| The Atatürk Olympic Stadium (Turkish: Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu, pronounced ) is a stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in the western district of Başakşehir, it is the largest-capacity stadium in the country. 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.
With its 77,563 (all-seater) capacity and Olympic size, it was granted the "5-star sports complex" title by the 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 Atatürk Olympic Stadium on 25 May 2005. The stadium is also certified by the IAAF and IOC as a first-class venue for track and field, and has hosted several European athletic competitions. 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. Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License - Full article |
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