Stadion Grbavica

Grbavica Stadium or Stadion Grbavica is located inGrbavica,Sarajevo,Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thisfootballstadium has terraces close to the pitch and it is the home stadium ofFK Željezničar Sarajevoand one of two stadiums of thenational football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The stadium has a capacity to hold 13,146 seated spectators, with more room for standing spectators under South stands (capacity up to 16,000). Grbavica Stadium is also known asDolina ćupova(en.Valley of Jars).
The construction of a sporting facility—that would eventually become football-only ground—in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Grbavica started during the late 1940s. Although the city of Sarajevo had already had several football pitches with bleachers and stands (including the freshly builtKoševo Stadium), it was decided by the Yugoslav communist authorities that resources are to be allocated towards construction of a new multi-sport facility for usage by various clubs under the umbrella of theSD Željezničarsports society. Many of the club's supporters, friends, and members, including a number ofYugoslav People's Army(JNA) personnel helped in the construction of the football ground. Unlike the construction of Koševo—a large-scale project with generous state support through funds and manpower—the construction of Grbavica had far fewer workers devoted to it and as a result took much longer to complete. A new pitch with arunning trackand drainage system was built along with rudimentary concrete stands. While the ground's southern and eastern end featured concrete-built stands, the western end had wooden stands that were taken from the recently-torn Marijin Dvor ground.
Grbavica began as a multi-use facility: in addition to football matches, competitions in cycling and athletics were organized. Eventually, its use became football only.
The ground was officially opened on September 13, 1953 with theYugoslav Second Leaguewestern division match between Željezničar andRSD Šibenik. Željezničar won 4–1.
In late June 1968, major improvements, additions, and renovations to the ground began, forcing its closure for the following eight years.
Ironically, during this time, its main tenant FK Željezničar achieved its greatest success—winning the1971–72 Yugoslav First Leaguetitle—playing its home matches away from its home ground, at cross-town rivalFK Sarajevo's Koševo Stadium. Throughout this period, the only competitive footballing contests played at Grbavica were a handful of Željezničar's European home matches, such as the1968–69 Mitropa CupsemifinalversusSklo Union Teplicein May 1969 as well as1971–72 UEFA Cupclashes againstClub Brugge,Bologna FC, andSt Johnstone FCduring fall 1971.
On April 25, 1976, Grbavica was re-opened. With 50,000 cubic meters of materials used, the additions to the venue included installation of floodlights. Furthermore, two training pitches as well as new dressing rooms, showers, and other facilities were added. The Đurasović family were the first donors.
In 1986, a proper northern stand was built. There were plans for the whole stadium to be remodeled and encircled to look like the newly built north stand, but they got shelved for the time being. As a result of the renovations, in October 1987, Yugoslavia national football team (coached at the time by Željo legendIvica Osim) played its first ever match at the stadium. In aEuro 88 qualificationclash versus Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia won 3–0.
The stadium suffered heavy structural damage during theBosnian Warthat broke out in 1992. The stadium was located between the first front lines and endured heavy fighting.Bosnian Serbs' forces burned the West stand wooden terraces. It was not until 1996 that a football match would be played here again. Symbolically, the first match after the war was thelocal derby. The capacity of North stands holds 5,377 seats.
It was partly remodelled in following years. In 2004, 8898 seats were installed on the north and south stand and some small work was done to the terraces. The last major job done on the stadium was in 2008–09 when the floodlights were repaired. On 22 April 2009, after about 18 years, a game under floodlights was again played at Grbavica.
On Monday, 13 February 2012, a section of the roof above the west stand collapsed after 10 days of heavysnowfall. The main reason for the collapsing of the roof was the bad maintenance of the whole terrace and roof were thesnowwas not removed since the first snowfall, but also the war damage on the buildings.
In 2016, the West stands held 690 seats since, while south stands capacity was 3068 seats. AnLEDdisplay has been installed on the south stand.
East stand was rebuilt (an all seated stand replacing the entire East standing section) with works finishing in early April 2017. The capacity of east stands is 4650 seats.The East stand was funded entirely by club supporters and local businesses.United StatesmidfielderMix Diskeruddonated funds to the project by buying 50 seats for the North stand as well as two ten year passes for East stand.Former club managers and players the likes ofAmar Osim,Edin Džeko,Ibrahim ŠehićandSemir Štilićamong others, also donated.Regional clubs also supported the project, with donations coming fromDinamo Zagreb.
On 1 April 2017,Željezničarplayed host toSloboda Tuzladuring theChampionship roundof the 2016–17Premier Leagueseason and on the day the newly built Eastern Stand opened to public.
In May 2018, a new pitch with a drainage system was completed. The new pitch was replaced in July 2018.
In December 2019, the construction of the new roof on the eastern stand of the stadium begun. In March 2020, the construction was finished, withŽeljezničarplaying its first game with the new roof againstTuzla Cityon 8 March 2020.
The stadium is located in theGrbavicaneighbourhood, under the Šanac Hill which was traversed byrailwaytracks. When the train was passing over the stadium, it would sound its horn to salute the crowd. Nowadays, the old railway is no longer in use. There are howevertrolleybusesthat pass by the stadium and visitors are able to come to the stadium using other modes of public transportation as well. Thetramwayline is also very close near the Socijalno station, which is located 600 meters away from the stadium.
By far the most notable match played at the stadium was the1984–85 UEFA Cupsemifinal return legon Wednesday, 24 April 1985 between Željezničar and Hungarian visitorsVideoton FCfromSzékesfehérvár. Videoton brought a 1–3 advantage from the first leg, however, the home side fought valiantly in front of the raucous home crowd of 27,000 fansand was 2–0 ahead on goals byEdin Bahtićin the 5th andEdin Ćurićin the 62nd minute. Just a few minutes from the end, Željo still had a result that would see it go through and take on mightyReal Madridin the UEFA Cup final. However, disaster struck in the 87th minute when Videoton right backJózsef Csuhaywas left unmarked and scored a goal for 2–1 that took his team to the final and saw Željezničar's hopes dashed in the cruelest of fashions.
Senior teams only.
Due to its smaller size (compared to Sarajevo's other football venue,Stadium Koševo), the stadium has seen far less music concerts held at its location. Some concerts at Stadium Grbavica were: