 | |
 Interactive map of Kadrioru staadion | |
| Former names | Dünamo staadion |
|---|---|
| Location | Tallinn,Estonia |
| Coordinates | 59°26′4.10″N24°47′0.40″E / 59.4344722°N 24.7834444°E /59.4344722; 24.7834444 |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Record attendance | 15,000 (Tallinn vs Riga, 18 August 1942)[2] |
| Field size | 105 m × 66 m (344 ft × 217 ft)[3] |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1923 |
| Opened | 13 June 1926; 99 years ago (1926-06-13)[1] |
| Renovated | 1936–1938, 1974, 1884–1986, 2000, 2011 |
| Architect | Renner(stadium complex) Karl Burman(1926) Elmar Lohk(1938) |
| Structural engineer | August Komendant(1938) |
| Tenants | |
| Estonia national football team (1926–1940, 1992–2000) FC Flora (1990–2001) FCI Levadia (2000–2018) JK Tallinna Kalev (2020–present) | |
Kadriorg Stadium (Estonian:Kadrioru staadion) is amulti-purpose stadium inTallinn,Estonia. Opened in 1926, it is one of the oldest stadiums in Estonia. It serves as the nationalathletics stadium of Estonia and as the home ground ofJK Tallinna Kalev. The stadium holds 5,000. Kadriorg Stadium is located about 2 km east of the city centre in the subdistrict ofKadriorg, nearKadriorg Palace. The address of the stadium is Roheline aas 24, 10150 Tallinn.[4]
Kadriorg has been the national athletics stadium of the nation throughout its entire history and was the home ground of theEstonia national football team from its opening in 1926 until the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, and again after the country's re-independence from 1992 until 2000, after which the team moved toA. Le Coq Arena. Throughout its history, Kadriorg Stadium has at some point been the home ground for nearly all of the top-flight football teams of Tallinn, such asFC Flora,Levadia,Kalev,Nõmme Kalju,TJK Legion andTVMK.
Kadriorg Stadium has hosted theEuropean Athletics U23 Championships in 2015 and 2021, as well as theEuropean Athletics U20 Championships in 2011 and 2021. It was also one of the venues for the2012 UEFA European U19 Championship.
Kadriorg Stadium was opened on 13 June 1926, eight years after Estonia had become independent. The stadium's opening event was attended by 15,000 people and saw Estonia beatLithuania 3–1 in football. The stadium complex was designed by German architect Renner and the first wooden grandstand by Estonian architectKarl Burman.[5] Upon completion, the stadium was inaugurated as the country's national stadium and was considered to be the finest of theBaltic states.[6]
Despite its grand look, the 2,500-capacity grandstand quickly proved to be too small to facilitate the growing number of spectators and underwent an expansion in 1934, before an inspection in 1935 found the wooden structure to be in need of immediate repairs as it was in danger of collapsing.[7]
A design competition for a new grandstand was held in the spring of 1936 and the project of Estonian architectElmar Lohk was chosen, mainly due to his innovative solution to lead the spectators to their seats through passages from the back of the grandstand, unlike the then commonly used approach in Europe that often saw spectators enter the stand from the front.[6] The construction began in late 1936 and was finished in a year, by late 1937.
With its freestanding concrete roof, the new grandstand was believed to be one of the most modern in Europe at the time and was seen as an outstanding achievement in the field ofreinforced concrete structures.[8] The stadium was officially re-opened on 15 May 1938 with great celebration by the first president of EstoniaKonstantin Päts. The opening event saw Estonia draw 1–1 withRC Strasbourg in front of 8,000 people.[9] A year later,World War II had reached Estonia and the country was occupied by theSoviet Union, after which Kadriorg Stadium was renamed asDünamo staadion.
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During the Soviet occupation, the stadium continued to be one of the primary sports venues of the region and hosted a number of international and Soviet wide athletics competitions, most notably the Soviet Union – USA – West Germany decathlon event in 1974 and the Soviet Union – East Germany athletics competition in 1986. The 1986 event also saw two athletics world records set in Kadriorg, whenYuriy Sedykh set a world record of 86.66 m inhammer throw andHeike Drechsler a world record of 7.45 m in women'slong jump.
In 1992, the stadium hosted the first match of the Estonia national football team after the country's re-independence, when Estonia drew 1–1 withSlovenia. It was also the location of the infamous "One team in Tallinn" fixture between Estonia andScotland, which was abandoned after three seconds when the home team refused to turn up, in protest at the game's kick-off time being brought forward several hours.[10] The national team's last match in Kadriorg took place on 3 September 2000 againstPortugal, after which the team moved toA. Le Coq Arena.
In 2011, Kadriorg Stadium hosted the21st European Athletics Junior Championships. The stadium was one of the venues for the2012 UEFA European U19 Championship and hosted three group stage matches. In 2015, the stadium hosted theU23 European Athletics Championships. In 2021, Kadriorg hosted bothU20 andU23 European Athletics Championships.
For Kadriorg Stadium's 100th birthday in 2026, the City of Tallinn will renovate the complex for €20 million.[11][12] The renovation will see the complete refurbishment of the sports field and the historic grandstand, as well as the construction of a new 1,600-seat stand on the opposite side of the field. Additionally, a new 1,000-seat football ground will be built behind the main stadium, next to the current athletics training field. The new football ground will also have its own administrative building that would be connected with the grandstand by a planned tunnel. The first works began in 2023, when floodlights were installed for the main stadium and its both training fields.
Kadriorg Stadium's current grandstand was opened in 1938 and is an official cultural heritage monument. Designed by architectElmar Lohk and famous engineerAugust Komendant, it was seen during its time as an outstanding achievement in the field ofreinforced concrete structures and was mostly noted for its 12.8 m long and 51 m widecantilever concrete roof, among the largest in the world at the time afterStadio Artemio Franchi.[6] The grandstand has also been brought out by world-famous architectural criticKenneth Frampton as one of the most outstanding and historicconcrete structures in Estonia.[13]
The grandstand's capacity is 3,524 seats and the opposite stand has 1,476 seats.[4]
Kadriorg Stadium has seen three world records in athletics. The first two were set during the 1986 Soviet Union – East Germany athletics competition, whereYuriy Sedykh set a world record of 86.66 m in thehammer throw andHeike Drechsler a world record of 7.45 m in women'slong jump. The stadium saw its third world record in 2006, whenTatyana Lysenko threw 77.80 m in women's hammer throw.[12]
Updated on 1 January 2024.[14]
