Atatürk Olympic Stadium
Home of the Miracle of Istanbul and a five-star UEFA venue.
The Atatürk Olympic Stadium is a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in the western district of Başakşehir, it is the largest-capacity stadium in the country, and largest permanent track and field stadium outside Africa and Asia by capacity. The stadium is named after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. Its construction began in 1999 and was completed in 2002. It was originally built for Turkey's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games that were ultimately awarded to Beijing, China. It cost about US$140 million.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Role
- Neutral Venue for Major Finals
- Key liverpool event
- 2005 UEFA Champions League Final
- Opening year
- 2002
Lore & Background
With its 77,563 (all-seater) capacity and Olympic size, it was granted the '5-star sports complex' title by UEFA in 2004, enabling it to host the finals of UEFA events. The 2005 UEFA Champions League Final between Milan and Liverpool was played at the stadium on 25 May 2005. The stadium was originally scheduled to stage its second Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich on 30 May 2020, but following the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe the match was postponed and later rescheduled to August at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, behind closed doors; the stadium was then set to hold the 2021 final between Manchester City and Chelsea instead, but the match was once again moved to Portugal, this time at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto. The stadium hosted the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester City and Inter Milan.
Reader's Guide
Süper Lig football team Istanbul BB used the venue as their home stadium until they moved to the Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium in 2014. Galatasaray played its home games at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium during the 2003–04 football season because their own venue, the Ali Sami Yen Stadium, was under renovation. Galatasaray eventually returned to Ali Sami Yen for the 2004–05 season, but played 2006–07 UEFA Champions League group stage matches at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium.
Sivasspor also played some of its Süper Lig home games at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium due to bad weather conditions in their original hometown stadium. Beşiktaş used the arena in the 2013–14 season to play most of their home games, with the reasoning being the same as Galatasaray's, while their own stadium, the Vodafone Park, was under construction. Since their promotion to the Süper Lig in 2020, Fatih Karagümrük uses the stadium as its home.
Did You Know?
- The stadium's two steel roofs (weighing 2,800 t and 1,300 t) were produced by Tekfen's Steel Structure Fabrication Plant in Ceyhan, Adana.
- With its 134 entrances and 148 exit gates, the Olympic Stadium allows 80,000 spectators to evacuate within 7.5 minutes in case of an emergency.
- On 6 September 2010, the Irish rock band U2 gave a sold-out concert at the stadium with 54,278 fans in attendance as part of their U2 360° Tour.
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