Sola Arena

Sola Arena stands as a recent addition to the sporting landscape of Karlstad, having opened its doors in the autumn of 2022. It replaced the club’s previous home ground, Tingvalla IP, which was subsequently demolished to make way for this modern facility. The arena serves as the home venue for IF Karlstad Fotboll, which moved its home matches to the new stadium in 2022. Owned and managed by Karlstad Municipality, the playing surface is hybrid grass (Hybridrasen). There is a discrepancy in reported capacity: Wikipedia and Soccerway list the capacity as 4,000, while Europlan Online lists it as 4,400, noting that it can be expanded to 9,000 with additional stands. Notable events include the official inauguration in October 2022, featuring a discus competition where Olympic silver medalist Simon Pettersson threw 63.80 meters, setting an early arena record. It has hosted the Folksam Grand Prix Karlstad, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze Level track and field meeting, in July 2023 and 2024, with the 2024 edition attracting over 2,800 spectators. The arena also hosted the Veterans Swedish Championships (Västsvenska) in athletics in August 2024. In American football, it hosted the Swedish Championship (SM) Final for women in 2023, and the SM Finals for both men's (Superserien) and women's (Division 1) divisions in 2025, with the 2026 finals scheduled for July 4, 2026. The arena has been selected to host the European Athletics U18 Championships (Ungdoms-EM) in 2030. The official attendance record for a football match is not explicitly stated in sources, though specific attendances include 1,147 for a Svenska Cupen match against Östersunds FK in 2023 and 783 for a women's match in 2024, described as the largest audience for that specific category. The club's official website is https://www.karlstadfotboll.com/, while arena details are available on the municipality's site: https://karlstad.se/uppleva-och-gora/idrott/idrottsanlaggningar-och-hallar/sola-arena.