The Agia Sophia Stadium (), also known as OPAP Arena for sponsorship reasons and as AEK Arena for

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 ...

competitions, is the home stadium of

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

. With an all-seater capacity of 32,500 it is the third largest football stadium overall in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is located in

Nea Filadelfeia Nea Filadelfeia (, meaning ''New Philadelphia'') is a suburban town in the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of Nea Filadelfeia-Nea Chalkidona municipality of Central Athens regional unit, o ...

, a northwestern

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece. The new arena was built on the site of the former

Nikos Goumas Stadium Nikos Goumas Stadium () was a multi-purpose stadium in Nea Filadelfeia, a northwestern suburb of the Athens urban area, Greece. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home stadium of AEK. It is now replaced by Agia Sophia Stadium ...

. The construction of the arena was completed in October 2022. Agia Sophia Stadium is the newest stadium built in Greece. The stadium hosted the

2024 UEFA Europa Conference League final The 2024 UEFA Europa Conference League final was the final match of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League, the third season of Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was held at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens, G ...

on 29 May 2024.

Name

The original name of the stadium, Agia Sophia, named after the Byzantine-built former

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

cathedral

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

, was picked in order to commemorate the roots of the club from the city of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(present day

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

). The commercial name of the stadium, OPAP Arena, was picked after OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. secured the naming rights for five years, starting from 2022 onwards. As

does not allow for stadiums to be named after a sponsor, AEK Arena is used for the European governing body's competitions.

History

In 1926, land in

that was originally set aside for refugee housing was donated as a training ground for the Greek refugees. A stadium was built at the site in 1930, named "Nikos Goumas", and became the home ground of

AEK Athens FC A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

. In 2003, Giannis Granitsas, president of

AEK A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Established ...

at the time, advocated for demolishing the stadium at the interest of erecting a new one at the same location, citing that the stadium was seriously damaged from the

1999 Athens earthquake The 1999 Athens earthquake occurred on September 7 at near Mount Parnitha in Greece with a moment magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The proximity to the Athens metropolitan area resulted in widespread str ...

. His plan was to build a new stadium at the same site, which would include also a basketball indoor hall and a mall. The goal was for the stadium to be ready in time for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. However, shortly before the construction of the new stadium was to commence, it was halted by the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

, which decided that the construction plans of the stadium were contrary to the

Constitution of Greece The Constitution of Greece () was created by the Fifth Revisionary Hellenic Parliament in 1974, after the fall of the Greek junta and the start of the Third Hellenic Republic. It came into force on 11 June 1975 (adopted two days prior) and has ...

. In 2005,

Dimitris Melissanidis Dimitris Melissanidis (; born 8 March 1951) is a Greek business shipping and oil tycoon, and one of the country's leading businessmen. Melissanidis is in the top ten rich list of Greek entrepreneurs ranking in 6th place. He is most known for his ...

was a candidate for the presidency of

, and presented a plan for the construction of a stadium at the area of Nikos Goumas, bearing the name Agia Sophia. However, he lost the elections. In 2007, AEK Athens FC's president

Demis Nikolaidis Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis (; born 17 September 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the forty second president of AEK Athens, and is considered one of the greatest forwards Greece has produced. I ...

was developing a project to build a 50,000-capacity stadium at

Ano Liosia Ano Liosia () is a town and a former municipality in the northern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Fyli, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal un ...

. The plan was canceled due to a lack of fan support and lack of funds. After the bankruptcy and relegation of AEK Athens FC in 2013, Dimitris Melissanidis took up the reorganization of the club and re-introduced the plan of Hagia Sophia in a press conference held on 10 July 2013. The first presentation of the stadium took place on 2 October 2013 in the Miltos Kountouras hall at the

High School. The project manager of the stadium Dimitris Andriopoulos announced the first features and facilities. The stadium will fulfill the criteria to be a four-category in the

UEFA stadium categories UEFA stadium categories are categories for football stadiums laid out in UEFA's Stadium Infrastructure Regulations. Using these regulations, stadiums are rated as category one, two, three, or four (renamed from elite) in ascending ranking order ...

