Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
With an estimated 3.5 billion fans around the world, football remains the most popular sport ever. In different parts of the world, there's always a football tournament to follow at any time of the year. It's also the biggest sport with the most betting market, with billions of dollars given out in bet winnings from sportsbooks. The love and passion fans show for the game reflect in every area, and one such is in the architecture of stadiums worldwide.
Stadiums come with their unique architectural designs, but some come with more bizarre and unconventional innovations. We go across the world to bring you some of the most unconventional stadiums where pro teams play football matches today which you can check here. This list is not exhaustive, as we've picked only the top ten in our own review. We start with the fascinating Bursa Timsah Arena of the Turkish Bursaspor football team.
The Bursa Timsah Arena is a spectacular stadium built, designed, and painted to resemble a large crocodile with its mouth wide open. Its open mouth serves as the entrance, while its body goes around the actual football field. The stadium has a height of up to 43 meters and can accommodate up to 43,461 spectators. It's the home of the Bursaspor football team, a pro team of the Turkish Football Federation. It was launched in 2015 and is owned by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the country.
Located in Bolivia, this unconventional stadium seats at 3,637 meters above sea level. As such, it's one of the highest stadiums on earth, and the air is so thin that it's normal for fans and players to occasionally run out of breath. The stadium holds a capacity of 41,143 seats, making it the largest in Bolivia. The stadium was launched in 1930, and it's home to three of Bolivia's major football clubs.
This stadium is in Taiwan and it's designed in the shape of a Dragon. It was designed for the 2009 world games by the Japanese architect, Toyo Ito. Although a multi-purpose stadium, its primary use is for football, being home to the Taipei National Football team. Another standout feature of the arena is its use of 8,845 solar panels as a roof for the semi-spiral stadium. It's self-sustainable and generates at least 1.1 million kWh per year.
Home to Bayern Munich and the Germany National Football team, Allianz Arena holds a seating capacity of 75,000. Its unique feature is its exterior surface, made with 2,874 translucent diamond metal panels of ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer. These panels look like car tires and can be illuminated to give different colors. When illuminated, the stadium can be seen from at least 80km away. It was launched in 2005 after its completion by architects de Meuron and Herzog.
The undulating structure of the stadium due to a difference in height in several parts makes this one of the most unconventional we've seen worldwide. This undulation is for good reason as it provides light and ventilation to homes near the stadium. It's home to the Republic of Ireland Football team and holds a capacity of 51,711.
Located in Oita, Japan, this is a multi-purpose stadium that was built in 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 40,000 and is popularly referred to as the Big Eye Stadium. This is because it has a retractable roof, such that it looks like an eye blinking. It's home to Oita Trinita, a pro football team in the J. League Division.
This is situated in Melbourne, Australia, and it's popularly known as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. The stadium itself stands out with its roof of geodesic domes that are designed with triangular facets. These facets are made of metal and glass and are fitted with LED lights that display colors to suit the various events that play in the stadium. It's of 30,050 capacity and was constructed by COX architecture.
Also situated in Japan, this is one of the futuristic innovations that can only be found in the country. The stadium's standout feature is its ability to show and retract its grass football field whenever it's needed. This dome also has a sensitive roof responsive to climate, where snow slides off easily to reduce stress on the dome. The retractable grass field hovers over a basketball court in the dome. It's home to Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo and can house 42,065 fans.
Popularly known as Estadio Nacional de Brasilia, this is a multi-purpose stadium that has been around since 1974. Its standout feature is in its many concrete columns that hold a concrete roof. The stadium is home to Legiao FC, Brasilia Futebol Clube, Capital Clube de Futebol, and the Brazil National Football team. Arena BRB Mane Garrincha has a capacity of 72,788.
Home to S.C. Braga, this stadium was launched 20 years ago and designed by the architect, Eduardo Souto de Moura. Its uniqueness is that it was carved out of rocks, and has two seating areas connected by steel strings. In 2011, the stadium won the Pritzker Architecture Prize. It has a capacity of 30,286.
These are only a few of the unconventional football stadiums across the world. They show the innovations that happen regularly in the football world, and we're pretty sure there'd be even better stadiums in the future as we advance in technology.
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