The Ion Oblemenco Stadium is a football stadium in Craiova, Romania. The all-seater stadium opened in 2017 and has a capacity of 30,983, the fourth largest football ground in Romania. It is in the immediate vicinity of the new Sala Polivalentă. The ground is named after Ion Oblemenco (1945–1996), a legendary player and coach of Universitatea Craiova.[5]
 | |
 | |
| Address | 36 Boulevard Știrbei Vodă |
|---|---|
| Location | Craiova, Romania |
| Coordinates | 44°18′50″N 23°47′03″E / 44.3140°N 23.7843°E |
| Owner | Municipality of Craiova |
| Operator | Universitatea Craiova |
| Capacity | 30,983 [4] |
| Field size | 105 m × 68 m (115 yd × 74 yd) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 7 September 2015 |
| Built | 2015–2017 |
| Opened | 10 November 2017 |
| Construction cost | €52 million[1][2] (€58 million in 2021 euros)[3] |
| Architect | Dico și Țigănaș |
| Tenants | |
| CS Universitatea Craiova (2017–present) Romania national football team (2018-present) FC U Craiova (2021–present) | |
The stadium ranked fourth overall among stadiums in the world opened in 2017 surpassing expectations, ranking higher than Wanda Metropolitano and Gazprom Arena.[6][7] On 26 February, 2018, the Stadionul Ion Oblemenco was selected as a finalist from 27 submissions by the jury.[8] Architects generally agreed that the outcome was satisfying, with decent investment results.[9]
History
Construction began on September 7, 2015. The older stadium was demolished in the same year.[10] On 26 April, 2017, the construction reached its final phase, with seats being installed.[11]
To celebrate the opening of the stadium, Universitatea Craiova played a friendly on 10 November, 2017 against the Czech side Slavia Prague. A crowd of 30,000 people attended.[12][13]
The stadium officially opened with a ceremony on 18 November, 2017 before its first competitive senior game, the Liga I match against Juventus București. The match was won by Universitatea Craiova 3–1, with Alexandru Mitriță scoring the first ever official goal at the new stadium.[14]
Events
International football games
| International football matches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Competition | Home | Away | Score | Attendance |
| 27 March 2018 | Friendly |  Romania |  Sweden | 1 - 0 | 20,000 |
| 16 August 2018 | UEFA Europa League 3QR | Universitatea Craiova |  RB Leipzig | 1 - 1 | 12,050 |
| 18 July 2019 | UEFA Europa League 1QR | Universitatea Craiova |  Sabail FK | 3 - 2 | 15,763 |
| 1 August 2019 | UEFA Europa League 2QR | Universitatea Craiova |  Budapest Honvéd | 0 - 0 | 22,134 |
| 8 August 2019 | UEFA Europa League 3QR | Universitatea Craiova |  AEK Athens | 0 - 2 | 2,530 (only the children were allowed) |
| 29 July 2021 | UEFA Europa Conference League 2QR | Universitatea Craiova |  KF Laçi | 0 - 0 | 0 (Covid regulations) |
| 28 July 2022 | UEFA Europa Conference League 2QR | Universitatea Craiova | Vllaznia | 3 - 0 | 12,324 |
| 11 August 2022 | UEFA Europa Conference League 3QR | Universitatea Craiova |  Zorya Luhansk | 3 - 0 | 15,079 |
Gallery
External view of the stadium
Ion Oblemenco Stadium parking lots
Fan choreography stadium overview
Internal view of the stadium
