The Stade de Luxembourg is the

national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

of the

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg ...

, located in the

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

quarter of

Gasperich Gasperich (, ) is a quarter in southern Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. , the quarter has a population of 10,208 inhabitants. In 2017, major building works began on a new development providing for dozens of large office buildings, hun ...

. The stadium is host to Luxembourg's national

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 ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

teams, as well as the final of the Coupe de Luxembourg, and is listed as a Category 4 stadium by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

allowing it to host international matches. Construction on the stadium occurred between September 2017 and July 2021, missing the original 2019 target date for completion. On 1 September 2021, the stadium marked its official opening by hosting its first international match between the Luxembourg and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

men's football teams as part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The inauguration ceremony for the stadium took place later that month, on 25 September. The Stade de Luxembourg replaces the outdated Josy Barthel stadium, due for demolition.

Design and construction

The stadium's design was drawn up by local architectural firm Beng Architectes Associés in conjunction with the Hamburg-based

Gerkan, Marg and Partners Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) is an international architectural company based in Hamburg, Germany. The company was founded in 1965 by Meinhard von Gerkan and , and now has more than 300 employees in 13 offices. In the same year the archi ...

, and selected from a total of 25 submissions by Luxembourg's Minister of Sport and the

Mayor of Luxembourg City The Mayor of Luxembourg City (; ) is the mayor of Luxembourg's Capital city, capital and List of towns in Luxembourg, largest city, Luxembourg City. The officeholder, like other mayors in Luxembourg, is appointed by the Monarchy of Luxembourg, Gran ...

in September 2014. The final design and construction plans were approved by a unanimous vote of Luxembourg City councillors on 5 December 2016. Initial ground works on the stadium began in March 2017, with construction work commencing on 21 August 2017, and an official ground breaking ceremony in the presence of Mayor

Lydie Polfer Lydie Polfer (born 22 November 1952) is a Luxembourgish politician of the Democratic Party who has served as Mayor of Luxembourg City since 2013, having previously held the role from 1982 to 1999. She has served in a number of other capacities, ...

held on 18 September 2017. Works were due to be completed by October 2019, with an estimated cost, at the beginning of construction, of 61.1 million

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

, with 40 million euros to be covered by the Ministry of Sport, and the rest by the Luxembourg City municipality. However, due to construction delays, the stadium's completion was initially put back until 2020, before finally being completed in July 2021. Construction costs were revised up to approximately 80 million euros, with the Luxembourg City administration paying for the overrun.

Specifications

Due to its location alongside the A6 motorway, the stadium is situated along an east–west axis, in place of the more traditional north–south axis used for stadia. The stadium is designed to hold a capacity of 9,386 spectators with fully covered seating for sporting events, and can hold up to 15,000 spectators for

concerts A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

. The main

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 ...

is situated along the south side of the field. To cope with its dual purpose as a

and

venue, as well as hosting occasional concerts, the stadium is equipped with a

hybrid grass Hybrid grass or reinforced natural grass is a product created by combining natural lawn grass with reinforcing synthetic fibres. It is used for stadiums and training pitches used for association football, rugby, gridiron football and cricket. ...

playing surface.

Name

The name of the stadium was revealed as the "Stade de Luxembourg" at a press conference in July 2020. In September 2020, the Luxembourg

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

rejected a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

to amend the name using the

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...

language after it failed to gather the minimum amount of required signatures.

Public transit

Since the completion of the Cloche d'Or branch of Luxembourg City's new tramline in July 2024, the stadium is served by the "Stadion" tram terminus. A 2,000-space

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

car park is located next to the stadium's Route d'Esch entrance.

References

External links

*
Stadium DatabasePhotos
a
cafe.daum.net/stade
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Football venues in Luxembourg

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Sports venues in Luxembourg City Gerkan, Marg and Partners buildings