Prague in the Czech Republic. It hosted the 1978 European Athletics Championships and for many years this was the venue for main annual internati ...

. In 1994 the stadium was reopened after a complete modernization. The capacity was lowered to 20,854 seats. In 2009 major changes took place at the stadium – barriers between sections were removed, two video screens were installed and infrared radiators were installed to heat the eastern stand. The capacity has been 18,887 since 2009.

Czech Republic national football team matches

Development of the name

*1917–2003: Letná Stadium *2003–2007: Toyota Arena *2007–2009: AXA Arena *2009–2020: Generali Arena *2020–2022: Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena *September 2022–November 2022: Letná Stadium *November 2022–present: epet ARENA

Non-football activities

Since the beginning the stadium has been used as a speaking tribune for events that took place in front of it, in/around the Milada Horaková street and the large " Letná Plain". During the

Velvet revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

in 1989, some 800,000 people assembled for anti-government demonstrations at the Letná plain. The speaking tribune was later removed.

Transport connections

The stadium is served by the tram lines 1, 2, 8, 12, 25 and 26. The tram stop ''Sparta'' is in front of the stadium in Milada Horáková Street. The nearest metro stations are Vltavská to the east and Hradčanská to the west.

References

External links

Generali Arena at the official AC Sparta Prague website

Photo gallery and data at Erlebnis-stadion.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Generali Arena Sports venues completed in 1917 Football venues in Prague Czech First League venues

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

AC Sparta Prague 1917 establishments in Austria-Hungary 20th-century establishments in Bohemia Prague 7