Skonto Stadium () is a

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 ...

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. The stadium was built in 2000 and currently has 8,087 seats in total (open for spectators & VIP guests on matchdays). It is the 2nd-largest stadium in Latvia, behind Daugava Stadium, also in Riga. The stadium design incorporates

Skonto Hall Skonto Hall (also known as Skonto Arena) is an arena in Riga, Latvia. In the lobby of Skonto there are conference halls, a gym, and an arena with an Artificial turf, artificial football field, which also hosts numerous exhibitions and concerts. Th ...

Description

Skonto Stadium is located in the heart of Riga at 1a E. Melngaiļa Street. It is the second biggest football stadium with 8,087 seats, VIP lounges, offices, a press centre and cafes.

Use

Skonto Stadium is mostly used for hosting football matches. Since its opening in 2000, it has been the home stadium for the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

club Skonto Riga and the

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team () represents Latvia in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

, as well as Latvia U-21, while Daugava Stadium was scheduled for renovation. The team returned to the Daugava after renovations in the summer of 2018. However, since the fall of 2022 home matches were once again moved to Skonto Stadium due to problems with the grass pitch and other issues. Works on replacing and upgrading the pitch began in October 2023. At the time, Latvian Football Federation president Vadims Ļašenko said that Skonto would become the main home of the men's team, with Daugava serving as a backup and the venue for the women's and youth national teams. International artists have performed at this venue, including

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in 2007 and

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in 2008, both of whom reached the maximum capacity for concerts, with 32,000 and 33,000 fans, respectively. Several other artists have performed there too, for example,

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

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and

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

. In 2003 Skonto stadium hosted the Grand Dance Concert of the

Latvian Song and Dance Festival The Latvian Song and Dance Festival () is one of the largest amateur choral and dancing events in the world, and an important event in Latvians, Latvian culture and social life. As one of the Baltic song festivals, it is also a part of the UNES ...

, and in 2008 a friendly match between Latvian and Georgian football veterans was played at this venue. In 2009 Latvian football club FK Ventspils used this stadium for its home matches in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

matches, because of technical problems with its own stadium.

Attendance

The largest attendance seen by the Skonto Stadium in a football match was 9,000 people in 2003 for the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

qualifying playoff game between

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

References

{{Coord, 56, 57, 40.94, N, 24, 6, 59.07, E, type:landmark, display=title Sports venues completed in 2000 Buildings and structures in Riga Football venues in Latvia

2000 establishments in Latvia Riga FC