Ashgabat Olympic Stadium (; (formerly and also known as the Saparmurat Turkmenbashy Olympic Stadium) is an outdoor multi-purpose

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 ...

Ashgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. It opened in 2017 on the site of the original Olympic Stadium, which had stood from 2003 until 2013.New design: Olympic Stadium resembling… a horse
/ref> The stadium is Turkmenistan's national football stadium, and thus was hosts the majority of the Turkmenistan national team matches. The stadium is a part of the Ashgabat Olympic Complex, and is located in

Kopetdag District Kopetdag District () is a borough of Aşgabat in Turkmenistan. As a borough, it is headed by a presidentially appointed mayor (). Etymology The district is named after the Kopet Dag ''(viz.)'' mountain range visible to the south. History It i ...

of Ashgabat city. The stadium is located at Ashgabat Olympic Complex, 7, Ashgabat city.

History

The stadium held 30,000 people and was built in 2003, named for

Saparmurat Niyazov Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006) was a Turkmenistani politician who led Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006. He was the Secretary (title), first secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenist ...

. In 2007 the Turkmen government decided to reconstruct the stadium and to enlarge it. The new arena seats up to 45,000 people. The stadium closed in 2012, and was partially demolished in 2013 for

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include ...

Renovation for AIMAG 2017

The construction of the stadium was completed in 2016, but it was officially opened in 2017. The stadium was designed by the British architectural firms AFL Architects and Arup, with construction carried out by the Turkish company

Polimeks Polimeks İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş. is a Turkish holding company based in Istanbul. Polimeks, established in 1995 and grew to become one of the world's leading construction companies, in recent years transformed into a global investment holding wi ...

. The exterior of the stadium is designed in white tones, with the northern facade featuring a depiction of an Akhal-Teke horse's head. The stadium has a seating capacity of 45,000 spectators. Its two-tiered stands are fully covered by a roof. The most prominent feature of the new renovations is head of an Ahal-Teke horse, which resembles the national emblem of the country. The artistic depiction of an Akhal-Teke horse adorning the grandstand of the Olympic Stadium, recognized as the largest horse symbol in the world and listed in the Guinness World Records, measures 40.05 meters (131 ft 4.9 in) in height, 37.69 meters (123 ft 7.9 in) in length, and 40.24 meters (132 ft 0.6 in) at its widest point. Weighing 600 tonnes, the statue commemorates Turkmenistan's rich equestrian history. In 2017, it hosted Asian Olympic Council’s Asian Indoor & Martial Arts games that included participation from Australia and wider Oceania. The wider Ashgabat Olympic Park also hosted the

2018 World Weightlifting Championships The 2018 World Weightlifting Championships were held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 1 to 10 November 2018. This was the first World Championship after the International Weightlifting Federation, IWF changed their weight classes and nullified all w ...

Events

The stadium is mostly 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 by the Turkmen national football team, but also for musical performances by Turkmen pop stars such as Maral Ibragimova. The stadium used for matches of the Turkmenistan national football team at

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America ...

and

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

. The stadium hosted home matches for HTTU and Nebitchi during the group stage of the

2007 AFC Cup The 2007 AFC Cup was the fourth edition of the AFC Cup, playing among clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualification The 13 'developing' nations in the Asian Football Confederation were invited to nominate ...

. The reconstructed stadium was the site of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, also called the 5th Asian Indoor Games. The opening and closing ceremonies for the games were held on 17 and 27 September 2017.

Interesting facts

Turkmenistan banknote - 2017 series - 100 manat - reverse

The Ashgabat Olympic Stadium is even honored by being featured on the 100

Turkmen manat The manat (; Currency symbol, abbreviation: m; ISO 4217, code: TMT) is the currency of Turkmenistan. The original manat was introduced on 1 November 1993, replacing the Soviet rouble, rouble at a rate of 1 manat = Rbls 500. The manat is subd ...

banknote. In 2017, a set of two commemorative 100 manat coins was issued to honor the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, featuring a gold and a silver coin, both depicting the Ashgabat Olympic Stadium.
/ref>

References

External links

Management of the Olympic town of Administration of the Ashgabat city

Largest horse head sculpture
at

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

Limited website
New Project
Football venues in Turkmenistan Sports venues in Ashgabat Athletics (track and field) venues in Turkmenistan