Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
The latest football ground news from around the world. New stadiums, ground renovations and records - it's all here. Heard some news that you think should be featured? Drop us a line through the contact page. Want to keep up-to-date with the latest stadium news by email? Sign up to the site and join the monthly stadium newsletter.
Wednesday 25th September 2019
UEFA have revealed the stadiums which will host the next Champions League finals. This season's final will be held at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey but UEFA have now confirmed the following 3 to be:
The 2023 final coincides with the 100th anniversary of the opening of the original Wembley Stadium.
The European governing body has also awarded the 2021 Europa League final to Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Spain. It was also confirmed that the 2021 Super Cup will be held at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
UEFA has also outlined their commitment to combat the problems associated with climate change. Next year's European Championships will be hosted in 12 different countries and has come under scrutiny for its lack of green credentials. To answer this, the organisation will plant 50,000 trees in each of the host cities.
Sunday 15th September 2019
Spanish side Real Sociedad have officially opened the renovated Anoeta Stadium.
The La Liga side won 3-2 against Atletico Madrid in front of 34,719.
Originally opened in 1993, the Anoeta has been undergoing renovations for the past 2 years with the club removing the running track and adding over 10,000 seats in its place at a cost of around €47m. The total capacity now stands at 42,300 making it the 8th largest stadium in Spain (currently in use).
Sociedad have sold an impressive 32,000 season tickets and started the current season with 3 consecutive away games to allow work on the stadium to be completed.
The YouTube video below shows the work done on the stadium:
Thursday 12th September 2019
Plymouth Argyle are making progress on their new grandstand, potentially looking to open it on New Year's Day next year.
The announcement was made in the club’s blog with the Head of Stadium Redevelopment teasing the news, saying he’d love to see a full house when they host Swindon Town after Christmas.
The League 2 side are increasing the capacity of Home Park to 18,000 in a project costing around £5m. Progress on the new stand is good with some upper tier seating already installed.
Thursday 12th September 2019
Austin FC have broken ground on their new stadium. The team will officially join the MLS Western Conference in 2021 as the 27th expansion team and hope to have their new $250m stadium open in time.
The 20,500 seat venue is being built with cooling in mind - high canopy roofs and open corners will allow air to circulate whilst breathable mesh seating will stay cool on hot days. With the average temperature above 80 degrees for 7 months of the season, keeping fans cool is a high priority.
Austin FC will be come the third MLS team from the state of Texas, joining neighbours Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas. The city is home to almost a million people and the club have received over 35,000 deposits for season tickets with unsuccessful applicants being placed onto a waiting list.
Wednesday 28th August 2019
FC Barcelona have officially opened the new Estadi Johan Cruyff a couple of miles west of the Nou Camp.
The new stadium is a replacement for the old Mini Estadi and will be the home of Barcelona’s B and women’s teams as well as big games for the Under 19s side.
The first match at the new stadium was a friendly between Barcelona and Ajax’s youth teams - a fitting link to the legend whom the stadium is named after.
The new ground has a 6,000 capacity and means that the old Mini Estadi football stadium will be demolished to make way for a new venue for indoor sports including basketball, handball, roller hockey and futsal.
The video below shows the stadium in some detail:
🟠Estadi Johan Cruyff opens today.
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 27, 2019
🙌 This is how it came to life. pic.twitter.com/W4Gn5osJa8
Wednesday 28th August 2019
Bolton Wanderers have been saved after being bought by Football Ventures. The League 1 side had been 14 days away from expulsion from the EFL, a fate that has already happened to neighbours Bury.
Bolton are now out of administration and free to complete the rest of the season. They may face a tough fight for survival though - the club currently sit bottom of the league having drawn one and lost 3. They started the season on -12 points due to administration and are 11 points adrift at the bottom.
Worse still, the club are currently managerless and only have a handful of first team players on their books - although they have fielded mainly youth team players in the first 4 games of the season.
Thursday 22nd August 2019
Bury FC have been expelled from the EFL after failing to find a buyer and prove they could fulfil this season’s fixtures.
The League 1 club who were promoted last year are in financial turmoil and had yet to kick a ball this season having had all 5 games postponed and been kicked out of the League Cup. Their entering into a CVA had already seen them start the season on -12 points. Several key players and their manager had also left to join League 2 side Plymouth.
League 1 will now continue with 23 teams this season. Only 3 will now be relegated as opposed to the usual 4.
Bury had been members of the Football League since 1894. They are the first club to be expelled since Maidstone were liquidated in 1992.
Tuesday 20th August 2019
St Louis has officially been named as the next MLS expansion team. The club will become the 28th member of MLS in 2022 after Inter Miami and Nashville join the league in 2020 and Austin FC in 2021.
The new St Louis team will play in a brand new 22,500 capacity stadium. The team name, colours and crest will be confirmed in due course. The club has paid a cool $200m to join the league.
It’s a much-needed coup for the city of St Louis who lost the Rams NFL franchise to Los Angeles in 2016.
Confusingly, this will be an entirely different team to the current St Louis FC who play in the USL Championship. Only in America
Tuesday 20th August 2019
Leigh Sports Village has replaced the City Ground as one of the eight host stadiums for the next Women's European Championships which is to be held in England in 2 years' time.
The City Ground will be undergoing refurbishment work at the time and has stepped down as a host venue.
The Leigh Sports Village was originally home to Leigh Genesis but now hosts Man United's women's and reserve teams as well as Leigh Centurions rugby league team.
The complete Women's Euro 2021 stadium line up:
Fans in the North East will be disappointed with the decision as the region is again overlooked by the FA, despite having a number of suitable venues.
Wednesday 14th August 2019
Salford City have set a new record attendance at their Moor Lane stadium. The new record of 4,518 was set in the League Cup first round tie against Leeds United.
Salford are currently enjoying their first ever season in League football having been taken over by a consortium including Class of 92 players Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham. The Ammies have enjoyed incredible success since the takeover, achieving 4 promotions in 6 years.
The match was televised by Sky with Leeds running out 3-0 winners.
Saturday 10th August 2019
Part of the roof has collapsed at AZ Alkmaar’s AFAS Stadium - but luckily nobody was injured.
The accident at the Dutch Eredivisie stadium happened in strong winds in the Netherlands. Luckily AZ were away at the time - winning 2-0 at RKC Waalwijk, meaning that nobody was in the ground.
The club have assessed the integrity of the rest of the stadium and found major welding faults which could see the stadium closed for a considerable length of time whilst they are fixed.
In the meantime, AZ will play their home games at ADO Den Haag’s Cars Jeans Stadion, some 45 miles away.
Opened in 2006, the AFAS Stadium has a capacity of 17,000 and is in the top 10 Dutch grounds visited by footballgroundmap.com users.
Tuesday 6th August 2019
Milan's giant San Siro stadium has had its capacity cut for the 2019/2020 season. 6 sections of the third tier will be closed, reducing capacity by 2,350.
The move comes amid fans' concerns after some parts of the stadium appeared to oscillate in some matches last season, particularly in the Inter vs Atlanta match in April.
Local authorities have checked the structure and are happy that it is safe. The closing of the 6 sections is reported only to reassure the public and prevent any panic.
The closure will take the San Siro's capacity down to around 77,800. It's not expected to cause too many problems as both Inter and AC averaged well under capacity last season (58,789 for Inter and 54,651 for AC).
However, the news may add more impetus to the plans to build a new stadium in Milan.
