The Bolt Arena (named Telia 5G -areena until January 2020, named Sonera Stadium until April 2017, and Finnair Stadium until August 2010; also known as ''Töölön jalkapallostadion'', " Töölö football stadium") is a football

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 ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. It is named after the labour hire company Bolt.Works.

History

The stadium was inaugurated in 2000. It has a capacity of 10,770 spectators. Originally the ground had a natural grass pitch, but it was soon replaced with an artificial one because the grass couldn't get enough sun light. Since then the stadium has seen numerous artificial playing surfaces that have been gradually replaced. The most recent artificial pitch was installed in April 2015. The ground is located next to the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. Before the current stadium was constructed, it was known as the Helsinki Football Ground and hosted some of the football preliminaries for the 1952 Summer Olympics. It is the home stadium of HJK, HIFK, and is also used for some friendlies by the Finnish national team. It hosted the

2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship, was the tenth edition of FIFA U-17 World Championship. It was held in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku in Finland between 13 and 30 August 2003. Players born after 1 January 1986 could particip ...

as Töölö Stadium. The stadium was named as one of the stadiums that host the 2009 UEFA Women's Championship. For that tournament, the artificial turf covering the field was temporarily replaced with grass. In the 2016 domestic league season, tenants HJK Helsinki drew the highest average home attendance (5,101). On 15 November 2019,

Finland national football team The Finland national football team ( fi, Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body ...

managed to qualify to the first major tournament,

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Euro ...

, in their history after defeating

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

3–0 at this stadium.

The specifications of the stadium

* Field size: 105 × 68 metres (

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 foo ...

recommendation) * Floodlights: 1500

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 intensity, as perceived by the ...

* Capacity of 10,770 spectators, all stands are covered * The main stand is heated * A warming system under the pitch * discussion about expanding to 25,000 seats

References

1952 Summer Olympics official report.
pp. 62–3.
5gareena.fi
Official website. Accessed 8 August 2017.

External links

{{Finland national football team Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Football venues in Finland Finland national football team Sports venues in Helsinki Sports venues completed in 2000 2000 establishments in Finland Töölö