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Greenfield International Stadium, popularly known as Greenfield Stadium is a stadium built for multiple purposes. The stadium is used mainly for association football and cricket and is located in Kariavattom in the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
Greenfield Stadium is India’s first outdoor stadium to be built on the principle of DBOT( design, build, operate and transfer).
The stadium boasts of having the world’s only third drop in pitch. It has a seating capacity of around 55,000 spectators. The stadium was built with respect to regulations of both FIFA and the ICC.
The stadium is currently operated by the Kariavattom Sports Facilities limited and is recognized by the Kerala Cricket Association. The land is owned by the University of Kerala and has been given a lease. The 55000 capacity stadium, which boasts of DBOT infrastructure was built at a cost of around Rs.240 crores, which also makes it one of the costliest stadiums to be built in the country.
History
The Greenfield Stadium became India’s first Public Private Partnership in the development of a Cricket cum Football stadium meeting the highest International standards and take forward the grassroots development program. The process has been implemented and integrated through the Kariavattom Sports Facilities Ltd which is a subsidiary of IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd
The Project was a brainchild of the Government of Kerala and promoted in an extensive manner through the National Games Secretariat, a body formed by Government of Kerala for boosting the growth of sports infrastructure and to bring about steady growth and to encourage the youngsters of the state to take up sports.
On May 27, 2016, the Kerala Cricket Association; the apex cricketing body of the state of Kerala announced that they will be taking over the stadium for a stipulated period of time to enable the hosting of cricket matches which had been allotted to the Kerala Cricket Association after the KCA traced out an agreement with the Kariavattom Sports Facilities Limited who own and operate the stadium.
Major matches
The first international football tournament which the stadium hosted was the SAFF Championship in 2015. India were crowned the champions after they beat Afghanistan 2-1 in a nail-biting final encounter. The final recorded an attendance of more than 51,000 spectators at the Greenfield Stadium.
On 7 November 2017, the stadium hosted its first international cricket match. India played a T20 against New Zealand on the ground. Rain played spoilsport in the match as the match was truncated to 8 overs per side, with India winning the match by 6 runs.
Controversy
The stadium has run into legal trouble over allegedly misusing the stadium for uses other than sporting purpose.