, it will have a capacity of 32,500 and will have 40 suites. There will be a museum about the

Greek refugees Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the more than one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide (1914-1923) and Greece's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish W ...

who left from

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

in 1922. It will offer 1,500–2,000 jobs during its construction and 250,400 permanent jobs when it was constructed. The stadium's construction was expected to begin in 2014 and finish by 2015. The first images of the stadium were also exposed. The stadium is designed after the

Walls of Constantinople The Walls of Constantinople (; ) are a series of defensive wall, defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (modern Fatih district of Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire b ...

where the club originated from, and it will resemble a castle from the outside. The grand presentation of the stadium took place on 6 November 2013 at the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens, which will contribute financially to the construction of the stadium. A symbolic fund was also donated by the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

. Technical information about the stadium was presented and its facilities were illustrated in a 20-minute video. On 2 January 2015, the municipality of

Filadelfeia-Chalkidona Nea Filadelfeia-Nea Chalkidona (, before 2017: Filadelfeia-Chalkidona) is a municipality in the Central Athens regional unit, Attica, Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the souther ...

filed a complaint at the

against the decision of the Forests Directorate of the Attica Decentralized Administration calling for the redevelopment of 0.6 hectares from the Grove of Nea Filadelfeia in accordance with the overall plans for the new stadium. Additionally, 17 citizens of the municipality of

filed a complaint on 1 December 2014 about the same matter. The case was heard at the

on 6 March 2015. The decision was issued on 5 June 2015, and it rejected the claims of the municipality and the citizens as unsubstantive and obscure. The plan for the building of the stadium was released for public consultation by the Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy on 22 July. The process would be completed in 45 days. The municipality of

filed an application for an extension of the public consultation for an extra 45 days, which was accepted. The consultation was finally concluded on 24 November 2015. On 28 January 2016, the meeting of the Administrative Regiοn of Attica approved the Study of the Environmental Impact of the project. The minister of Environment and Energy,

Panos Skourletis Panagiotis ("Panos") Skourletis (; born 1 January 1962 in Athens) is a Greek politician of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). He served as the Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy from 18 July to 28 August 2015 ...

, signed the Study of the Environmental impact of the stadium on 31 March 2016. The planning permission was acquired from the Ministry of Environment on 25 July 2017.

Funding

The net construction cost is estimated at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

81,700,000. The funding will be completed in three stages. The first phase of construction will cost

25,000,000; the second phase

20,000,000 and the third

14,700,000. The Administrative region of Attica will fund the stadium with

20,000,000. The sum left will be funded by Dikefalos 1924, a company that was founded for the construction of the stadium.

Construction

The construction of the stadium began with earthworks on 28 July 2017. The first phase of construction consisted of excavations and retaining works, which according to the initial planning would last for 5 months. Eventually, the first phase was completed on 5 December 2017. On 6 February 2018, it was announced that the company «ERMONASSA SA» would undertake the completion of the second phase regarding the construction of the stadium. These include, according to the official announcement, the remaining earthworks, the reinforced concrete main structure of the stadium, the construction of the concrete reinforced and prestressed pillars, and finally the construction and installation of the stands. The completion of this phase is planned to last 14 months. The works began on 12 February 2018. The third and final phase started on 30 March 2020 and was completed in early September 2022.

Facilities

Agia Sophia Stadium offers the following facilities, amenities, and attractions. * A small church of

Hosios Loukas Hosios Loukas () is a historic walled monastery situated near the town of Distomo, in Boeotia, Greece. Founded in the mid-10th century, the monastery is one of the most important monuments of Middle Byzantine architecture and art, and has been l ...

, in honour of

former president

Loukas Barlos Loukas Barlos (; 1920 – 20 October 1999) was a Greek businessman who served as the twenty third president of AEK Athens F.C. from 1974 until 1981. Early life Barlos was born and raised in Thessaloniki, but his place of origin was Distomo in B ...

