Color Line Stadion is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 ...

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and the home of

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are promo ...

side

Aalesunds FK Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from the town of Ålesund (town), Ålesund, that competes in the Norwegian first division, the second tier of the Norwegi ...

. It was inaugurated in April 2005 and cost

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

160 million to build. It is referred to as Aalesund Stadion by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

, as

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

arrangements (in this case, with ferry operator Color Line) is not included during UEFA competitions. It was the first top-level stadium in Norway to feature

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

, which was at the time a highly debated issue. When Aalesund opened the stadium, businessman Olav Nils Sunde donated a statue to the club, which was erected in front of the stadium. Whilst Sunde denied it, the statue bore a very strong resemblance to former Aalesund player

John Arne Riise John Arne Semundseth Riise (born 24 September 1980) is a Norwegian former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), coach. With 110 caps, Riise is the most capped player for the Norway national football te ...

. In 2007, when Riise played in the Champions League Final, a Norwegian commentator demanded the statue officially carry his name. Riise himself has said, " he name changeis not for me to decide. Everyone sees who it is, and I know that it was made for me." It was officially named "John Arne Riise" in April 2018. Since 2009 it has also hosted the home games of the women's

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

side

Fortuna Ålesund AaFK Fortuna (formerly known as FK Fortuna Ålesund) is a Norway, Norwegian women's football (soccer), women's football club from Ålesund that currently competes in 1. divisjon (women), 1. divisjon, the second tier of Women's football in Norway, ...

. The venue has hosted one

Norway national under-21 football team The Norway national under-21 football team, administered and controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation, is the Norway national football team, national football team of Norway for players of 21 years of age or under at the start of a UEFA E ...

match, playing 1–3 against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

on 3 September 2010. In a 2012 survey carried out by the

Norwegian Players' Association The Norwegian Players' Association ( or NISO) is a trade union for professional football, handball and ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink ...

among away-team captains, Color Line Stadion was ranked eleventh amongst league stadiums, with a score of 2.87 on a scale from one to five.

Facts

*Capacity: 10,778 (9,598 seated). *Record attendance: 10,903 (vs

Hamarkameratene Hamarkameratene (), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian professional football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently promoted to the Elites ...

, 2005). *The first match Aafk played on Color Line Stadium was against Odd Grenland. Aalesund won the match. *Outside the stadium is a statue of

, modeled after the former Aalesund player. Until April 2018, the statue was named «The football player».

Attendance

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 62, 28, 11.0, N, 6, 11, 13.9, E, source:placeopedia, display=title Football venues in Norway Eliteserien venues Sports venues completed in 2005 2005 establishments in Norway Sports venues in Ålesund Color Line (ferry operator) Aalesunds FK