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Helsingin areena, Helsingforsarenan | |
Former names | Hartwall Areena (1997–2014) Hartwall Arena (2014–2022) |
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Address | Areenankuja 1, Helsinki |
Location | Helsinki, Finland |
Coordinates | 60°12′20.66″N24°55′44.03″E / 60.2057389°N 24.9288972°E |
Owner | Arena Events Oy (Reima Södervall, Heikki Viitikko) |
Capacity | 14,000 (basketball) 13,349 (ice hockey) 7,500–15,000 (concerts) 3,000–5,000 (amphitheater) |
Surface | Versatile |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 2 April 1996 |
Opened | 19 April 1997 — Planned to be reopened in spring 2025 |
Renovated | 2015 |
Closed | 2 March 2022 |
Construction cost | 300,000,000 mk (69,000,000 in 2018 euros) |
Architect | SCI Architects |
Project manager | Harry Harkimo |
Main contractors | Skanska |
Tenants | |
Jokerit (1997–2022) |
Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,349 (about 14,000 for basketball, for concerts up to 15,000) and as an amphitheatre, it is significantly reduced to between 3,000 to 5,000.
The formerly [1] Russian-owned arena has been unused since March 2022 due to EU sanctions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The main sponsor, Hartwall, also ended its sponsorship and the arena's name was changed. [2]
The initiative for building the arena came from Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo in 1994. It was built to be ready for the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1997, and was delivered by the constructor on 11 April 1997. The building is elliptical, 153 metres long and 123 metres wide. It also has a practice arena 37 metres underground, used by many hockey teams. It is connected to a multi-storey carpark, which has a total capacity of 1,421 vehicles.
The arena is situated next to Pasila railway station, which is the second busiest railway station in Finland, 3.5 km north of the Helsinki Central railway station.
The national broadcaster Yle calls the arena "Helsingin areena" or "Helsingforsarenan" ("the Helsinki Arena" in Finnish and Swedish). The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat calls it "Helsinki-areena".
It was branded as "Hartwall Areena" from its opening until 2014, and as "Hartwall Arena" thereafter until 2 March 2022. [3] The beverage company Hartwall, also based in Helsinki, was its largest sponsor, and thus got the naming rights. [4] Hartwall ended its sponsorship in March 2022, to avoid association with the then-Russian owners of the arena, Roman Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, [5] in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [4] In September 2024, the Finnish government announced that it would spend €200,000 on drafting a law that would allow the seizure of the arena from Rotenberg and Timchenko. [6] That November, Rotenberg and Timchenko sold their ownership of the arena to Finnish real estate investment company Trevian, [1] [7] with its CEO Reima Södervall along with Heikki Viitikko planning to have the venue reopened by early 2025. [8]
The arena was the home venue of the ice hockey team Jokerit.
The arena has also been used for Ice Hockey World Championships, World Figure Skating Championships, NHL Challenge, and World Cup of Hockey. On 2 October 2009, the NHL opened its season in the arena with a matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida Panthers, making it the first NHL game to be held in Finland. In May 2011, the arena served as the main venue of the 2012 IIHF World Championship. It hosted all Group A games and quarterfinals, all semifinals and the bronze and gold medal games. Group B games and quarterfinals were hosted in Ericsson Globe, Stockholm. It also co-hosted the 2013 IIHF World Championship with Ericsson Globe, but in 2013 all games after quarterfinals were played in Stockholm.
The arena was one of the host venues of the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Its assignment included hosting the gold-medal game, in which Kasperi Kapanen scored an Overtime goal to win Gold for Finland on home ice.
One of the group stages of EuroBasket 2017, was also played at the arena.
The arena hosted two 2018–19 regular season NHL games between the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers on Thursday, 1 November 2018 and Friday, 2 November 2018 as part of the 2018 NHL Global Series. [9]
Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 682,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.26 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has significant historical connections with these three cities.
Helsingin Jokerit is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki.
Porin Ässät, officially named Hockey Club Ässät Pori and colloquially known as Pata, is a professional ice hockey club based in Pori, Finland. It competes in the SM-liiga, the highest-ranking league of ice hockey in Finland. Since 1971, Ässät has played its games in the Isomäki Ice Hall.
