Ferenc Puskás Stadium

"Puskás Ferenc Stadion" redirects here. For the metro station, see Puskás Ferenc Stadion (Budapest Metro).
Ferenc Puskás Stadion
Népstadion
Full name Puskás Ferenc Stadion
Former names Népstadion (People's Stadium)
Location Budapest, Hungary
Capacity 38,652
Record attendance 104,000 (Vasas Budapest-Rapid Wien, 28 July 1956) [1]
Field size
105 x 70 m
Construction
Built 1948
Opened 1953
Demolished 2016
Tenants
Hungary national football team
Duble Budapest derby (1973-1987)

Ferenc Puskás Stadium (Hungarian: Puskás Ferenc Stadion) is a multi-purpose stadium in Budapest, Hungary that is currently undergoing reconstruction. It is situated on the Pest side of the capital between the Puskás Ferenc Stadion and the Keleti pályaudvar metro stations. It is used mainly for football matches. The stadium, which is all-seater, had a capacity of 38,652, though its original capacity exceeded 100,000.

History

The entrance of the stadium
The plan of the stadium

The first plan of a national stadium were drafted as early as 1896 when there were chances that Budapest would host the first modern Olympic Games.

In 1911 Budapest was one of the frontrunners to host the 1920 Olympics. However, after Austria-Hungary's defeat in World War I, the Games were awarded to Antwerp instead.

The location of the first plan included Budapest XI. district and Budapest X. district.

In 1924 the government imposed a sport tax which was supposed to be use for the construction of a new national stadium, but finally this money was not used for the construction.

The stadium was built between 1948 and 1953 using a large number of volunteers, including soldiers. It opened in 1953 as Népstadion' ("People's Stadium"). Less than one year later, on 23 May 1954, the English football team suffered its worst ever defeat here (7–1).

On 14 August 2002 Zalaegerszegi TE moved their UEFA Champions League qualifying match first leg from their home ground to this stadium in order to host Manchester United in order to accommodate a 40,000 crowd. They were rewarded with Zalaegerszeg scoring their most famous European victory, winning 1–0 with Béla Koplárovics becoming the hero with a 92nd-minute winner. Zalaegerszegi lost the return leg at Old Trafford 0–5 and went out of the competition 1–5 on aggregate.

In 2002, the stadium was renamed in honour of Ferenc Puskás, widely regarded as the best striker in the world in his time and Hungary's greatest footballer ever, who was the star of the national team during its glory years of the late 1940s and early 1950s.[2]

Famous performances

The closed upper tier

Queen performed at the stadium during their Magic Tour on 27 July 1986. The concert was filmed and released worldwide as Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest. This was one of the last performances by Queen with Freddie Mercury.

In 1988, the stadium hosted the only stop in a communist country of the Human Rights Now! tour, with the artists Hobo Blues Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel, Sting and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

Monsters of Rock (including AC/DC, Metallica, Mötley Crüe & Queensrÿche) took place at the stadium in 1991.

U2 performed at the stadium on 23 July 1993 during their ZooTV Tour, in front of a crowd of 60,000 people.

Here was Michael Jackson's HIStory Tour second performance on 10 September 1996, for a total audience of 65,000.

The stadium hosted the 1998 European Athletics Championships.

The stadium doubled for Munich's famous Olympic Stadium in Steven Spielberg's 2005 movie Munich (see List of films shot in Budapest).

Lord of the Dance creator, Michael Flatley performed his latest dance show, Celtic Tiger Live in the stadium on 9 July 2005. The concert was performed first time for the public. The rehearsals were also done here. The show was filmed for DVD and some scenes of the show, most notably the opening sequence, were placed on the DVD which also has scenes of the performance in the NIA of Birmingham, England. The scenes of the rehearsals were placed on the DVD as part of the Bonus features.

Depeche Mode performed at the stadium three times: the first one was on 12 June 2006 during their Touring the Angel. The second one was on 23 June 2009 during their Tour of the Universe, in front of a crowd of 34,716 people. The third one was on 21 May 2013 during their Delta Machine Tour, in front of a sold out crowd of 33,200 people. The 2006 and 2009 shows were recorded for the group's live albums projects Recording the Angel and Recording the Universe, respectively.

Roger Waters performed The Wall in the stadium on 25 August 2013.

Panorama

Concerts

Omega playing at the Puskás

New Ferenc Puskás Stadium

Despite several attempts, the Hungarian government and football federation couldn't succeed in redeveloping the stadium. The first attempt was abandoned when the Hungarian bid for Euro 2012 wasn't selected by UEFA. Then came various propositions for a 40–65,000 seat stadium that also couldn't get through. However, the overall policy remains to redevelop it completely.

The stadium was rumoured to be demolished sometime in 2012 and replaced with the New Puskás Ferenc Stadium. As of October 2012 no demolition work has begun. Instead, in October the Hungarian government announced plans to develop a final design in 2013 and start construction in 2014.[3] If so, the new 68,000-seat stadium would be ready in 2016. Additionally, numerous other sports venues are planned around it to create a multi-discipline national complex by 2020. The scheme would be financed with a 30-year loan.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.austriasoccer.at/dataold/ec/mc1956.html
  2. ↑ (Hungarian) A Puskás Ferenc-stadion
  3. ↑ http://stadiumdb.com/news/2012/10/hungary_government_proposes_new_national_stadium

External links

Coordinates: 47°30′11.14″N 19°5′53.52″E / 47.5030944°N 19.0982000°E / 47.5030944; 19.0982000

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