Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use

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 either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

, Croatia, which has been the

home ground In sports, home is the place and venue identified with a team sport. Most professional teams are named for, and marketed to, particular metropolitan areas; amateur teams may be drawn from a particular region, or from institutions such as sch ...

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 197 ...

football club since 1979. The stadium is located in the neighbourhood of Poljud, which belongs to city district of Spinut. It was opened in September 1979, and has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

of 33.987 The venue was built to host the

1979 Mediterranean Games The 1979 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the VIII Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Split 1979, were the 8th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Split, Yugoslavia, from 15 to 29 September 1979, where 2,408 athletes (2,00 ...

and was opened by then

Yugoslav president This article lists the heads of state of Yugoslavia from the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) in 1918 until the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992. The Kingdom of Yugoslavi ...

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his death ...

. It had an original capacity of 55,000, increased to 62,000 in the 1980s, before being equipped with seats in the 1990s thus reducing the capacity to 33.987 Poljud Stadium was also the venue for the

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

and

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

, while from 2013 to 2018, it hosted

Ultra Europe Ultra Europe is a multi-venue outdoor electronic music festival that is a part of Ultra Music Festival's worldwide expansion, which has now spread to twenty countries. Ultra Europe made its debut as a two-day festival during 12–13 July 2013, a ...

annually.

Design

Its trademark is a seashell-like design by Croatian architect

Boris Magaš Boris Magaš ( Karlovac, August 22, 1930 – Rijeka, October 24, 2013) was a Croatian architect and architectural theorist, former Secretary of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and recipient of the Croatian National order of chivalry ...

with a roof structure spanning at 206×47 meters. Its design offers views of nearby hills and forests from the stands, modelled after ancient Greek theaters. Suspended on the west roof "shell" are 19 cabins, 7 of them are used by TV reporters, with the others occupied by cameras, central referee station,

photo finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...

, scoreboard, audio control, etc. All of these are interconnected via a catwalk that runs through a structure spanning the entire roof giving access to the cabins, as well as to the 630

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

lights, placed along the brim and inner side of the roof. The Hajduk Split - Dinamo Zagreb derby

Stands are supported by a construction of reinforced concrete with entrances via 12 bridges placed 30–40 meters apart around the entire stadium as well as eight staircases. Underneath them is a trench holding office areas. The area around the stadium is composed of 60,000 square meters of designed landscape with greenery designated for pedestrians, with the stadium slightly beneath the grade level of surrounding traffic roads. Placed under the western stands are 11,000 square meters of sports facilities (three gyms, pool, sauna), official club offices and restaurants, while the eastern stands cover 9,100 square meters of business areas. The inner stadium ground is composed of 105x68 meters football pitch and 8 running tracks surrounding it. The stadium was refurbished before hosting the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

competition. A new

tartan track Tartan Track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. It lets athletes compete in bad weather without serious performance loss and improves their r ...

was constructed, including the introduction of new VIP boxes and seats. In October 2014, following heavy damage from Ultra Europe, a new pitch and drainage system were constructed, replacing the original ones that lasted for 35 years. In November 2015 the stadium was officially recognized as culture heritage. Poljud - VIP stands

Poljud stadium with its architect Boris Magas and Mero roof structure

International fixtures

References

External links

Virtual TourStadium photos at stadionwelt.deAerial Photo from Google Maps
{{European Athletics Championships stadiums Sports venues in Split, Croatia Football venues in Croatia

Stadion Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. ...

Athletics (track and field) venues in Croatia

Sports venues completed in 1979 Football venues in Yugoslavia Athletics (track and field) venues in Yugoslavia