Gradski vrt Stadium ( hr, Stadion Gradski vrt, lit=City Garden Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Osijek, Croatia. It is located in the Gradski vrt neighbourhood in Novi grad city district. With a capacity of 17,061, it has been the home ground of two Croatian football clubs,

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek ( en, Osijek Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav ...

and Fortuna VNO Osijek.

History

Construction started in 1949, but works were stopped several times. The first match played on the ground of Gradski Vrt was played between

and

FK Sloboda Tuzla Fudbalski klub Sloboda Tuzla ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Слободa Tyзла; English: Football Club Sloboda Tuzla) is a Bosnian professional football club based in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The English translation of the tea ...

on 7 September 1958. In 1980, the stadium was officially opened. In 1982, the record of stadium attendance was broken, on the football match between

and

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. At that match, there were 40,000 attendants. The result was 1–2. In 1998 seats and reflectors were installed. In 2005, the stadium was renovated. Under the west stand, VIP rooms were set and the lodge was rearranged, adding 1,000 new seats. The athletics track was reconstructed, repainted from red to blue. After this renovation, the stadium has fulfilled

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's stadium criteria. In the same year, the stadium was a part of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

's failed bid for the

2012 European Football Championship The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

. At that time a project of a new stadium with a larger capacity was presented. In 2010, the stadium was again repaired: the pitch was relaid, fences were painted and the seats were numbered. The reason was a friendly match between

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, which was held on 23 May that year. In May 2016, the stadium hosted the Croatian Cup final.

Future

In April 2018,

president

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...

released plans for a new stadium for the club. A new state of the art stadium will be built at the Pampas neighbourhood in Osijek as part of the new NK Osijek training centre. The capacity of the new stadium will be 13,000, with all of the seats covered. The stadium will be UEFA category four and is supposed to be finished in Autumn 2022. During the stadium construction, NK Osijek will play their home games at the current stadium, which is in the future going to be used as the main stadium for the NK Osijek B squad.

International fixtures

Gallery

File:Gradski vrt stadium, Osijek.JPG, West stand (before 2005 renovation) File:Stadion NK Osijek 2 rujna 2008 1.jpg, East stand (after 2005 renovation).

References

External links

Stadion Gradski vrt at Stadium Guide
NK Osijek Sports venues in Osijek Football venues in Croatia Athletics (track and field) venues in Croatia Football venues in Yugoslavia Athletics (track and field) venues in Yugoslavia Buildings and structures in Osijek-Baranja County 1980 establishments in Yugoslavia Sports venues completed in 1980 {{Croatia-sports-venue-stub