30 most famous football stadiums

Players play, managers organise and fans support but what is the true significance of a stadium? In any sporting event, not just football, the venue is crucial. Football stadiums inspire not only as fine pieces of architecture but as generators of fervour, landmarks of memory. Every legendary match and each breathtaking goal can be linked back to a stadium.

They can be iconic, mesmerising even. For every young boy or girl gripping a parent’s hand at their first ever football match, the atmosphere will sink in and the ground they visit will forever hold a special place in their heart. A stadium resembles passion; a stadium is home.

Then there are some stadia that really do capture what a football club is all about; anyone remotely interested in the sport can name them. Here I have compiled a list of the 30 most famous, most emblematic stadiums in world football.

30) Donbass Arena (Donetsk, Ukraine)

Capacity: 52,187

Opened: 2009

Tennant(s): Shakhtar Donetsk 

A recurring venue in Euro 2012, it’s Shakhtar Donetsk’s relatively new home which kicks off our top thirty. Beyoncé completed the stadium’s inauguration in 2009 with a concert on its opening night in memory of the late Michael Jackson and football stars haven’t exactly been few and far between either. Spain won both their European Championship quarter final and semi final matches there four years ago.

The stadium’s designers ‘ArupSport’ also made the blueprints for the Allianz Arena in Munich and Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium; the combination of a steep, sloping roof and oval structure makes for a captivating venue. A hotspot for nightlife in Donetsk, the Donbass Arena has also been at the heart of conflict between various peace groups and the Ukrainian armed forces, not least when it suffered damaged by virtue of artillery shelling back in 2014.

29) Stade Louis II (Fontvieille, Monaco) 

Capacity: 18,523

Opened: 1939

Tennant(s): AS Monaco & Monaco National Team

Former home of the annual UEFA Super Cup match-up (1998-2012), the all-seater Stade Louis II is the smallest football stadium on the list. The complex as a whole covers 30,000 square metres and incorporates a multi-sports centre, an aquatic centre and the football and athletics stadium. Its USP (unique selling point for those unfamiliar with business jargon) is that it covers a four storey car park that has well over 1700 parking spaces available; the pitch therefore sits 8.35 metres above road level.

Located at the heart of a place with the highest number of billionaires in the world per capita, the Stade Louis II reflects the area and football club’s prestigious image with its small size making for an electric atmosphere, especially on European nights.

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