Sportni Park Stozice
Encyclopedia
Stožice Sports Park is a new multi-use sports complex in Ljubljana
, Slovenia
, that hosts all departments of Olimpija Ljubljana
sports club, former women's European club champions RK Krim and other Ljubljana based clubs including top volleyball club ACH Volley
based in Bled
. The complex is located in Bežigrad district north of the city centre right next to the highway bypass.
The sports complex was opened on 10 August 2010 when Arena Stožice hosted a basketball
match between Slovenia
and Spain
, which was won by Spain 79-72 after overtime. One day later Stožice Stadium
was opened on a football
match between Slovenia
and Australia
, won by Slovenia 2-0. Both the arena and the stadium are scheduled to be one of the main venues of Slovenian national teams in all sports except ice hockey
for which the arena is not suitable and could only host if ice cooling machines would be implemented. The whole complex is scheduled to be in the centre of Ljubljana public and cultural life.
The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2011.
, Arena Stožice and a shopping centre (still under construction), covered by the artificial landscape of the recreational park and is the result of the public-private partnership between the City of Ljubljana and the Grep d.o.o. development company. The complex was built by Slovenian firm Grep d.o.o. and its subcontractors at an estimated cost of 350 million euros. The price for the stadium was 56,6 million euros, while the arena is estimated at 66,3 million euros. The construction of the sports complex started in June 2009 on a site already prepared for construction and was finished in only 14 months. At first the sports complex was scheduled for completion around June 2010, but after short delays of the project it was not until August 2010 that both the stadium and the arena were opened. Before completion the project caused a lot of controversy as lack of money became a huge problem for the contractors and its smaller subcontractors, one of which even committed suicide and some others declared bankruptcy. As the whole project is said to have been a public-private partnership the decision of a group of domestic banks in all of which Republic of Slovenia is a partial or major owner, to approve a credit of 115 million euros caused a lot of media attention and political disputes. In August 2010 the
project received an additional 9,4 million euros from European Union
funds issued by the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Slovenian Government. The project was picked among a group of other projects across Slovenia that applied to the bidding on the conditions declared by the Ministry. This caused a lot of conflict in the media and politics as it was said that the whole bidding process was staged in a way that only Stožice project could meet all the criteria and therefore receive all of the available funds. Because of his decision Minister Igor Lukšič
had to endure an interpellation in the parliament that eventually turned out in his favour. In late March, 2011, it was revealed by the media that the European Commission demands from the Slovenian Government a full report about the bidding process, which was alleged to be staged from the start in a way that Stožice Sports Park was the only possible recipient of the financial means. If the Commission finds any irregularities in the bidding process, they could insist that the funds (9,4 million euros) would be returned. On 12 April, 2011, SVLR (Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy), under the pressure of the European Commission, made a revision of the bidding process and found three irregularities. Their findings were presenten to the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovenian Government. The final verdict about the matter is yet to be determined.
The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2011. In the park above cycling and running tracks, skateboard park, child playground, picnic area etc. are planned to be added. Underground parking garage is also planned and will have space for around 4,000 cars. When finished the whole complex will measured around 182,000 square meters.
is a multi-purpose
stadium in Ljubljana, Slovenia that was opened on 11 August 2010 on a on a football
match between Slovenia
and Australia
, which was won by Slovenia 2-0. The first cultural performance on the stadium took place on 20 September 2010 and was a joint project of two comedians titled Notpadu lajv?!. Over 20,000 gathered to see the show on that day. The stadium has a capacity of 16,038 seats and is laid out under the plateau of the park. As a struc ture, it is therefore ‘sunk’ into the park. Only the roof over the stands rises above the plane of the park as a monolithic crater. The number also includes 558 business seats, 210 seats for members of the press, and 97 places for people that are disabled.
The stadium is the home venue of football club NK Olimpija and one of the main venues of the Slovenia national football team
. Besides football the stadium is also designed to host cultural events as well. The stadium building area measures 24,614 square meters.
match between Slovenia
and Spain
, which was won by Spain 79-72 after overtime. The first cultural performance took place on 7 October 2010 when Spanish
tenor
José Carreras
entertained in front of a sold-out audience. The arena has a capacity of 12,480 seats and is located in the north-western part of the park. The four levels of concourses and the lower, VIP, and upper stands are covered by a shell-shaped dome.
