Aker Stadion (Molde)

The Aker Stadion (known as Molde Stadion for UEFA competitions and prior to sponsorship) is an all-seater football stadium located at Reknes in Molde, Norway, and is the home of Eliteserien club Molde. The stadium has a current capacity of 11,249 spectators.

General information

Arena capacity: 11,249 spectators

Address: Julsundveien 14, 6412 Molde, Norway

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 62°44′0.0″N 7°8′52.1″E

Year of construction: 18 April 1998

Construction cost: NOK 212 million

Field: GreenFields BV Artificial turf with dimensions of 105 × 68 m

Seating plan of Aker Stadion

Aker Stadion is comprised of four stands: North, East, South and West.

Away fans

When Scotland took on Norway in an international friendly back in November 2013, the visiting supporters of the tartan army were housed within Section K which is the southern side of the eastern goal-end.

Accessible via gate 6, it is capable of accommodating 569 supporters and the seats are usually unreserved. Views are faultless throughout due to the compact nature of the stadium.

When choosing a place in the stadium, use the Aker Stadion scheme above.

Where to buy tickets?

Tickets to see Molde FK play at home can either be purchased online via Billettluka.no, or in person at the ticket office (gate 10) in the days leading up to the match. Providing that the matches aren’t sold out you can sometimes acquire tickets a few hours before kick-off.

Molde’s successes increased attendances and the club now regularly sells out matches, though tickets will be easily available in pre-sale for most matches.

A place in the supporters terrace behind the goal will likely cost between 85-170 krone depending on the opposition, and a seat in either of the grandstand can range from 110-350 krone depending on how central you wish to be.

How to get there?

Aker Stadium sits on the shore of the Romsdalsfjord approximately 1.0 km west of Molde’s compact town centre of Molde.

Driving

The Stadium’s address for satnav is as follows:

• Julsundveien 14, 6412, Molde, Norway

Car Parks

There are three medium sized car-parks left of the stadium although the matchday parking arrangements aren’t made abundantly clear on the official website.

Hotels

There are numerous hotels within Molde with Scandic Seilet less than 100 metres south-west of the stadium easily the closest place to stay.

The remaining accommodation options within the city such as Quality and Comfort Hotel aren’t really any cheaper which means The Scandic isn’t the worst option in the world.

Food

The stadium café which is frequented by the players and staff is open to the public during the week between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm. Inside the stadium there are 8 kiosks and 4 mobile units selling food and drink on matchdays.

Facilities

There are four stands in two tiers built as a continual whole and a capacity of 11,167. Prior to 1999, the lower tiers along the short sides had terraces, allowing an initial capacity of 13,308. There are 13 entrances, 52 toilets and 9 kiosks. The stadium has thirteen executive boxes in the north stand, varying in size between 18 to 33 square metres (190 to 360 sq ft). The arena is 17,250 square metres (185,700 sq ft), measuring 150 by 115 metres (492 by 377 ft).

It includes a restaurant and café, in addition to a medical clinic. The pitch is 105 by 68 metres (344 by 223 ft) of natural grass, with 4% artificial turf sown in. Floodlight is provided with 176 lamps, mounted at a low 19.5 metres (64 ft). The speaker system has 32 kW.

History

Since 1955, Molde had been playing their home games at Molde idrettspark (at the time called Molde stadion), a municipal-owned multi-use venue. A new stadium was proposed to be located at the waterfront at Reknes. There were many local protests, including complaints about the size of the structure. Construction of the land fillings and preparation of the construction site started in March 1997, before final approval had been granted by the municipality.

The stadium was inaugurated on 18 April 1998, when the stadium was officially opened by Prime Minister and Molde-fan Kjell Magne Bondevik. In the opening match, Molde beat Lillestrøm 4-0 in their first home game of the season, attracting 13,010 spectators. During the season, this was the match in the country with the most spectators not hosted at Rosenborg’s home ground Lerkendal. On 27 May, the arena hosted its only international match at that time, with Norway beating Saudi Arabia 6-0 in a 1998 World Cup friendly.

On 11 August, CSKA Sofia visited Molde for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, for which Molde failed to qualify. The all-time spectator record was set on 26 September, when Molde hosted Rosenborg BK in front of 13,308 people.

During the fall of 1999, Molde played two qualification games for UEFA Champions League at the stadium. Following the aggregated victories over CSKA Moscow and Mallorca, Molde qualified for the group stage, where they played Real Madrid, Porto and Olympiacos. Following entry into Champions League, the stadium was converted to an all-seater, with seats being installed on the lower sections of the short end stands. The reduced the attendance capacity permanently, because the club chose to not remove the seats afterwards.

In 2006, an agreement was made where Røkke’s company Aker became the stadium name sponsor, with the stadium being renamed Aker stadion. The same season, the club was relegated to the First Division, where the team played in 2007. Despite the relegation, average attendance increased, and Molde won the league. Since 2008, the team has again played in the top flight.

Molde later entered the UEFA Cup four times (renamed to Europa League in 2010), in 2000-01, 2003-04 and 2006-07, 2010-11, playing a total of eight home games, before they in 2012 again played qualification for the Champions League and Ventspils and Basel visited Aker Stadion. Molde were eliminated by Basel, but managed to qualify for the Europa League group stage and played against Heerenveen, Stuttgart, Steaua Bucuresti and Copenhagen at Aker Stadion. In 2015-16, Ajax, Fenerbahçe and Celtic visited Molde during the Europa League group stage, before Sevilla came to Aker Stadion in the Round of 32 in February 2016.

In a 2012 survey carried out by the Norwegian Players’ Association among away-team captains, Aker Stadion was found to be the league’s fourth-best stadium, with a score of 4.27 on a scale from one to five.

The stadium hosted its second international match on 19 November 2013, when Norway was defeated 0-1 Scotland in a friendly match watched by 9,750 spectators. It was the first time since 2002 that a home Norway game was not played at the national stadium, Ullevaal Stadion. In October 2017, the artificial turf was changed to a newer generation.