Silesian Stadium

Silesian Stadium (Polish: Stadion Śląski) is a sport stadium located on the premises of Silesian Park in Chorzów, Poland. The stadium has a fully covered capacity of 55,211[1], after a recent refurbishment completed in October 2017. The stadium hosted many Polish national football team matches and for many decades was Poland's national stadium. After the National Stadium in Warsaw had been completed, the Silesian Stadium lost that role. The stadium was not in operation between 2009 and 2017 due to its ongoing reconstruction.

Silesian Stadium

UEFA Category 4 Stadium
Full name	Silesian Stadium (pl. Stadion Śląski)
Location	ul. Katowicka 10 41-500 Chorzów Silesia, Poland
Owner	Silesian Regional Assembly
Operator	Stadion Śląski Sp. z o.o.
Capacity	55,211
Record attendance	130 000 (1973 Speedway World Championship 2 September 1973)
Field size	105 x 68 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Built	1951–1956
Opened	22 July 1956 1 October 2017
Expanded	2009–2017
Construction cost	c. 650 million PLN c. 155 million €
Architect	GMP Architekten
Tenants
Poland national football team (1956–2009, 2018– )
Website
Official Website

Silesian Stadium is a UEFA Category 4 stadium.[2]

History

In 1950, as a part of an ambitious project to build Silesian Park, plans for Silesian Stadium were drawn up by Julian Brzuchowski.[3]. Construction began in 1951, and the stadium opened in 1956. The stadium was inaugurated on 22 July 1956 with a match against East Germany.

In 1993, the stadium officially was branded as Polish national stadium, due to the state of the venue in Warsaw. The stadium regularly hosted football matches, as well as concerts and other events.

Modernization

Silesian Stadium was one of the venues shortlisted for UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, but it did not make the final list. The venue was also shortlisted as the Polish candidate for UEFA Euro 2020.[4]

From 2009, the stadium underwent modernization which included the construction of a 43,000 square metre roof, new stands, lighting, video screens and an improved sound system. The speedway track has been replaced with a traditional track that will allow Chorzów to host international athletics events. The new roof collapsed in 2011[5] putting project on hold. Though originally planned to be completed by autumn 2011 for 415 million złoty, the finishing touches were only completed in 2017 costing around 650 million złoty.

Events

Football

Poland national football team

[6]

Before renovation

No.	Date	Match	Result	Turnout
1	22 July 1956	Poland – GDR	0–2	90 000
2	20 October 1957	Poland – USSR	2–1	100 000
3	11 May 1958	Poland – Ireland	2–2	80 000
4	14 September 1958	Poland – Hungary	1–3	90 000
5	28 June 1959	Poland – Spain	2–4	100 000
6	8 November 1959	Poland – Finland	6–2	22 000
7	26 June 1960	Poland – Bulgaria	4–0	25 000
8	25 June 1961	Poland – Yugoslavia	1–1	100 000
9	5 November 1961	Poland – Denmark	5–0	10 000
10	10 October 1962	Poland – Northern Ireland	0–2	50 000
11	2 June 1963	Poland – Romania	1–1	40 000
12	23 May 1965	Poland – Scotland	1–1	80 000
13	3 May 1966	Poland – Hungary	1–1	95 000
14	5 July 1966	Poland – England	0–1	70 000
15	21 May 1967	Poland – Belgium	3–1	65 000
16	24 April 1968	Poland – Turkey	8–0	35 000
17	30 October 1968	Poland – Ireland	1–0	18 000
18	7 September 1969	Poland – Netherlands	2–1	85 000
19	14 October 1970	Poland – Albania	3–0	10 000
20	6 June 1973	Poland – England	2–0	90 000
21	26 September 1973	Poland – Wales	3–0	90 000
22	10 September 1975	Poland – Netherlands	4–1	85 000
23	24 March 1976	Poland – Argentina	1–2	60 000
24	21 September 1977	Poland – Denmark	4–1	80 000
25	29 October 1977	Poland – Portugal	1–1	80 000
26	4 April 1979	Poland – Hungary	1–1	60 000
27	2 May 1979	Poland – Netherlands	2–0	85 000
28	26 September 1979	Poland – GDR	1–1	70 000
29	6 June 1980	Poland – Czechoslovakia	1–1	45 000
30	2 May 1981	Poland – GDR	1–0	80 000
31	2 September 1981	Poland – Germany	0–2	70 000
32	22 May 1983	Poland – USSR	1–1	75 000
33	11 September 1985	Poland – Belgium	0–0	75 000
34	16 November 1985	Poland – Italy	1–0	20 000
35	19 October 1988	Poland – Albania	1–0	35 000
36	11 October 1989	Poland – England	0–0	35 000
37	25 October 1989	Poland – Sweden	0–2	15 000
38	29 May 1993	Poland – England	1–1	65 000
39	2 April 1997	Poland – Italy	0–0	32 000
40	31 May 1997	Poland – England	0–2	30 000
41	27 May 1998	Poland – Russia	3–1	8 000
42	31 March 1999	Poland – Sweden	0–1	28 000
43	1 September 2001	Poland – Norway	3–0	43 000
44	6 October 2001	Poland – Ukraine	1–1	25 000
45	29 March 2003	Poland – Hungary	0–0	47 000
46	10 September 2003	Poland – Sweden	0–2	20 000
47	8 September 2004	Poland – England	1–2	45 000
48	3 September 2005	Poland – Austria	3–2	45 000
49	31 May 2006	Poland – Colombia	1–2	40 000
50	11 October 2006	Poland – Portugal	2–1	45 000
51	17 November 2007	Poland – Belgium	2–0	47 000
52	1 June 2008	Poland – Denmark	1–1	35 000
53	11 October 2008	Poland – Czech Republic	2–1	47 000
54	5 September 2009	Poland – Northern Ireland	1–1	45 000
55	14 October 2009	Poland – Slovakia	0–1	4 000

