Etchmiadzin Stadium (), is an abandoned

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 ...

Vagharshapat Vagharshapat ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Armenia, 5th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border ...

, Armenia. Owned by the

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (), known in Armenian as simply the Mother See (Մայր Աթոռ, ''Mayr At’oř''), is the governing body of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is headquartered around Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Vagharshapat (Etc ...

, the stadium is located near the southern walls of the Mother See complex. It is named after the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin which is considered the spiritual centre of Christian Armenians worldwide.

Overview

The stadium was opened in 1973 and has a capacity of 3,000 spectators. It was home to

FC Vagharshapat FC Vagharshapat () was an Armenian football club from the town of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armavir Province. History The club was founded in 2003 as FC Vagharshapat, and participated in the Armenian First League. The team achieved 2nd place i ...

until 2005, when the club was dissolved and retired from professional football. In 2005, the ownership of the stadium was transferred to the

by the decision of the government of Armenia. It is located around 250 metres south of the

Etchmiadzin Cathedral Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the Mother church#Church as a building, mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located in the city Dual naming, dually known as Etchmiadzin (Ejmiatsin) and Vagharshapat, Armenia. It is #Oldest cathedral, usuall ...

. The stadium was occasionally used by several youth football schools in the

Armavir Province Armavir (, ), is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''marz'') in the western part of Armenia. Located in the Ararat plain dominated by Mount Ararat from the south and Mount Aragats from the north, the province's capital is the tow ...

. However, the infrastructure of the stadium is outdated, as it had never been renovated since its inauguration. Currently, the structure is entirely abandoned.

References

{{Vagharshapat Football venues in Armenia Buildings and structures in Vagharshapat