Gradski Vrt Stadium

Gradski vrt Stadium
Stadion Gradski vrt
	Aerial view of the stadium Gradski vrt Osijek, 2023
Full name	Gradski vrt Stadium
Location	Novi grad, Osijek, Croatia
Coordinates	45°32′42″N 18°41′45″E / 45.54500°N 18.69583°E
Owner	City of Osijek
Operator	ŽNK Osijek
Capacity	18,856
Field size	106 × 69 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1980
Renovated	2005, 2010
Tenants
	NK Osijek (1980–2023); Zrinski Osječko 1664 (2023–); Croatia national football team (1996–2022)

Gradski vrt Stadium (Croatian: Stadion Gradski vrt, lit. 'City Garden Stadium') is a multi-use stadium in Osijek, Croatia. It is located in the Gradski vrt neighbourhood in Novi grad city district. With a capacity of 18,856, it has been best known as the home ground of Croatian football club NK Osijek.

History edit

Construction started in 1949, but works were stopped several times. The first match played on the ground of Gradski Vrt was played between NK Osijek and FK Sloboda Tuzla on 7 September 1958. In 1980, the stadium was officially opened.

In 1982, the record of stadium attendance was broken, on the football match between NK Osijek and Dinamo Zagreb. At that match, there were 40,000 attendants. The result was 1–2.

In 1998 seats and reflectors were installed. In 2005, the stadium was renovated. Under the west stand, VIP rooms were set and the lodge was rearranged, adding 1,000 new seats. The athletics track was reconstructed, repainted from red to blue. After this renovation, the stadium has fulfilled UEFA's stadium criteria. In the same year, the stadium was a part of Croatia and Hungary's failed bid for the 2012 European Football Championship. At that time a project of a new stadium with a larger capacity was presented.

In 2010, the stadium was again repaired: the pitch was relaid, fences were painted and the seats were numbered. The reason was a friendly match between Croatia and Wales, which was held on 23 May that year.

In May 2016, the stadium hosted the Croatian Cup final.

Future edit

In April 2018, NK Osijek president Ivan Meštrović released plans for a new stadium for the club.^[2] A new state of the art stadium will be built at the Pampas neighbourhood in Osijek as part of the new NK Osijek training centre. The capacity of the new stadium will be 13,000, with all of the seats covered. The stadium will be UEFA category four and is supposed to be finished in Autumn 2022. During the stadium construction, NK Osijek will play their home games at the current stadium, which is in the future going to be used as the main stadium for the NK Osijek B squad.

International fixtures edit

Date	Competition	Opponent	Score	Att.	Ref
Croatia (1990–present)
10 April 1996	Friendly	Hungary	4–1	10,287	[1]
22 April 1998	Friendly	Poland	4–1	16,000	[2]
24 March 2001	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification	Latvia	4–1	13,345	[3]
7 September 2002	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification	Estonia	0–0	10,766	[4]
28 May 2006	Friendly	Iran	2–2	20,000	[5]
23 May 2010	Friendly	Wales	2–0	10,482	[6]
16 October 2012	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification	Wales	2–0	17,500	[7]
31 May 2014	Friendly	Mali	2–1	15,212	[8]
13 October 2014	UEFA Euro 2016 qualification	Azerbaijan	6–0	16,021	[9]
23 March 2016	Friendly	Israel	2–0	10,545	[10]
8 June 2018	Friendly	Senegal	2–1	15,998	[11]
8 June 2019	UEFA Euro 2020 qualification	Wales	2–1	17,061	[12]
11 October 2021	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Slovakia	2–2	9,926	[13]
3 June 2022	2022–23 UEFA Nations League	Austria	0–3	13,994	[14]

Gallery edit

West stand (before 2005 renovation)
East stand (after 2005 renovation).
Last match at stadium Gradski vrt, May 2023
Fireworks by fans of the football club Osijek after the last game played at the Gradski vrt stadium