The Stadio San Nicola ( en,

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Dem ...

Stadium) is a multi-use all-seater stadium designed by

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Ital ...

, Italy. It is currently used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

matches and is the home stadium of

S.S.C. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promotion to Serie B for ...

. The stadium's design resembles a flower. To create this particular design, the stadium consists of 26 'petals' and upper tiers of the higher ring separated by 8-metre empty spaces, sufficient to guarantee satisfactory security conditions. Being the fourth largest football stadium in Italy after

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian N ...

, and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

's Stadio Diego Armando Maradona; as well as the second largest to be used by only one team, San Nicola holds 58,270 people, and was filled to capacity for the first time during a 2013–2014 Serie B playoff match for A.S. Bari in June 2014. Before that, the stadium's largest attendance was 52,000 for an A.S. Bari Serie A match during the 2009–10 season. The stadium was built in 1990 for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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 time (the first being ...

, during which it hosted five matches:

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

vs.

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

vs.

, and

vs.

in group B action; in the round of 16 matches,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

vs.

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

; and the third place match between

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It hosted the

1991 European Cup Final The 1991 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Italy, on 29 May 1991, that saw Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia defeat Marseille of France in a penalty shoot-out. After normal time and extra time could ...

, won by

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Be ...

. It was also the venue for the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

. The stadium hosted the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group B between Italy and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in March 2007, which Italy won 2–0, and was also a deciding match for the

Unofficial World Football Championships The Unofficial Football World Championships (UFWC) is an informal way of calculating the world's best international association football team, using a knock-out title system similar to that used in professional boxing. The UFWC was formalized a ...

. The Stadio San Nicola hosted Italy's

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

on 1 April 2009. Italy were booed off the field after Ireland shocked the nation by scoring in the 87th minute. The match ended in a 1–1 draw. The Stadio San Nicola before a match between SSC Bari and AZ Picerno in February 2020

The Stadio San Nicola before a match between SSC Bari and AZ Picerno in February 2020

1990 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues of the

, and held the following matches:

References

External links

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Stadiumguide Article

Video and photos of the San Nicola Stadium
S.S.C. Bari San Nicola San 1990 FIFA World Cup stadiums Buildings and structures in Bari Renzo Piano buildings Sports venues in Apulia Sports venues completed in 1990 {{Italy-sports-venue-stub