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Swedbank Stadion

Swedbank Stadion
Swedbank Stadion Logo.jpg
Location Eric Perssons väg 31, 217 62 Malmö
Coordinates 55°35′01″N 12°59′16″E / 55.58361°N 12.98778°E / 55.58361; 12.98778
Owner MFF Event AB
Operator Malmö FF
Capacity 24,000, of which 18,000 are seated. (league games)
21,000 all seated. (international games)
Field size 105 by 70 metres (344 ft × 230 ft)
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground 23 April 2007
Built 2007–2009
Opened 13 April 2009
Construction cost 695 million kronor(€79,7M)
Architect Fojab arkitekter
Berg Arkitektkontor
Structural engineer Byggteknik i Skåne
Main contractors Peab
Tenants
Malmö FF (2009–present)
Website
http://www.mff.se/swedbankstadion/fakta.html

The Swedbank Stadion, often called Stadion, is a football stadium in Malmö, Sweden and the home of Allsvenskan club Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF. In UEFA competitions, the stadium is known as Malmö New Stadium for sponsorship reasons. The stadium is named after Swedish based banking group Swedbank, which owns its naming rights. Apart from being the home of Malmö FF, Swedbank Stadion has also hosted senior and youth international matches.

The stadium is the third largest used by a Swedish football club, behind AIK's Friends Arena and Djurgårdens IF's and Hammarby IF's Tele2 Arena, both located in . In league matches, the stadium has a capacity of 24,000, of which 18,000 are seated, and 6,000 are standing. In European matches, the 6,000 standing places are converted to 3,000 seats, making the stadium a 21,000-capacity all-seater. Swedbank Stadion opened in April 2009, and replaced Malmö Stadion, where Malmö FF had been based since 1958. The new ground was originally budgeted to cost 398 million kronor, but ultimately cost 695 million kronor (€79.7). It is a UEFA category 4-rated stadium, and is thus able to host all UEFA club competition matches, except for finals. The ground's record attendance, 24,148, was set in an Allsvenskan match between Malmö FF and Mjällby AIF on 7 November 2010: in this match, Malmö FF won 2–0 and clinched that year's national championship.

Malmö FF's board of directors initiated the search for a new stadium in the mid-1990s. Malmö Stadion, where Malmö FF had played since its construction in 1958, was starting to deteriorate by this time, and was also too large for the club, which often struggled to fill it for Allsvenskan matches. In 1995, club chairman Bengt Madsen began to raise money for the renovation of Malmö IP, the club's former home between 1910 and 1957, into a modern football stadium. Malmö IP was practical and economical for the club as it was already an extant site, and was smaller than Malmö Stadion, which was expensive to maintain. The renovation of Malmö IP was finished in August 1999, and Malmö FF moved in soon after. However, the renovated ground failed to live up to expectations, proving to be very basic by modern standards; the paltry capacity of 7,600 was also deemed a security issue. The club therefore moved back to Malmö Stadion in 2001.


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