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The MCH Arena 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 situated in the south of
Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)
, Denmark, that is part of MCH Messecenter Herning complex and owned by MCH Group A/S. It has been the home ground of
FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...
since March 2004. An integrated part of the arena is a main building housing the club's administration and offices for the official fan club (named Black Wolves), and includes player and referee facilities, a restaurant, a VIP lounge, press and sky boxes, and a club shop (named Ulveshoppen). The total capacity during domestic matches is 12,055 spectators with 7,790 seatings (western and eastern grand stands and partly north stand) making it the 9th largest football stadium in Denmark. At international
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
and
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 ...
matches, the capacity of the four covered single-tiered stands is reduced to 10,150. The stadium's current attendance record of 12,018 spectators came on 25 May 2025 when FC Midtjylland played against
Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional association football, football club based in Randers, East Jutland metropolitan area, East Jutland, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 200 ...
. During the construction period and the first couple of months after the official opening on 27 March 2004, it was called Stadion ved Messecenter Herning (or Messecenter Herning Stadion). On 5 August 2004, it was announced that
Scandinavian Airlines The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden. Including its subsidiaries SAS Link and ...
(SAS) had acquired the naming rights of the stadium in a
sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
arrangement, and the stadium was officially known as SAS Arena until 30 June 2009 — the first sponsorship of its kind in Denmark. The current name, MCH Arena, was introduced on 1 July 2009. It was one of four venues for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, staging three matches in Group B and a semi-final. During the competition, the stadium was known as Herning Stadion. Apart from hosting several European Cup matches, the stadium has also staged four friendlies for the Denmark national team. The 2013 European Dressage Championship was held in Herning with the stadium being one of the locations.


History

On 1 November 2000, the CEO of Messecenter Herning A/S (now known as MCH Group A/S), Georg Sørensen, presented a comprehensive development plan for the company's upcoming 25 years, named ''Vision 2025'', which also launched the plans for the construction of a stadium. On 29 November 2000, the board of the then-newly founded
FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...
had made the decision to eventually relocate the team to a new contemporary stadium in connection with the exhibition centre in
Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)
— despite great dissatisfaction from one of the team's parents clubs, Ikast FS — arguing that a stadium located at Hammerum in between the cities, Herning and Ikast, of the two former rival mother clubs would not have the same possibilities and visions. At a press briefing at Messecenter Herning on 4 February 2003, it was announced that the plans for a more than 10,000-spectator large stadium as part of a major commercial and entertainment complex would become a
greenfield project In many disciplines, a greenfield project is one that lacks constraints imposed by prior work. The analogy is to that of construction on greenfield land where there is no need to work within the constraints of existing buildings or infrastructure ...
, located south of the existing buildings of exhibition centre, next to 15,000 parking spots and an upcoming highway intersection, and that the stadium and its facilities was entered in to a lease agreement with
FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...
with an annual rent obligation based on a 25-year rental agreement, irrevocable from both parties until the end of 2027, and giving FC Midtjylland exclusive (and commercial) rights to all association football matches in the stadium. Construction of the stadium broke ground on 2 April 2003 at 08:30 CET and was scheduled to be finished in approximately 11 months, costing in the area of 80–85 million DKK to build. Integrated with the venue's main stand in the western section is a three-storey main building at 5.000 m², which from the very beginning have been housing the club's administration and offices for the official
supporter In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Historically, supporters were left to an individual's free choice and were assu ...
's club (Black Wolves), along with a double-high foyer, player and referee changing facilities on the main floor, a VIP lounge with a
restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...
on the second floor, press rooms on the first floor and sky boxes on the second floor, and a club shop (Ulveshoppen) to the right of the main building. Three red vertical concrete structures highlight the stadium's main entrance. The top floor have commentator-boxes, a platform for cameras and separate VIP rooms. The spectators enter the stadium using four ticket entrances placed in each corner of the sports facility, giving access to the freestanding stairs leading into the stands. The entire stadium covered 17,000 m² and a total of 7,000 tonnes of concrete was used by the turnkey contractor KPC Byg A/S with Midtconsult A/S as the consulting engineer. The entire grass turf, which had the dimensions of 111 x 72 meters (circa 8,000 m²) and featured a 104 x 65 meters football pitch, was laid by the company Dan Jord (based in
Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
) i co-operation with Hedeselskabet A/S during the fall of 2003, and allowed to grow firmly in the winter period. 800 m of water pipes and 2,100 m of drainage was installed underneath the grass turf in addition to 27 km of heating pipes with spacing of 30 cm in between. An advanced water sprinkler system was integrated in the grass, which rise above the lawn with an increase of the water pressure. The architects from the Herning-based company ''Kobra Arkitekter A/S'' (merged into ''Årstiderne Arkitekter A/S'' in May 2008) sought inspiration from onsite visits at among other
Amsterdam ArenA The Johan Cruyff Arena ( ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of association football, football club AFC Ajax, Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to ...
,
Philips Stadion The Philips Stadion () is a Association football, football stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands. As the home of PSV Eindhoven (Philips Sport Vereniging), it is also known as PSV Stadion. With a capacity of 35,119, it is the third-largest football s ...
and
Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...
. The corners of the stadium, above the big gates, were closed of to provide a greater feeling of intimacy. The simplicity in both the construction and the use of materials is prevalent, with raw
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
and
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
forming the backbone of the stadium. The club specifically asked that the south and north stands be standing-only with seats in red placed only at the main stand and the opposing eastern grand stand — with the option of installing seats at the terraces when needed, expandable to 10,500 seats. Depending on demand, the east standing section of the north stand would be reserved for visiting supporters of the guest teams, separating them from the rest of the spectators by a fence, while the home fans and fan club members would occupy the south standing-only stand and also allocated to half of the north stand. The design of the stadium was made with possible expansion at a later date in mind — the foundation allows for an increase of the capacity of up to 50,000 spectators and the roof could in such a situation be raised. The roof consisting of black lightweight trapez steel plates, covering all four stands, is carried by large free-standing steel columns provided by the Brabrand-based company Richard Thomsen A/S, creating the only separation against the outside of the stadium. The stadium's official opening competitive match was played on 27 March, when FC Midtjylland faced Akademisk BK in the
2003–04 Danish Superliga The 2003–04 Danish Superliga season was the 14th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 26, 2003 to the final match on May 29, 2004. The Danish ...
in front of 11,083 spectators, resulting in 6–0 win with
Mohamed Zidan Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed Zidan (; born 11 December 1981) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Early career Mohamed Zidan was born in Port Said to an Egyptian family. His career started as a s ...
scoring the first goal after five minutes and five goals in total. FC Midtjylland had been playing all their matches in the fall season of 2003 at Ikast Stadium, that had a capacity of 12,000 with a small grand stand of 1,002 seats, at Ikast, now relocating their home ground to
Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)
. The average attendance was boosted considerably as a result of the new stadium and better performance on the pitch by the players. The first European fixture at the new venue was played on 3 July 2004, when
Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...
and
OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club de Nice (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional association football, football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of Footb ...
meet in the second round of the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Due to reconstruction after 2007, the original capacity of the stadium at approximately 12,500 spectators with 7,500 seats was reduced to 11.432 spectators with 7,070 seats. On 16 August 2005, a national football match featuring the Denmark national under-21 football team against an English squad, was played for the first time at the venue.


Name, sponsorships and logos

Up until the summer of 2004, the new stadium did not officially have a name and was simply referred to as ''Stadion ved Messecenter Herning'' (or ''Messecenter Herning Stadion''), because the owner, MCH, was hoping to sell the name for commercial purposes. On 5 August 2004, Scandinavian Airlines acquired the naming rights to the venue, changing its name to the SAS Arena, becoming the first sponsored football stadium in Denmark. SAS already had the naming rights to the
Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...
due to its sponsorship of the league. At the end of the 2009–10 season the sponsorship expired, and was the stadium's name was changed to MCH Arena (short for ''MesseCenterHerning''). In March 2004, the south end stand was initially named ''Nordea-tribunen'', the north end stand became ''Steff Houlberg-tribunen'', the east grand stand was called ''Faxe Kondi-tribunen'', while the main stand went as ''Elite Miljø-tribunen''. Logos used for the naming rights agreements of the stadium: File:SAS Arena logo.svg , SAS Arena
(2004–2009)
Sponsor:
Scandinavian Airlines The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden. Including its subsidiaries SAS Link and ...
File:blank.png , MCH Arena
(2009–2016)
No sponsor File:MCH Arena logo 2016.svg , MCH Arena
(2016–''present'')
No sponsor


References


External links


MCH Arena section at the official page of MCH Messecenter Herning

MCH Arena section at the official page of FC Midtjylland

MCH Arena - Nordic Stadiums
{{Authority control Football venues in Denmark FC Midtjylland Sport in Herning Sports venues in the Central Denmark Region Buildings and structures in Herning Municipality