The EMS Stadium, located in

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

primarily used for

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 ...

matches. The stadium is home to the

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

club

Gokulam Kerala FC Gokulam Kerala Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Kozhikode, Kerala. Founded in 2017, the club competes in the I-League, the second tier of the Indian football league system. They won the 2020–21 I-League title t ...

. With a capacity of 50,000, it is the third largest football stadium in India. Built in 1977, It is named after the first

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. '' De facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites th ...

E. M. S. Namboodiripad Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly known as E.M.S. Namboodiripad or simply by his initials E. M. S., was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of ...

. Gokulam Kerala has been playing their home matches at the Stadium since 2017 and has had a successful run at the stadium winning their first I-League home match against

East Bengal FC East Bengal Football Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of the Indian football league system. The cl ...

with a score of 2–1. The stadium has played host to several important football tournaments, such as

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

Santhosh Trophy The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national association football, football competition contested by the List of Indian state football associations, state associations and governmen ...

, and

Sait Nagjee Football tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament was an invitational Association football, football tournament held in Kozhikode, Kerala. The tournament was very popular from the beginning and attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament was pla ...

. The stadium is considered a historic and important venue for football in the region.

Renovations

The Corporation Stadium has undergone significant

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...

s over the years to improve its infrastructure and facilities. In 2005, the stadium underwent a renovation to host State Bank of Travancore National Football League matches. Another renovation was done in 2011 in preparation for the National Games in 2012, with the Corporation of Kozhikode and the government investing around 18 Crore for the upgrade. The new design of the stadium by RK Ramesh, includes state-of-the-art amenities such as a VVIP lounge with a seating capacity of 200, dressing rooms, media center, and other facilities. The grandstand pavilion was also upgraded for the National Games in 2012, and the stadium was fitted with improved floodlights to ensure high-quality matches. The EMS Stadium has been renovated to be an international standard stadium for both football and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. The stadium is also equipped with modern facilities like VIP seating arrangements, food courts, and washrooms. The stadium has also installed CCTV cameras for security and safety measures. The stadium is easily accessible to public transport. The EMS Stadium is a premier sports venue in Kerala and continues to host a wide range of events, such as

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

s and

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

Images

Football

It was the home ground of Viva Kerala FC in the I-league. It was also the home ground of Gokulam Kerala, and its women's team. Currently the home of

Calicut FC Calicut Football Club is an India, Indian professional association football, football club based in the city of Kozhikode, Kerala, that competes in the Super League Kerala. The club was founded in May 2024. Under coach Ian Gillan (football coac ...

. This stadium is famous for the football crazy fans of Kozhikode.

and

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament was an invitational Association football, football tournament held in Kozhikode, Kerala. The tournament was very popular from the beginning and attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament was pla ...

were held at the stadium. The stadium hosted matches of

2023 Indian Super Cup The 2023 Super Cup (also known as the 2023 Hero Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the third edition of the Super Cup and the 41st season of the national knockout football competition in India. The competition was sponsored by Hero MotoCor ...

Major football matches hosted

AFC Women's Championship

1980 AFC Women's Championship, where the Indian team won silver, was held here.

1987 Nehru Cup

The Kozhikode Corporation EMS stadium hosted the 1987

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After ...

, which was won by 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 ...

. National teams of

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 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, India,

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, Soviet Union and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

participated in the tournament.

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament was an invitational Association football, football tournament held in Kozhikode, Kerala. The tournament was very popular from the beginning and attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament was pla ...

2016 Sait Nagjee Trophy Teams

National Games

The stadium hosted football matches for the 35th National Games.

Other uses

Cricket

It also hosted the veterans of India and Pakistan cricket match in which legends like Ijaz Ahmed,

Syed Kirmani Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (; born 29 December 1949) is an Indian cricketer who played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper. In 2016, he was awarded the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour bestowed by B ...

and others played. In 1994, touring West Indies had taken Mumbai in a three-day encounter. West Indies were dismissed for 176 and Bombay ended the day at 53/2. The match, however, had to be called off after the opening day owing to law and order problems in the wake of a

bandh Bandh () is a form of protest used by political activists in South Asian countries such as India and Nepal. It is similar to a general strike. During a bandh, a political party or a community declare a general strike. For example, a ''Bharat (t ...

Other Event

It also hosted many cultural events held at Kozhikode like malabar mahotsavam. It also hosted the inaugural performance of world tour of

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

, the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

–winning musician.

Accessibility

The Kozhikode EMS Stadium is located in the heart of the city. It lies beside the Pavamani Road between Rajaji road and New Bus stand, a common stretch among many city bus routes. The Stadium

Mavoor Road Mavoor Road is the busiest High street of Kozhikode city in Kerala, India. This road connects the Mananchira pond area with the Kozhikode Medical College. After the medical college, the road is extended further to the little village of Mavoor ...

from the Western side allows access from

Mananchira Mananchira Square is a man-made freshwater pond park situated in the centre of the city of Kozhikode in Kerala, southern India. The pond is 3.49 acres (14,120 m2) in area, is rectangular in shape and is fed by a natural spring. History Mananch ...

and Arayadathupalam, although there is no public transport along this route. The stadium is situated at 2.5 km from the Kozhikode railway station and railway stations respectively. The stadium is from

Calicut International Airport Kozhikode International Airport , also known as Calicut International Airport (locally referred to as Karipur Airport), is an international airport serving the cities of Kozhikode and Malappuram in the state of Kerala, India. It also serves ot ...

, and from

Thamarassery Thamarassery, formerly known as Thazhmalachery, is one of the taluks and a major hill town in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, India, 30 km north-east of Kozhikode, Kozhikode city and 29 km east of Koyilandy. The town lies on National H ...

References

External links

EMS Stadium
at CrickInfo {{Coord, 11.256405, 75.785708, display=title, format=dms, type:landmark_scale:3000 1977 establishments in Kerala Chirag United Club Kerala Gokulam Kerala FC Sports venues completed in 1977 20th-century architecture in India Football venues in Kerala Football venues in India

Renovations

Images

Football

Major football matches hosted

AFC Women's Championship

1987 Nehru Cup

Sait Nagjee Football Tournament The Sait Nagjee All India Football Tournament was an invitational Association football, football tournament held in Kozhikode, Kerala. The tournament was very popular from the beginning and attracted large crowd since 1952. The tournament was pla ...

National Games

Other uses

Cricket

Other Event

Accessibility

See also

References

Further reading

External links