Podgorica City Stadium (Podgorica)

Podgorica City Stadium (Montenegrin: Stadion pod Goricom) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Podgorica, Montenegro. Although its seating capacity changed over the years do to several renovations, as of 2019 it has 11,264 seats. The stadium is the home ground of the Montenegrin national football team and Budućnost.

General information

Arena capacity: 11,264 spectators

Address: Vaka Đurovića street, Podgorica, Montenegro

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 42.4447° N, 19.2645° E

Year of construction: 1945

Field: grass lawn with dimensions of 105 x 70 metres

Seating plan of Podgorica City Stadium

Podgorica City Stadium is comprised of four stands which each have their own unique feel to them: North, East, South and West.

Away fans

When England plays Montenegro one estimate put the ticket allocation at around 1,200. England’s away fans occupied pretty much the entirety of the south stand which is divided into an upper and lower tier.

How to get there?

Podgorica Stadium sits 1.9 km north of what Google defines as the city centre within the downtown area, on the eastern bank of the River Moraca.

It is walk able from most places in the city such as the old town and train station within 25 minutes or so. This is good to know as there aren’t really any public transport options to and from the stadium.

Driving

The stadium’s address for satnav is as follows:

• Stadion pod Goricom, 19 Decembra bb, Podgorica, Montenegro

Car Parks

Located in a dense residential area, on site parking at Stadion Pod Goricom is essentially nonexistent.

Train

The main and only railway station of the city is known as “Željeznička stanica Podgorica”. Constructed after the Second World War, Podgorica Railway Station is relatively small with only 3 platforms.

It forms part of the Belgrade-Bar, Podgorica-Shkodër, and Nikšic-Podgorica railways lines.

Where to eat and stay?

Best pubs

As the stadium is located down town Podgorica the majority of pubs and restaurants are within a 10 minute radius of the ground which makes it ideal for football fans!

Hotels

The two closest places to the stadium Hotel Ziya and Hotel Alexandar Lux are two of the most expensive places you will find in the city. You’re better advised looking around closer to King’s Park where is there is Hotel Kerber and Hotel Crna Gora.

Next to Podgorica Train Station you will also find Hotel Evropa, and Hotel Terminus which are affordable yet still fairly close to the night-life.

Pitch and floodlights

The pitch measures 105 by 70 meters. The stadium is well-known for close distance between pitch and stands. The Pitch was totally renovated in 2014 and today is among the best football pitches in the Balkans.

Floodlights were installed 1989 for the first nighttime match, Budućnost-Rad (First League, 28 May 1989). Twenty years later, new 1900 lux floodlights were installed.

History

The first iteration of Podgorica City Stadium opened in 1945 at the end of the Second World War and was capable of accommodating 5,000 supporters. Previously FK Budućnost Podgorica played their home matches at a nearby field, so you could imagine that the construction of the new stadium was a massive improvement at the time.

In 1952 Podgorica City Stadium had to be rebuilt from scratch when the original structure unfortunately burnt down. Perhaps a blessing in disguise, the second version of the ground was almost three times as large with a capacity of 17,000 and featured stands across each side of the pitch making it a “proper” stadium.

Renovation work on the stadium remained limited until dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1989. Afterwards Floodlights were installed, and the main stand was rebuilt as a fully-covered 6,000 capacity modern section of seating. It was later to joined by a new north stand, and opposite stand towards the east.

Between 2004 and 2006 Stadion pod Goricom was extensively renovated, resulting in the stadium’s current appearance. Both the north and south goal-ends were divided into upper and lower tiers with additional seating added to increase the capacity to around 3,000.