TEHELNE POLE STADION

Bratislava, Slovakia

Tehelné pole (meaning "Brickfield") is the informal name of a city quarter in Bratislava, Slovakia, characterized by the presence of several sports facilities. Administratively, the quarter belongs to Nové Mesto borough, situated around 5 km north-east of the centre. The German and Hungarian names for this locality are Ziegelfeld and Téglamezö.

Most commonly the name refers to the football stadium which is the home field for Slovan Bratislava and the regular home for the Slovakia national team in this quarter. The stadium has a capacity of 30,085 spectators, and is 105 m long and 68 m wide. The stadium was built during the first Slovak Republic, when Nazi Germany occupied Petržalka in 1938 and Bratislava lost almost all of its sporting facilities. The construction lasted from 1939 to 1944 and the stadium became home ground for Slovan Bratislava. The stadium was officially opened in September 1940 with 25,000 places, and the first international match was played on 27 October 1940, with Slovan Bratislava playing against Hertha Berlin, ending in 2–2 tie. The old stadium underwent reconstruction in 1961, which added second tribune, boosting its capacity to 45,000 and modernising by adding score table, artificial light and revamping the field. However, the stadium could hold up even 50,000 spectators, and just before breakup of Czechoslovakia, it was the largest one in use (Strahov Stadium in Prague had a capacity of 220,000 but was disused in the 1990s) and was the home ground for Czechoslovak national team. The stadium was reconstructed once more in the 1990s to the "all-seater" stadium, reducing the capacity into 30,000. After this, the Tehelné pole stadium was the second-largest in Slovakia after Všešportový areál in Košice, however, that stadium is now disused. In 2005–06, it was also used as the "home" ground for FC Artmedia Bratislava in that club's Champions League and UEFA Cup campaigns, as Artmedia's own ground did not meet minimum standards for UEFA competition. It is planned that the current stadium will be demolished and a new one with the capacity around 35,000 people will be built, costing around 80 million Euro. The need for a new stadium stems from the UEFA rules, which require to play international matches on stadiums of certain standards from 2008, however, Slovakia lacks these stadiums so far.

In July 2009 Slovak government decided to support the construction of new stadium. The demolition works are planned for March – April 2010 and the new stadium should be opened in May 2012. It's capacity will be 22,000 spectators with possibility of enlargement to 30,000.

Unused 4" x 6" continental size chrome.

Dist. by Rico Weisbach