Stadion Balgarska Armia (, ) is a stadium of the

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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 ...

club

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

. It is situated in the

Borisova gradina Borisova gradina or Knyaz-Borisova gradina (, translated as Boris' Garden or Knyaz Boris' Garden) is the oldest and best known park in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Its construction and arrangement began in 1884 and it is named after Bulgarian T ...

in the centre of

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. Until 2024 the stadium had four sectors and a total of 22,995 (18,495) seats, of which 2,100 are covered; the pitch length was 106 meters and the width was 66 meters. The capacity of the old stadium was divided in four sectors: *Sector A: 6417 seats *Sector B: 4889 seats *Sector V: 5689 seats *Sector G: 6000 (1500 seats) The sports complex also includes tennis courts, a basketball court, and gymnastics facilities, as well the CSKA Sofia Glory Museum. The

press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

room has 80 seats. In late 2023, the stadium was closed, in preparation for its reconstruction, which will involve a complete overhaul and demolition of the current stands and rebuilding the stadium into a football-specific stadium, without an athletics track. During the process, CSKA would play home matches at the

Vasil Levski National Stadium Vasil Levski National Stadium (), named after Bulgarian Folk hero, national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837–1873), is the country's second largest stadium. The stadium has 43,230 seats and is located in the centre of Sofia, on the te ...

, situated only a couple of hundred meters away from the Bulgarska Armia. In 2024 the stadium was demolished and the construction of a new 17,376-seat venue began on the same site.

History

Built in 1923 for AS-23, the stadium was known as Athletic Park until 1944, when AS-23 merged with two other clubs to form Chavdar Sofia. From 1944 until 1948 it was called Chavdar Stadium. Between 1948 and 1990 it was the People's Army Stadium, and since 1990 it is the Balgarska Armia Stadium. The current structure was built by architect Anton Karavelov in the period between 1965 and 1967 on the old grounds of AS-23. It was reconstructed again in 1982, which included the introduction of

floodlights A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibil ...

. In 2000, the stadium was equipped with a new Dynacord surround sound system, capable of 48 kilowatts and 107

decibels The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a ...

. The electric lighting is also of the latest generation and is covering the pitch with 2100

lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the irradiance, as perceived by ...

. Despite the improvements over the years, parts of the stadium are in a deteriorating condition, especially sector B, which has been completely closed down for spectators and covered with advertising instead, in order to hide the growing plant and fungi life underneath. The seating of the stadium is also in a poor condition, with many seats being either partially broken or missing completely, with the main cause abdication of the state that owned the facility until 2023. The last game on the old stadium was held on 10 December 2023, between CSKA and

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

, ending in a 0-1 loss for CSKA. After the match, fans on the stadium were allowed to take a piece of the stadium as a memory from the venue before demolition begins.

Reconstruction plan

In 2023 CSKA and the Ministry of Youth and Sports established a joint venture, which should undertake reconstruction of the stadium. The reconstructed stadium will have 17,376 seats and meet UEFA Category 4 criteria. In October 2023 a building permit was granted by Sofia municipality. At the end of May 2024, the entire old stadium was demolished in order to build a new and modern one with a capacity of about 17,000 seats. On 19 September 2024 CSKA announced a signed contract for construction with the Bulgarian leader in the construction industry, Glavbolgarstroy Holding. The construction of the main part of the stadium is expected to last 18 months, with completion estimated for the spring of 2026. On 9 December 2024 the first two reinforced concrete columns for the construction of the new stadium have been transported to the stadium site. The oversized load safely traveled the route between

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...

, where the manufacturing plant is located, and

without disrupting traffic. Each column measures 24 meters in length and weighs 62 tons. These initial elements are designated for the connection between sectors and will be lifted by a 250-ton crane. The columns will serve as the supporting structure for the roof of our new home, with a total of 54 units to be produced.

Transport

Bulgarian Army Stadium is located in the centre of

, Bulgaria. The stadium can be approached by

Sofia Metro The Sofia Metro (, also colloquially called ) is the rapid transit network servicing the Bulgarian capital city Sofia. It is the only metro in Bulgaria. It began operation on 28 January 1998. , the Sofia Metro consists of four interconnected lin ...

Line 1, 3 and 4. The nearest Metro station is called

Vasil Levski Vasil Levski (, spelled in Reforms of Bulgarian orthography, old Bulgarian orthography as , ), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (; 18 July 1837 – 18 February 1873), was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary who is, today, a Folk hero, national ...

. There are also several paid parking lots in the area, which are of the closed type. The paid car zone in the centre area works every day, except Sundays.

Statistics

Top-scorer: TBA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stadium, Balgarska Armia PFC CSKA Sofia Football venues in Bulgaria Sports venues in Sofia

History

Reconstruction plan

Transport

Statistics

See also

References