* Double dressing rooms for tournaments * 32,500 capacity (31,100 seated) * Conference room * VIP Entrance * VIP Area * VVIP Members Club * Cigar Lounge * 40 suites * Executive suite * AEK Boutique *

History Museum * Museum of

Greek Refugees Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the more than one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide (1914-1923) and Greece's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish W ...

OPAP OPAP – Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics S.A. () is a Greek company organizing and conducting games of chance. It is headquartered in Athens and for many years OPAP was a state-owned gambling monopoly. The company holds the exclusive ...

betting shop * Panoramic view restaurant * Traditional coffee shop * Traditional shoe shop & locksmith * Double-headed eagle statue (stadium main entrance) * AEK Offices

Transport connections

The stadium is accessible from the

Athens Metro The Athens Metro () is a rapid transit system serving the Athens urban area in Greece. Line 1 opened as a single-track conventional steam railway in 1869 and was electrified in 1904. Beginning in 1991, Elliniko Metro S.A. constructed and ext ...

Line 1 with the closest stations to Agia Sophia Stadium are Perissos and Pefkakia. All are 600 to 900 metres (10–15 minutes) from the stadium. Agia Sophia Stadium is also served by several Bus and Trolleybu
routes.
These are: *Trolleybus: Line 6 (Pindou stop) and Line 3 (N.Filadelfeia stop - end of line) *Bus Lines: 619, Β9 (both lines Trochonomos stop), 755, 755Β (both lines Pindou stop), 421 (AEK Stadium stop), and Α8 (near Metro Station Perissos & Metro Station Pefkakia) There are also a few bus lines further away that serve the stadium: 605 (1st Perissou stop, 900 meters, approx 13 minutes), 602 (Trochonomos stop, 1 km away, 15 minutes), 024 (Vrioulon stop, 1 km) and 604 (1st El. Venizelos stop, 1.2 km) The stadium is also expected to be served by the New Filadelfia metro station line 4. The station will be located in the Asia Minor and Forgotten Homelands Memorial Park Nea Filadelfeia and will be delivered in the fourth phase of the line's completion, expected around the end of the 2030s.

Opening ceremony and matches

The stadium's opening ceremony took place on 30 September 2022. AEK Athens beat Ionikos 4–1 in their new stadium's opening match on 3 October 2022, a match conducted for the sixth fixture of the 2022–23

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

. On 7 March 2023, the Hellenic Football Federation committee announced Agia Sophia stadium as the home ground of Greece for the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

round. However, Greece played its first international game in Agia Sophia stadium earlier that year against Lithuania.

Greece national football team matches

UEFA competition finals

Record

AEK Athens FC

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! Team ! Competition ! Matches ! Wins ! Draws ! Losses ! GF ! GA ! GD , - , rowspan="4",

, Super League 1 , 48 , 34 , 9 , 5 , 105 , 28 , +77 , - ,

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

, 9 , 8 , 1 , 0 , 19 , 0 , +19 , - ,

, 7 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 9 , 11 , -2 , - , Total , 64 , 44 , 12 , 8 , 133 , 39 , +94 , -

AEK Athens WFC

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! Team ! Competition ! Matches ! Wins ! Draws ! Losses ! GF ! GA ! GD , - , rowspan="4", AEK Athens WFC , Greek A Division , 1 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 4 , 4 , 0 , - ,

Greek Women's Cup The Greek Women's Cup (Greek: ''Κυπελλούχοι Ελλάδας'') is the national women's football cup competition in Greece. It was played out for three seasons from 2000 to 2002. It returned in the 2012–13 season. Moreover, it was play ...

, 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , - ,

, 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , - , Total , 1 , 0 , 1 , 0 , 4 , 4 , 0 , -

Greece national football team

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! Team ! Competition ! Matches ! Wins ! Draws ! Losses ! GF ! GA ! GD , - , rowspan="5",

, FIFA World Cup Qualifiers , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 , - , UEFA Euro Qualifiers , 5 , 3 , 1 , 1 , 14 , 4 , +10 , - ,

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...