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Arena Nationala is a football stadium located in in the Lia Manoliu National Sports Complex in Bucharest, Romania. The stadium was built for the Romania national football team, hosting its games as well as the Romanian Cup Final and the Romanian Supercup A.
Arena Nationala has a field size of 105m * 68m, with the crowd capacity of 55,634.
History
Arena Nationala is the replacement of National Stadium which was demolished in November 2007. The construction of the stadium was started on 20 February 2008.
It took more than three years for the construction to complete, as the construction was halted in between due to unfavorable weather conditions.
The stadium costed about €2,345 million for the whole construction. The retractable roof for the stadium alone costs €20,000,000.
The venue has capacity of 55,634 people, 3,600 VIP seats, with another 126 seats allotted for the press.
Major Matches
The stadium was inaugurated on 6 September 2011, with a 2012 UEFA Euro Group D qualifier match between Romania and France. The game ended in the draw in front of a crowd of 49,137.
Since then total of 22 qualifier and friendly matches has been played in this stadium.
Romania has hosted many Euro Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifier matches in this stadium.
Romania has played 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Poland and Armenia. The home team lost to Poland 0-3, but secured a 1-0 win against Armenia.
Controversies
The construction phase of the stadium has generated some controversy over costs and delays. Bucharest’s mayor Sorin Oprescu reported that the work was 20 weeks behind schedule in May 2009.
