The idea of new arena construction in Manchester appeared in 1989 when the city hoped to host 1996 Olympic Games.
The stadium was designed by the company called Arup. The corner stone was laid by former UK PM Tony Blair in December of 1999. Construction activities started in January.
The opening ceremony took place on July 25 2002 – before the Commonwealth Games.
The stadium was called the City of Manchester and could host 38 000 fans at that time. One of its stands was temporary. It didn’t even have a roof as the arena was supposed to become football-only later and Manchester City FC were going to move there.
After the Commonwealth Games reconstruction started and future arena hosts invested 20 million pounds into the projects. Changes were significant: temporary stand was demolished while new one was erected. The pitch got six meters lower which is why each stand got one more level and the stadium capacity became 48 000.
Manchester City FC said goodbye to Maine Road arena in 2003 and moved to the City of Manchester. To play the opening match home side invited FC Barcelona. The game took place on August 10 and the Citizens won 2:1. First official fixture at this stadium was the UEFA Cup match against Welsh side TNSFC. City flattened their opponent – 5:0. As for the first Premier League game – it was a draw against Portsmouth FC on August 23 – 1:1.
In July of 2011 the City of Manchester got new name – Etihad Stadium – for sponsorship reasons. Manchester City FC get about 150 million dollars a year from Etihad Airways.
At first stands had usual names – South, North, West and East. In 2004 western stand was named after City former player Colin Bell, northern – Family Stand, eastern – Kippax and southern – South Stand – for visitors’ fans.
Stadium roof is transparent and has 218 spotlights on it.
Access to the arena is granted by swipe cards. This system lets 1 200 people enter the stadium within a minute.
There are two monuments at the City of Manchester. The one at north-western side symbolizes runner and the one at the north-eastern is called B of the Band. The sculpture took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie, in which he said that he started his races not merely at the “bang” of the starting pistol, but at “the B of the Bang”.
There are seven restaurants, several conference halls and parking area for 2 000 cars at the arena.
The City of Manchester has won a number of design awards, including the 2004 Royal Institute of British Architects Inclusive Design Award for inclusive building design.
Etihad Stadium is located 1,5 miles far from Manchester downtown.
Attendance record (till 2015) was set on May 13 2012 when 47 435 fans saw their team win the first domestic league title since 1967/68 season in the battle against Queens Park Rangers FC.
In summer of 2015 the first stage of reconstruction finished. This let the stadium capacity reach 54 331 seats.
On December 26 2015 the stadium hosted 54 532 spectators at the Citizens’ match against Sunderland AFC. This is the new attendance record.
After the second stage of reconstruction the arena will have the capacity of 62 170 seats.
* picture by V.Rasner
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