The arena is used for indoor sports such as basketball, handball
and volleyball
and is the home venue of KK Olimpija, RK Krim and ACH Volley Bled
among others. The arena is scheduled to be one of the main venues of Slovenian national teams in most indoor sports except ice hockey
for which the arena is not suitable and could only host if ice cooling machines would be implemented. Alongside the stadium the arena is also designed to host many cultural events. The arena building area measures 14,164 square meters.
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, that hosts all departments of Olimpija Ljubljana
Olimpija Ljubljana
, commonly referred to as NK Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a Slovenian football club, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Founded on 2 March 2005, under the name of NK Bežigrad, the club regard themselves as the spiritual continuation of the four times Slovenian champions NK Olimpija, who went...
sports club, former women's European club champions RK Krim and other Ljubljana based clubs including top volleyball club ACH Volley
ACH Volley Bled
ACH Volley Bled is a professional Volleyball team based in Radovljica, Slovenia.-Achievements:National competitions*Slovenian Volleyball Championship ** Winner : 2000, 2005-2011*Slovenian Volleyball Cup...
based in Bled
Bled
Bled is a municipality in northwestern Slovenia in the region of Upper Carniola. The area, within the Julian Alps, is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
. The complex is located in Bežigrad district north of the city centre right next to the highway bypass.
The sports complex was opened on 10 August 2010 when Arena Stožice hosted a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
match between Slovenia
Slovenia national basketball team
The Slovenian National Basketball Team is a team that is selected by the Basketball Federation of Slovenia to compete in major international basketball events in representation of Slovenia....
and Spain
Spain national basketball team
The Spanish national basketball team is the basketball team representing Spain in international competitions, organized and run by the Spanish Basketball Federation...
, which was won by Spain 79-72 after overtime. One day later Stožice Stadium
Stožice Stadium
Stožice Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was designed by Slovenian Sadar Vuga d.o.o. architects and is the biggest football stadium in the country. It is one of two main stadiums in the city and lies in the Bežigrad district, north of the city centre...
was opened on a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
match between Slovenia
Slovenia national football team
The Slovenia national football team is the national football team of Slovenia and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia. The team played their first match in 1992 after the split of Yugoslavia in 1991....
and Australia
Australia national basketball team
The Australian national basketball team is the men's basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known in Australia as the Boomers, an Australian slang term for Kangaroo. Australia is ranked 9th in the world and finished 7th at the 2008 Beijing Olympic...
, won by Slovenia 2-0. Both the arena and the stadium are scheduled to be one of the main venues of Slovenian national teams in all sports except ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
for which the arena is not suitable and could only host if ice cooling machines would be implemented. The whole complex is scheduled to be in the centre of Ljubljana public and cultural life.
The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2011.
Project
Designed by Sadar Vuga d.o.o. archicets, it includes a Stožice StadiumStožice Stadium
Stožice Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was designed by Slovenian Sadar Vuga d.o.o. architects and is the biggest football stadium in the country. It is one of two main stadiums in the city and lies in the Bežigrad district, north of the city centre...
, Arena Stožice and a shopping centre (still under construction), covered by the artificial landscape of the recreational park and is the result of the public-private partnership between the City of Ljubljana and the Grep d.o.o. development company. The complex was built by Slovenian firm Grep d.o.o. and its subcontractors at an estimated cost of 350 million euros. The price for the stadium was 56,6 million euros, while the arena is estimated at 66,3 million euros. The construction of the sports complex started in June 2009 on a site already prepared for construction and was finished in only 14 months. At first the sports complex was scheduled for completion around June 2010, but after short delays of the project it was not until August 2010 that both the stadium and the arena were opened. Before completion the project caused a lot of controversy as lack of money became a huge problem for the contractors and its smaller subcontractors, one of which even committed suicide and some others declared bankruptcy. As the whole project is said to have been a public-private partnership the decision of a group of domestic banks in all of which Republic of Slovenia is a partial or major owner, to approve a credit of 115 million euros caused a lot of media attention and political disputes. In August 2010 the
project received an additional 9,4 million euros from European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
funds issued by the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Slovenian Government. The project was picked among a group of other projects across Slovenia that applied to the bidding on the conditions declared by the Ministry. This caused a lot of conflict in the media and politics as it was said that the whole bidding process was staged in a way that only Stožice project could meet all the criteria and therefore receive all of the available funds. Because of his decision Minister Igor Lukšič
Igor Lukšič
Igor Lukšič is a Slovene politologist and politician.Lukšič obtained his PhD at the University of Ljubljana in 1993. He started his academic career as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana in 1986...