The 2004 World Cup of Hockey was an international ice hockey tournament. It was the second installment of the National Hockey League (NHL)-sanctioned competition, eight years after the inaugural 1996 World Cup of Hockey. It was held from August 30 to September 14, 2004, and took place in various venues in North America and Europe. Canada won the championship, defeating Finland in the final, held in Toronto.
Harry Juhani "Hjallis" Harkimo is a Finnish businessman, sportsperson, and a member of the Finnish Parliament. Previously a National Coalition Party MP, he now chairs his own political party, Movement Now.
Gatorade Center is a multi-functional indoor arena in the district of Artukainen in Turku, Finland. Opened in November 1990, it can hold 10,500 spectators for ice hockey games.
Helsinki Ice Hall, colloquially called Nordis, is an indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. The arena has a seating capacity of 8,200.
Tampere Ice Stadium is an indoor sports arena in Tampere, Finland. It is primarily used for ice hockey, and it was the former home arena of Ilves and Tappara of the Finnish Liiga, until after the matches both teams played in November 2021, they moved to the new Nokia Arena. Today, the Ice Stadium is currently in use by the Koovee team.
Tapiolan urheilupuisto is a sports park in the Tapiola district of Espoo, Finland. The park includes several sports halls and football pitches, as well as the multipurpose Espoo Metro Areena. The Urheilupuisto metro station, which connects the park to the Länsimetro, was opened in 2017.
Jukka Pertti Juhani Jalonen is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. In 2011, 2019 and 2022, he led the Finnish national team to the gold medal in the IIHF World Championship, and at the 2022 Winter Olympics, he coached the team that won Finland's first ever Olympic gold in ice hockey. He was the head coach of Jokerit in the Kontinental Hockey League during 2016–2018 before returning to coach the Finnish national team.
Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko is a Russian oligarch and billionaire businessman. He founded and owns the private investment firm Volga Group. He was previously a co-owner of Gunvor Group.
The 2012 IIHF World Championship was the 76th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 4–20 May 2012 in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. This tournament determined the countries' seeding for the men's Olympic Ice Hockey tournament in Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, and for all countries participating in the qualification program leading up to the Olympics.
HIFK is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland that plays in the SM-liiga, the sport's top-level league in Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall.
Nokia Arena, also known by its non-sponsored name Tampere Deck Arena, is an indoor arena in Tampere, Finland, which hosts ice hockey games and large cultural events. It is the home arena of Ilves and Tappara of the SM-liiga. Its construction was approved by the City Council of Tampere on 19 May 2010, and it was officially opened on 3 December 2021.
Lauri Marjamäki is a Finnish ice hockey coach who currently serves as head coach of Oulun Kärpät of the Liiga, a position he has held since 2022. He previously served as head coach of the Finnish national ice hockey team, and of the Espoo Blues of the Liiga and Jokerit of the KHL.
Isomäen jäähalli, also known as Enersense Areena for sponsorship reasons is a multi-purpose arena located in Pori, Finland. The arena is used by ice hockey clubs Porin Ässät and Porin Kiekko Weljet. The arena was opened in 1971 and the capacity for hockey games is 6 150 and for concerts 4 000.
Roman Borisovich Rotenberg is a Finnish and Russian entrepreneur, manager and ice hockey executive. He is first vice-president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, general manager of the Russia national ice hockey team, Gazprombank vice-president, member of the Kontinental Hockey League board of directors, Deputy Chairman of the KHL board, Deputy Chairman of the SKA Hockey Club board of directors, SKA CEO and vice-president, founder of Vitawin company. Founder of a number of other companies in the sports marketing, media and sports equipment markets. He is also active in these following fields: owner of the Hartwall Arena stadium, chairman of the Arena Events board of directors and is Gazprom Export's consultant on external communications.
The 2022 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Finland from 13 to 29 May 2022, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. The host cities of the World Championships were Tampere and Helsinki, of which Tampere's brand-new Nokia Arena served as the main venue of the games.
Media related to Hartwall Arena at Wikimedia Commons
Events and tenants | ||
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Preceded by | Jokerit Home arena 1997–present | Succeeded by Current |
Preceded by | Eurovision Song Contest Venue 2007 | Succeeded by |