Friends Arena is a multipurpose stadium in the Solna area of Sweden. Before Swedbank announced that it would donate its naming rights to Friends, the arena was originally known as Swedbank Arena.
Also known as Nationalarenan, Friends Arena is the home to the men’s football team of Sweden and Allsvenskan football club AIK.
The total capacity of the stadium is 65,000 at concerts and 50,000 seated for the football matches. The construction cost was around 202 million euros to build the stadium.
History
The construction of the stadium started in 2009 after the Swedish Football Association felt a need of the new stadium for the national team to replace the old Råsunda Stadium.
It took about three years for the construction to be completed and the opening ceremony of the stadium took place on 25th October 2012 by Crown Princess Victoria.
On 14 November 2012, the stadium hosted its first football game of Sweden vs England and the game was seen by 49,967 people, which is the current attendance record for a sport event in the stadium.
Matches played
The final of the UEFA Women's Euro was played at 28 July 2013 in which 41,301 people watched Germany overcome Norway.
All four big football championships - FIFA World Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA European Championship and UEFA Women's Championship were hosted in this stadium.
The stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Europa League Final in 2015. The arena has also hosted the final of Melodifestivalen since 2013.
