The National Stadium, locally also referred to as Ta' Qali, officially known as Grawnd Nazzjonali ( Maltese for ''National Stadium''), is a stadium located in

Ta' Qali Ta' Qali is a wide open space in the limits of Attard and Mosta in central and northern Malta respectively, which contains the national football stadium, the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre, Ta' Qali National Park, a crafts village, and a natio ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. The stadium, which also contains the headquarters of the

Malta Football Association The Malta Football Association (MFA; mt, Assoċjazzjoni tal-Futbol ta' Malta) is the governing body of football in Malta. The Association organises the Maltese Football League and several other competitions, including a knockout competition ...

, seats 16,997 people and is, by far, the largest stadium in the country. It serves as the national football stadium of

and is the home stadium of the

Malta national football team The Malta national football team ( mt, Tim nazzjonali tal-futbol ta' Malta) represents Malta in international football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game pl ...

. The stadium, together with three other stadiums, also hosts the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

History

Background and early years

Although officially the new stadium was inaugurated on 6 December 1981 with a Maltese Premier League encounter between Zurrieq F.C. and Senglea Athletic F.C., certain records suggest that the stadium was already up and running by May 1981. Indeed, newspapers extracts indicate that the stadium hosted the final of the first ever national championship organised by the now defunct Malta Football Federation (not to be mixed with the

, which at that time was known as the Main Football Association) between Valletta Vanguards FC and Birkirkara St. Joseph Sports Club on 3 May 1981. The highest ever attendance at the Stadium was on during a 1986 World Cup Qualifier encounter between Malta and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

played on 16 December 1984, when 35,102 people turned up to watch Malta narrowly lose to the runners up of the previous

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

The Millennium Stand

Malta - Attard - Ta' Qali National Stadium 14 ies

On 3 September, 2002, the

inaugurated the Millennium Stand. The Millennium Stand replaced the 5,000 seater East Stand, which had been declared as a dangerous structure for a number of years by then and hence had to be demolished. The construction of the Millennium Stand, which cost Lm3.5 million, was regarded as the ''"biggest infrastructural project ever undertaken by the Malta Football Association"'' whereas the stand itself has been described as ''"the jewel in the Malta FA's crown"''. Ta' Qali National Stadium Main Tribune

Pitch Resurfacing

In 2016, the Maltese Football Association announced a €1.5 million project to replace the old grass surface with a modern hybrid grass surface, with the latter having been in service for 35 years. The project was conducted by SIS Pitches who are renowned for other works such as the Vodafone Arena and

iPro Stadium Pride Park Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Derby, England, that is the home ground of English Football League club Derby County. With a capacity of 33,597, it is the 16th-largest football ground in England and the 20th-largest stad ...

. The expenses were partly financed by

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 ...

and FIFA, with the rest being covered by the MFA.

Future

In July 2017, during the annual general meeting, the Malta Football Association announced five projects were announced by the association. Two of these projects, which also include the construction of new futsal hall and a parking adjacent to the Enclosure (West Stand), entail the re-development of the North and South Stands. A short clip shared by the association on its

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

page suggests that the space behind both the goals will be removed and the two stands will be moved closer to the pitch. The re-development also entails removal of the corners, making stadium an "English-style" venue.

Events

UEFA European Under-17 Championship

The National Stadium was Malta's main venue during its hosting of the

2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, an annual football competition between men's under-17 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first t ...

. The stadium hosted 7 matches in all, including the opening ceremony, 3 group stage games, the semi-finals and the final. 9,422 people turned up to watch

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 b ...

win the championship by beating

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on penalties.

Games of the Small States of Europe

The Xth edition of the

Games of the Small States of Europe The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) is a biennial multi-sport event, launched by the Republic of San Marino, organized by and featuring the National Olympic Committees of nine European small states since 1985. The Games are held at t ...

was held in Malta and the National Stadium was chosen to hold the Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony was spectacular as colour, dance and fireworks made the evening a memorable one for those present at the stadium.

References

External links

National Stadium
at mfa.com.mt
Ta’ Qali National Stadium
at StadiumDB.com {{portalbar, Association football Sports venues in Malta Football venues in Malta Athletics (track and field) venues in Malta

Attard Sports venues completed in 1981 1981 establishments in Malta Buildings and structures in Ta' Qali