Generali Arena

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GENERALI Arena
Generali Arena-AC Sparta Praha.jpg
Former names Letná Stadium (1917-2003)
Toyota arena (2003-2007)
AXA Arena (2007-2009)
Location Milady Horákové 1066/98
Prague
Czech Republic
Coordinates 50°5′59.29″N14°24′57.28″E / 50.0998028°N 14.4159111°E / 50.0998028; 14.4159111 Coordinates: 50°5′59.29″N14°24′57.28″E / 50.0998028°N 14.4159111°E / 50.0998028; 14.4159111
Owner AC Sparta Praha fotbal, a.s.
Capacity 18,000 - 20,000
Field size 105×68 m
Surface Grass
Construction
Opened 1917
Renovated 1937, 1969, 1994
Tenants
Czech Republic national football team
Sparta Prague
Interior of the Generali Arena at the start of a game, Nov 2002 Spartastadium.jpg
Interior of the Generali Arena at the start of a game, Nov 2002

The Generali Arena, previously, and still commonly known as Letná Stadium (Czech : Stadion Letná [ˈstadjon ˈlɛtnaː] ), is a football stadium in Prague. It is the home venue of Sparta Prague and often the home stadium of the Czech Republic national football team. It has capacity for 19,416 people.

Czech language West Slavic language spoken in the Czech Republic

Czech, historically also Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of mutual intelligibility to a very high degree. Like other Slavic languages, Czech is a fusional language with a rich system of morphology and relatively flexible word order. Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German.

Association football Team field sport

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

Stadium place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events

A stadium is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.

Contents

History

The first wooden stadium at its location opened in 1921, in 1930 it hosted the third Women's World Games. The stadium burned in 1934 and a new main reinforced concrete grandstand was built in 1937. In 1969 all the other grandstands were replaced by reinforced concrete ones and capacity was extended to 35,880 spectators. The 1994 reconstruction into its present form saw Letná closed for nine months, till the stadium met all international standards. The running track was removed and all spectator places were now seated. [1] [2]

Wood fibrous material from trees or other plants

Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.

1930 Womens World Games

The 1930 Women's World Games were the third regular international Women's World Games, the tournament was held between September 6 - September 8 at the Letná Stadium in Prague.

Reinforced concrete composite building material

Reinforced concrete (RC) (also called reinforced cement concrete or RCC) is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are counteracted by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ductility. The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel reinforcing bars (rebar) and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. Reinforcing schemes are generally designed to resist tensile stresses in particular regions of the concrete that might cause unacceptable cracking and/or structural failure. Modern reinforced concrete can contain varied reinforcing materials made of steel, polymers or alternate composite material in conjunction with rebar or not. Reinforced concrete may also be permanently stressed, so as to improve the behaviour of the final structure under working loads. In the United States, the most common methods of doing this are known as pre-tensioning and post-tensioning.

Letná has frequently hosted international matches, in October 1989 the venue saw a crowd of 34,000 watch home side Czechoslovakia defeat Switzerland in a qualifying match for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. [2] After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Letná continued as an international stadium, hosting matches of the Czech Republic national football team from 1995, including qualification matches for UEFA Euro 1996, in which the Czechs defeated the Netherlands and Norway. [3]

Czechoslovakia national football team former mens national association football team representing Czechoslovakia

The Czechoslovakia national football team was the national association football team of Czechoslovakia from 1920 to 1992. The team was controlled by the Czechoslovak Football Association, and the team qualified for eight World Cups and three European Championships. It had two runner-up finishes in World Cups, in 1934 and 1962, and won the European Championship in the 1976 tournament.

The Switzerland national football team is the national football team of Switzerland. The team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association.

1990 FIFA World Cup 1990 edition of the FIFA World Cup

The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations entered and qualification began in April 1988. 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy and defending champions Argentina.

The playing surface was renovated in 2001, including the installation of a new under-soil heating and watering system and grass from Germany. [4] This necessitated Sparta playing league matches at the end of the 2000–01 season at the nearby Stadion Evžena Rošického. [5]

Under-soil heating is a method used in various sports stadia which heats the underside of the pitch to avoid any elements from bad weather, such as snow and ice, from building up and ultimately helps the club avoid having to postpone any matches.

Stadion Evžena Rošického

Stadion Evžena Rošického, also known simply as Strahov, is a multi-purpose stadium in Strahov, Prague in the Czech Republic. It hosted the 1978 European Athletics Championships and for many years this was the venue for main annual international athletic meet of Prague until Stadion Juliska took the role in 2002. Nowadays the stadium is used only for minor domestic athletic competitions and mostly for football matches, although no team plays at the stadium regularly. It served as the home ground for SK Slavia Prague from August 2000 until May 2008 when their new stadium, the Synot Tip Arena, was opened. It is also occasionally used by other Czech teams, and is the usual venue for the Czech Cup final. Currently, it is the home stadium of FK Olympia Prague of the Czech National Football League.

Sparta was hit by a 55,000 CHF fine from European football governing body UEFA in 2001 following racist slurs from the crowd targeted at black Brazilian Luis Robson in a UEFA Champions League match at Letná against Spartak Moscow. It was, at the time, the biggest fine ever handed out by UEFA to a club for racist chanting. [6]

Swiss franc currency of Switzerland and Liechtenstein

The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the federal mint Swissmint issues coins.

UEFA international sport governing body

The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football, futsal and beach soccer in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world football's governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members.

Luis Robson Brazilian footballer

Robson Luis Pereira da Silva is a former Brazilian footballer who acted as a striker.

Development of the name

Non football activities

Since the beginning the stadium has been used as a tribune for events that took place in/around the Milada Horaková street and the large "Letenská pláň" behind it. During the Velvet revolution in 1989 there were some 800,000 people assembled here for various anti-government demonstrations.[ citation needed ]

Transport

The stadium is served by the tram stop Sparta, called at by services 1, 8, 12, 25 and 26. The nearest metro stations are Hradčanská to the west and Vltavská to the east.

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References

  1. ↑ "Historie stadionů Sparty Praha na místě stávajícího stadionu". sparta.cz. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 Bouc, Frantisek (26 April 1995). "Sparta Praha's Stadium Is '12th Man' for Czech Soccer". Prague Post. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  3. ↑ Bouc, Frantisek (9 October 1996). "Czech soccer players make a pitch for World Cup '98". Prague Post. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  4. ↑ "Na Letné bude trávník z Německa" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 13 June 2001. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  5. ↑ "Sparta dohraje závěr ligy na Strahově" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 10 April 2001. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  6. ↑ Bouc, Frantisek (28 November 2001). "Racist fans worry Sparta". Prague Post. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
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