About Friends Arena – the arena of great moments
The UEFA Europa League Final will take place at Friends Arena. Here are some fast facts about the state-of-the-art arena in Solna, outside of Stockholm, Sweden.
Friends Arena was inaugurated in October 2012 by Crown Princess Victoria, and is a multi-purpose arena for a variety of events. It is also the national football stadium in Sweden and home arena for the local Solna-based team AIK. The retractable roof and multi-purpose floor have enabled Friends Arena to host everything from speedway racing and horse shows to concerts and bandy. Friends Arena is the only multi-purpose arena of its kind and size in the Nordic region.
The name The name sponsor, Swedbank, donated the name rights before the inauguration to the anti-bullying organization Friends. The purpose is to highlight the organization’s extensive work to reduce bullying in schools and among young people in sports clubs.
The location Friends Arena is situated in the municipality of Solna, less than 10 minutes by train from Stockholm City. The arena is located in Arenastaden, Stockholm’s new and rapidly-expanding business and entertainment area. Arenastaden houses some 25,000 office workplaces, 3,000 homes and a modern shopping mall with 200 shops, a cinema and many restaurants.
Arena facts The maximum capacity of the arena is 75,000 at concerts, and the arena can accommodate 50,000 seated fans for football. Friends Arena also includes 64 VIP boxes of different sizes.
The visual experience is enhanced by a 65-square meter screen above the pitch together with more than 700 LED TV screens placed around the arena.
The arena measures 103,296 square meters in total.
The arena has 28 entrances/exits
The arena is decorated with LED lights that can be used to create 17 million different colors.
The retractable roof takes 20 minutes to open/close (always preceded by a safety inspection)
The arena has a media center, which includes a press conference room with a capacity for more than 100 seats, a media café and a designated work space for accredited media representatives.
Great football moments at Friends Arena The Swedish men’s football team victory in the inaugural match against England by a stunning 4-2, topped only by Zlatan’s unforgettable bicycle kick goal, which received the Ballon d’Or, and an attendance record for the match of 49,967.
In total, Zlatan has scored 20 goals with the national team at Friends Arena.
Friends Arena holds the all-time record crowd for an UEFA Women’s Euro final, with 41,301 attending the event in 2013, watching Germany beat Norway by 1-0.
Great concert moments Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Coldplay, Depeche Mode and many more bands and artists have visited Friends Arena over the past five years. Swedish House Mafia played their final three concerts at the arena in December 2012, and Bruce Springsteen performed a few months later for 167,000 fans at three concerts.
Food and drinks The arena offers everything from fine dining to fast food through the many kiosks around the arena. The arena’s different restaurants and hospitality areas have a capacity of approximately 3,500 simultaneous guests in addition to the 45 kiosks.