After renovation

No.	Date	Match	Result	Turnout
1	27 March 2018	Poland – South Korea	3–2	53 129
2	11 October 2018	Poland – Portugal	2–3	48 783
3	14 October 2018	Poland – Italy	0–1	41 692

Club football

Numerous Ekstraklasa matches have been played - mostly by the local team Ruch Chorzów, especially for the Great Silesian Derby matches against neighbours Górnik Zabrze due to extra interest from the fans.[7] As it used to be the only national stadium with such a large capacity in the country for numerous years, Polish Cup matches have been frequently hosted there too,[8] especially the final matches.[9]

Panorama of the Silesian Stadium, 2017

Speedway

The football pitch at the Silesia Stadium used to be surrounded by a 384 metres (420 yards) long Motorcycle speedway track. The first World Final held at the stadium in 1973, was run in front of the largest crowd in world speedway history.[10] English speedway 'golden boy' Peter Collins won the 1976 World Final at Silesian.[11]

Ivan Mauger won the 1979 World Final at the stadium. [12] Silesian also hosted the Final of the 1974 Speedway World Team Cup, won by England, as well as the Final of both the 1978 and 1981 World Pairs Championships.[13]

Track and field

Orlen Monster Jam

In 1967, the Silesian Stadium hosted the Polish Athletics Championships. In 1969, during an athletics tournament between Poland, East Germany and Soviet Union, Nadezhda Chizhova became the first woman in history to break the 20 metre barrier in shot put, setting the world record at 20.09m.[14] In 2010, an official bid to organize the World Athletics Championships in Chorzów was submitted, however, the city lost to Beijing in the selection process.[15] Between 9-10 June 2018, the 11th Polish Summer Paralympic Games took place at the Silesian Stadium.[16] On 22 August 2018, the stadium was chosen to host the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, which attracted 41,200 spectators.[17]

Concerts and other events

Silesian Stadium has hosted large music concerts in its history by many artists and groups including The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, U2, Iron Maiden, Linkin Park, Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, The Police, Rammstein, Slipknot, Machine Head.[18][19]

In 2009, it was the venue of performances by Monster Jam[20][21], and again in 2018.

See also

• Chorzów
• Silesian Park
• List of football stadiums in Poland

References

1. "Stadiums in Poland". World Stadiums. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
2. "Stadion Śląski w najwyższej kategorii według UEFA! Co to znaczy?". Dziennik Zachodni. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
3. "Silesian Stadium: Back in Business!". InYourPocket. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
4. "Silesian Stadium picked as Euro 2020 candidate". Radio Poland. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
5. "Poland: Śląski slowly rising to glory (?) again". Stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
6. http://stadionslaski.pl/historia/
7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
14. "Progression of Official World Record". Retrieved 2018-12-01.
15. "MŚ 2015 na Stadionie Śląskim? Odpadliśmy na starcie". Retrieved 2018-12-01.
16. "XI Ogólnopolskie Letnie Igrzyska Olimpiad Specjalnych". Retrieved 2018-12-01.
17. "REKORDOWY MEMORIAŁ KAMILI SKOLIMOWSKIEJ". Retrieved 2018-12-01.
18. "Stadion Ślaski wraca na muzyczną mapę Polski. Wspominamy najważniejsze koncerty". Retrieved 2018-08-19.
19. "Stadion Śląski Chorzów Gigography, Concert History, Past Events – Songkick". www.songkick.com. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

• Gazeta Wyborcza
  • "Pół wieku Stadionu Śląskiego" Część 1, 26 czerwca 2006, page: 1, 2, 3, 4
  • "Pół wieku Stadionu Śląskiego" Część 3, 10 lipca 2006, page: 1, 2, 3, 4
  • "Pół wieku Stadionu Śląskiego" Część 4, 17 lipca 2006, page: 1, 2, 3, 4

External links

• Official website (in Polish)
• Stadium history (in Polish)