Arena Kombetare: Everything to know about the final venue

ARENA KOMBETARE

Location: Tirana, Albania
Capacity: 22,500
Built: 2019
Designers: Archea Associati (IT)

An 'Italian' Stadium

It may be a coincidence, but it's a fact nonetheless. The stadium in Tirana is the product of Italian imagination, built on the same site where the country's original national ground - the Qemal Stafa Stadium - was also created by an Italian architect.

On that occasion it was Gherardo Bosio, in 1939, whereas this time the design came from Archea Associati in Florence, under the guidance of lead architect Marco Casamonti.

Bosio also hailed from Florence, lending a particularly Italian essence to Albania's national ground.

History and Modernity in One Design

You might call it 'classical restoration' - a combination of fidelity to original methods with a spark of modern engineering.

The style is obvious for all those who see the Arena Kombetare from outside, passing the city's Archeology Museum on the west side, as the marble structures of the original design of the site make way to the modern facade of the new stadium itself.

That structure is the remaining link to the former stadium, restored and reminaged to remain the cornerstone of the new structure's visual identity.

A Theatre in Red and Black

The stadium was officially opened in November 2019 and is considered one of the finest examples of modern stadia in Europe.

It's shape is unusual, marked out by concave and convex walls. To many, though, the standout is what is on those walls: a total of 3,200 sunshades, in both red and black, that give the whole stadium a striking, powerful look in the colours of the Albanian national flag.

The stadium also includes a tower, 100 metres tall, which hosts a hotel that overlooks the ground itself.

A total of 23,500 seats make up the capacity of the ground (although this varies based on event specifications).

A wall rises from our touchline stad, dominating the seats in that area - this provides a theatrical backdrop worthy of a European final.

Stadium names

Arena Kombetare means “National Stadium” in Albanian.

All four stands that make up the ground also are named after specific individuals:

• Main Stand: Qemal Stafa, a national hero who was killed in the Second World War. The original national stadium was named after him.
  
• West Stand: Panajot Pano, widely considered the greatest Albanian player of all time.
  
• North Stand: Fatmir Frasheri, former footballer and director, who won many national league and cup titles with clubs in Tirana.
  
• South Stand: Vasillaq Zeri, a legend of Albanian football, who won the league five times with Dinamo Tirana.