had to endure an interpellation in the parliament that eventually turned out in his favour. In late March, 2011, it was revealed by the media that the European Commission demands from the Slovenian Government a full report about the bidding process, which was alleged to be staged from the start in a way that Stožice Sports Park was the only possible recipient of the financial means. If the Commission finds any irregularities in the bidding process, they could insist that the funds (9,4 million euros) would be returned. On 12 April, 2011, SVLR (Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy), under the pressure of the European Commission, made a revision of the bidding process and found three irregularities. Their findings were presenten to the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovenian Government. The final verdict about the matter is yet to be determined.
The shopping center below the ground of the park is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in 2011. In the park above cycling and running tracks, skateboard park, child playground, picnic area etc. are planned to be added. Underground parking garage is also planned and will have space for around 4,000 cars. When finished the whole complex will measured around 182,000 square meters.
Stadium
The Stožice StadiumStožice Stadium
Stožice Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was designed by Slovenian Sadar Vuga d.o.o. architects and is the biggest football stadium in the country. It is one of two main stadiums in the city and lies in the Bežigrad district, north of the city centre...
is a multi-purpose
Multi-purpose stadium
Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...
stadium in Ljubljana, Slovenia that was opened on 11 August 2010 on a on a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
match between Slovenia
Slovenia national football team
The Slovenia national football team is the national football team of Slovenia and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia. The team played their first match in 1992 after the split of Yugoslavia in 1991....
and Australia
Australia national basketball team
The Australian national basketball team is the men's basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known in Australia as the Boomers, an Australian slang term for Kangaroo. Australia is ranked 9th in the world and finished 7th at the 2008 Beijing Olympic...
, which was won by Slovenia 2-0. The first cultural performance on the stadium took place on 20 September 2010 and was a joint project of two comedians titled Notpadu lajv?!. Over 20,000 gathered to see the show on that day. The stadium has a capacity of 16,038 seats and is laid out under the plateau of the park. As a struc ture, it is therefore ‘sunk’ into the park. Only the roof over the stands rises above the plane of the park as a monolithic crater. The number also includes 558 business seats, 210 seats for members of the press, and 97 places for people that are disabled.
The stadium is the home venue of football club NK Olimpija and one of the main venues of the Slovenia national football team
Slovenia national football team
The Slovenia national football team is the national football team of Slovenia and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia. The team played their first match in 1992 after the split of Yugoslavia in 1991....
. Besides football the stadium is also designed to host cultural events as well. The stadium building area measures 24,614 square meters.
Arena
Arena Stožice is a new multi-purpose indoor arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia that was opened on 10 August 2010 on a basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
match between Slovenia
Slovenia national basketball team
The Slovenian National Basketball Team is a team that is selected by the Basketball Federation of Slovenia to compete in major international basketball events in representation of Slovenia....
and Spain
Spain national basketball team
The Spanish national basketball team is the basketball team representing Spain in international competitions, organized and run by the Spanish Basketball Federation...
, which was won by Spain 79-72 after overtime. The first cultural performance took place on 7 October 2010 when Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
entertained in front of a sold-out audience. The arena has a capacity of 12,480 seats and is located in the north-western part of the park. The four levels of concourses and the lower, VIP, and upper stands are covered by a shell-shaped dome.
The arena is used for indoor sports such as basketball, handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
and is the home venue of KK Olimpija, RK Krim and ACH Volley Bled
ACH Volley Bled
ACH Volley Bled is a professional Volleyball team based in Radovljica, Slovenia.-Achievements:National competitions*Slovenian Volleyball Championship ** Winner : 2000, 2005-2011*Slovenian Volleyball Cup...
among others. The arena is scheduled to be one of the main venues of Slovenian national teams in most indoor sports except ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
for which the arena is not suitable and could only host if ice cooling machines would be implemented. Alongside the stadium the arena is also designed to host many cultural events. The arena building area measures 14,164 square meters.