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Nihondaira Sports Stadium

IAI Stadium Nihondaira
I Sta
'Daira
Nihondaira stadium20090412.jpg
Former names Outsourcing Stadium Nihondaira (March 2009 - February 2013)
Nihondaira Sports Stadium(- February 2009)
Location Japan Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan
Coordinates 34°59′04″N 138°28′52″E / 34.98444°N 138.48111°E / 34.98444; 138.48111
Owner Shizuoka City
Operator Shizuoka City Public Facility Corporation
Capacity
20,339
Field size
135 m × 73 m
Surface Grass
Construction
Opened 1991
Expanded 1993
Tenants
Shimizu S-Pulse

The IAI Stadium Nihondaira (IAIスタジアム日本平, pronounced as I-A-I) is a football stadium in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Japan. It is currently mostly used for football matches and has been the home stadium of the J-League's Shimizu S-Pulse since 1993. The stadium holds 20,339 people and was opened in 1991. In November 2008 a four-year naming deal effective from March 2009 was announced expected to earn S-Pulse 360,000,000 yen. The stadium was known as The Outsourcing Stadium until February 2013. As Shizuoka City and Shimizu S-Pulse reached a 5-year deal with IAI Corporation, a manufacturer industrial robots, the stadium has been renamed as IAI Stadium Nihondaira effective 1 March 2013.

The stadium first opened in 1991 with two stands and a capacity of 13,000. In its debut year the stadium was used to host the football tournament of the annual All Japan High School Athletics Meet. Subsequent expansion took place before the first J-League season in 1993 which added two more stands and took the capacity up to 18,500. Since then, the ground has been further expanded with the current capacity standing at 20,339. Future expansion is far from impossible, although limited access to the stadium is the biggest hurdle towards a further enlarged capacity.

In 2004, 2008 and again in 2009 the stadium's pitch received the award for the best kept playing surface in the J-League.

At the start of the 2007 season a new Astro Vision giant video screen was unveiled in the southeast corner of the ground. 2007 also saw S-Pulse host all home league games at Nihondaira for the first time since 1999. In previous years, the team's higher profile games were often hosted at higher capacity arenas; most commonly Ecopa Stadium.


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