Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium (), also known as the Republican Stadium (), is an

all-seater An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football and Amer ...

multi-use

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 ...

located on 65 Vardanants Street, in the

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. The stadium was built between 1933 and 1935. It was officially opened in 1935 as ''Dinamo Stadium''. Further developments were implemented in 1953, after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It is mainly used for

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 ...

and is the home ground of the

Armenia national football team The Armenia national football team () represents Armenia in men's international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia, the governing body for football in Armenia. After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, ...

. The capacity of the stadium is 14,403 seats.

History

The stadium was opened in 1935 during the Soviet days as Dinamo Stadium. In 1999, after a major renovation, the name was changed to Republican Stadium (''Hanrapetakan'' Stadium). By the end of 1999, after the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of the former prime minister of Armenia

Vazgen Sargsyan Vazgen Zaveni Sargsyan (, ; 5 March 1959 – 27 October 1999) was an Armenians, Armenian military commander and politician. He was the first Defence Minister of Armenia from 1991 to 1992 and then from 1995 to 1999. He served as Armenia's ...

, the name of the stadium was officially changed to Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium. It is currently 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 and is the home ground of the

as well as the local teams Ararat Armenia and Pyunik who both play in the

Armenian Premier League The Armenian Premier League (, known as the Armenian Fastex Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top association football, football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the competition was held as a regional tournament within th ...

. A major renovation of the stadium was envisaged to take place in 1995, but the process was delayed due to financial difficulties. In 1999, a large-scale renovation process was launched and more than US$3 million were spent on the development of the infrastructure, the seats and many other facilities, with the financial assistance of the

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 ...

Executive Committee. By the end of 2000, the stadium was completely renovated with fully covered seating facilities. The Republican Stadium was named after

by a presidential decree on December 28, 1999. Vazgen Sargsyan was the commander of the Armenian forces during the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

and served as Defence Minister from 1995 to 1999 and Prime Minister from June to October 27, 1999, when he and other high-ranked officials were killed in the

Armenian parliament shooting The 1999 Armenian parliament shooting, commonly known in Armenia as October 27 (), was a Terrorism, terrorist attack on the Armenian National Assembly (Armenia), National Assembly in the capital of Yerevan on 27 October 1999 by a group of five a ...

. Another major renovation was carried on in 2008 through the Israeli company Green Diversified Ltd. The playing pitch was entirely replaced with a modern surface, the VIP sections were repaired and a modern security system was installed in the stadium to meet the

standards.Israeli company to repair the Republican Stadium
/ref> By the end of August 2008, the stadium was ready to host matches on the new pitch. As a result of the installment of new VIP sections, the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

was reduced from 14,917 to 14,403.

Attendance records

*11 October 2003, Euro 2004 qualifying

Group 6 Group 6 may refer to: * Group 6 element, chemical element classification * Group 6 (motorsport), FIA classification for sports car racing * Group 6 Rugby League, rugby league competition in New South Wales, Australia {{disambig ...

0-4

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, att. 16,000. *22 August 2007, Euro 2008 qualifying

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

1-1

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, att. 15,550. *13 June 2015, Euro 2016 qualifying

Group I Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (motorsport), a regulation set of the FIA for series-production touring cars used in motorsport. * Group One Thoroughbred horse races, the leading e ...

2-3

, att. 14,527. *7 October 2011, Euro 2012 qualifying

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

4-1

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, att. 14,403. *12 October 2012, 2014 World Cup qualification

0-3

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, att. 14,403. *26 March 2011, Euro 2012 qualifying

0-0

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, att. 14,400.

Gallery

File:Armenia vs Portugal, 13 June 2015, V. Sargsyan Rep. Stad. Yerevan (3).jpg, The western stand (red seats) File:Armenia vs Portugal, 13 June 2015, V. Sargsyan Rep. Stad. Yerevan (23).jpg, The southern stand File:Armenia vs Portugal, 13 June 2015, V. Sargsyan Rep. Stad. Yerevan (9).jpg, The eastern stand (orange seats) File:Republican Stadium, Yerevan.jpg, The northern stand (blue seats)

References

{{Yerevan landmarks Buildings and structures completed in 1935

Athletics (track and field) venues in Armenia Football venues in Armenia Armenia national football team FC Pyunik Ulisses FC Sports venues in Yerevan 1935 establishments in Armenia FC Ararat-Armenia