PGE Narodowy or National Stadium is the football stadium in Poland’s capital Warsaw and the home to the national football team. The newly constructed stadium is renowned for its retractable roof built with cutting-edge architecture.
PGE Narodowy is also known as Stadion Narodowy and it was officially renamed to its current name in 2015 following naming rights deal. With seating capacity of 58,145, PGE Narodowy is the largest football arena in the country.
The most characteristic feature of the stadium is its facade painted with red and white colors signifying Poland National flag. PGE Narodowy also has a centre-hung video board and a PVC retractable roof that can be opened or closed in 20 minutes unless it’s raining.
History
PGE Narodowy replaced Poland’s previous national stadium, Stadion Dziesięciolecia, in 2012. Construction of the stadium started in October 2008 and finished in November 2011.
The opportunity to host the Euro Championships in 2012 speeded up the process to build new National stadium for Poland National football team despite long existing plans. PGE Narodowy is built on the site of former 10th-anniversary stadium, which was demolished during the first stage of construction.
The National Stadium was officially inaugurated on 29th January 2012 with a Rock concert.
Earlier on 6 September 2011, Stadion Narodowy was deemed unfit to host the match between Poland and German National team due to safety issues. A friendly match between Poland and Portugal national teams was the first official football match played on this stadium.
Major Matches
Poland and Ukraine co-hosted Euro Championships 2012, and the inaugural match between a host nation and Greece was played at PGE Narodowy, which ended in a draw. Two further group stage matches were also hosted at the stadium.
In 2015, PGE Narodowy got chance to host their first final event of the tournament in Europa League final between Sevilla and Dnipro, which saw Sevilla being crowned as Europa winners.
Controversies
During the construction process of Stadion Narodowy, three workers lost their lives in two separate accidents which steered the criticism regarding the safety standards.
Recently, PGE Narodowy was embroiled in fresh controversy regarding usage of the stadium’s facade as regular advertising space which symbolizes national identity, and seen as inappropriate for any sort of commercial signing.
Recent Matches
On 8 October 2017, Poland sealed their World Cup 2018 spot with impressive 4-2 win over Montenegro at this very football arena.
In November 2017, PGE Narodowy hosted an international friendly between Poland and Uruguay.
