UEFA stadium categories are categories for football stadia

Stadium

A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

 laid out in the UEFA

UEFA

The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....

 Stadium Infrastructure Regulations. Using these regulations, stadiums are rated as category one, two, three, or four (renamed from elite) in ascending ranking order. These categories replaced the previous method of ranking stadiums on one to five star scale in 2006. A stadium must be category four to host games in the playoffs of the qualifying stage for the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 or any game in the main competition. Category four is also required to host any game in the main competition of the UEFA Europa League
or the UEFA European Football Championship

UEFA European Football Championship

The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...

.

General

If a retractable roof is present, its use will be directed by consultation between the UEFA delegate and the main assigned referee.

Although the minimum stadium capacity for category four is 8,000, no stadium with a capacity less than 40,000 has been selected to host a UEFA Europa League Final, and no stadium with a capacity less than 60,000 has been selected to host a UEFA Champions League Final, since these regulations were introduced in 2006.

After the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final

2007 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2007 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match between A.C. Milan of Italy and Liverpool F.C. of England on 23 May 2007 at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece. The showpiece event was the final match of the 2006–07 season of Europe's premier cup competition, the UEFA...

, UEFA President Michel Platini

Michel Platini

Michel François Platini is a former French football player, manager and current president of UEFA. Platini was a member of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top goalscorer and voted the best player. He participated in the 1978, 1982...

 stated that he wanted European Cup finals to be held at stadiums with an average capacity of 70,000 to solve security issues. Both the Santiago Bernabéu and Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

, hosts for the 2010 and 2011 Champions League finals, respectively, have capacities greater than 70,000, as does the Stadio Olimpico

Stadio Olimpico

The Stadio Olimpico is the main and largest sports facility of Rome, Italy. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex on the north of the city. An asset of the Italian National Olympic Committee, the structure is intended primarily for football...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, which hosted the 2009 Champions League Final

2009 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final was played on 27 May 2009 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. The match determined the winners of the 2008–09 season of the UEFA Champions League, a tournament for the top football clubs in Europe. The match was won by Barcelona of Spain, who beat England's...

. Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

, the venue of the 2011 Champions League Final

2011 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2011 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match played on 28 May 2011 at Wembley Stadium in London that decided the winner of the 2010–11 season of the UEFA Champions League. The winners received the European Champion Clubs' Cup...

, holds 90,000 spectators. The Allianz Arena

Allianz Arena

The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in the north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The two professional Munich football clubs FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 München have played their home games at Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season...

, the host venue of the 2012 Champions League Final

2012 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2012 UEFA Champions League Final will be the final match of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, the 57th season of the UEFA Champions League football tournament and the 20th since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup...

 holds 66,000 spectators.

Main differences between categories

Criteria	Category 1	Category 2	Category 3	Category 4
Field of play Association football pitch An association football pitch is the playing surface for the game of association football made of turf. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play".All line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define...	100 to 105 m long, 64 to 68 m wide		105 m long, 68 m wide
Minimum size of referee's dressing room	n/a		20 m2
Minimum floodlighting Floodlights (sport) Floodlights are broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial lights often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions....	to suit broadcaster	800 lux Lux The lux is the SI unit of illuminance and luminous emittance, measuring luminous flux per unit area. It is used in photometry as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the human eye, of light that hits or passes through a surface... , to fixed cameras	1400 lux, to fixed cameras	1400 lux, all directions
VIP Very Important Person A Very Important Person, or VIP is a person who is accorded special privileges due to his or her status or importance.Examples include celebrities, heads of state/heads of government, major employers, high rollers, politicians, high-level corporate officers, wealthy individuals, or any other...  parking Parking Parking is the act of stopping a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied for more than a brief time. Parking on one or both sides of a road is commonly permitted, though often with restrictions...	20	50	100	150
Spectator standing allowed	yes	no
Minimum Seated capacity	200	1,500	4,500	8,000
Minimum total VIP seats	50	100	250	500
VIP seats for visiting team	10	20	50	100
VIP hospitality area	n/a			400 m2
Minimum media working area	50 m2	100 m2 for 50 people		200 m2 for 75 people
Minimum number of photographers	n/a		15	25
Minimum space for main camera Professional video camera A professional video camera is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images...  platform	4 m2 for at least 1 camera	6 m2 for 2 cameras		10 m2 for 4 cameras
Minimum number of seats in the press box Press box The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box. In general, newspaper writers sit in this box and write about the on-field event as it unfolds...	20, 5 with desks	20, 10 with desks	50, 25 with desks	100, 50 with desks
Minimum number of commentary Sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...  positions	2	3	5	25
Minimum number of tv studios	1 room that can be converted	1	2	2, at least 1 with a view of the pitch
Minimum post-match interview positions	n/a			4
Minimum outside broadcast Outside broadcasting Outside broadcasting is the electronic field production of television or radio programmes from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera and microphone signals come into the production truck for processing, recording and possibly transmission...  van area	100 m2	200 m2		1,000 m2
Minimum number of seats in press conference News conference A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.-Practice:... room	at least 1	30	50	75