Arto Tolsa Areena is a
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 ...
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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
in
Kotka
Kotka (; ) is a town in Finland, located on the southeastern coast of the country at the mouth of the Kymi River. The population of Kotka is approximately , while the Kotka-Hamina sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is th ...
,
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. It is the home stadium of
Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat
Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (abbreviated as KTP) is a Finnish association football, football club based in Kotka, and currently competing in Finland's top-tier, the Veikkausliiga. The club was founded in 1927 and its colours are green and whi ...
(KTP). The stadium holds 4,780 and was inaugurated in 1952 for the
Helsinki Olympics. The stadium's record attendance was made during the Olympic Games in the
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 ...
match between the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, the score having been 2–1
a.e.t. Depending on the source, the record is 10,000, or 10,637 or 10,950.
Arto Tolsa Areena used to be known as "Urheilukeskus" ("Sports Center" in Finnish). It got its current name after it was renovated around the turn of millennium. The current name comes from
Arto Tolsa
Arto Vilho Tolsa (9 August 1945 – 30 March 1989) was a Finnish footballer.
Career
Tolsa started his career in his hometown of Kotka, playing for Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat. He was promoted to first team as a 16 year old for 1962 second ...
, who was a legendary
Finnish player of Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat, the predecessor of KTP.
The covered main stand holds 2,500 spectators. The size of the pitch is 105 by 65 metres. The power of the lighting system is 1200
lux
The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the irradiance, as perceived by ...
.
At the beginning of the 2015 season, the pitch was converted to an artificial playing surface. In May 2024, a new stand was completed.
Kotkan uuteen jalkapallokatsomoon rakennettiin vip-tilat Uefan avulla – tavoitteena saada kaupunkiin lisää maaotteluita
Yle
Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...
, 12 April 2024
References
Venues of the 1952 Summer Olympics
Football venues in Finland
Sports venues completed in 1952
Kotka
Buildings and structures in Kymenlaakso
Sport in Kymenlaakso
{{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub