Tampere Stadium

Tampere Stadium
Ratina Stadium
	Panoramic view of the stadium
Full name	Tampere Stadium
Location	Ratina, Tampere, Finland
Coordinates	61°29′33″N 023°45′51″E / 61.49250°N 23.76417°ECoordinates: 61°29′33″N 023°45′51″E / 61.49250°N 23.76417°E
Owner	City of Tampere
Operator	City of Tampere
Capacity	16,800
Field size	105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft)
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1965
Renovated	2004
Architect	Timo Penttilä
Tenants
	Finland national football team (2016–present); Ilves (on occasion); Tampere United (2004–2010)

Tampere Stadium^[1] (Finnish: Tampereen stadion),^[2] also known as Ratina Stadium (Finnish: Ratinan stadion), designed by architect Timo Penttilä and completed in 1965, is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampere, Finland, with a seating capacity of 16,800 people, and up to 32,000 people for concerts. In 2018, the stadium hosted the IAAF World U20 Championships.

Football[]

The stadium primarily hosts football matches. It served as Tampere United's home stadium and it will be the home stadium for Finnish national team between 2016 and 2018 due to the renovation of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The stadium was also formerly used by Ilves, which holds the record attendances for football matches in both European and domestic competitions: 24,873 against Juventus on 19 September 1984 in the European Cup and 15,000 against Kokkolan Palloveikot on 9 October 1983 in the Finnish League.

Music[]

Over the years the stadium has hosted several music events. In addition to standalone concerts, it serves as the main arena for the annual hip hop festival .

Concerts[]

Date	Artist(s)	Tour/Event
14 August 2004	Eppu Normaali	–
18 August 2007	Toto	Falling in Between Tour
19 July 2008	Iron Maiden	Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
9 August 2008	PMMP Ismo Alanko Popeda Eppu Normaali	Suomi-ilmiö 2008
2 June 2009	Bruce Springsteen	Working on a Dream Tour
26 May 2010	Bryan Adams	–
1 June 2010	AC/DC	Black Ice World Tour
1 August 2012	Red Hot Chili Peppers	I'm With You World Tour
26 May 2013	Bon Jovi	Because We Can World Tour
31 July 2015	Nightwish	Endless Forms Most Beautiful World Tour
6 August 2016	Eppu Normaali	40th Anniversary Concert
10 August 2017	Robbie Williams	The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour
4 August 2018	Popeda	Popeda.Ratina.Rakkaus
9 August 2019 10 August 2019	Rammstein	Europe Stadium Tour 2019

Speedway[]

Tampere Stadium is also used as a venue for Motorcycle speedway. It was first used for international competition in 1974 as the host of the Nordic Final as part of the qualifying for the Speedway World Championship. The Nordic Final was also held in Tampere in 1977 and 1989. The stadium also hosted the Finland National Championship on occasions.

The stadium played host to the 1995 World Under-21 Championship Final won by Australia's Jason Crump, and in 2014 the stadium hosted the inaugural Speedway Grand Prix of Finland won by Slovenian rider Matej Zagar. Speedway returned to Ratina the following year, with the Finnish Grand Prix as Round 2 of the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix series. The speedway track is laid out over the stadiums 400 metres (440 yards) athletics track.

References[]

^ "Tampere Stadium". Tampere: City of Tampere. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
^ "Tampereen stadion" [Tampere Stadium] (in Finnish). Tampere: City of Tampere. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2013.