Nino Stadium
Kiryat Malakhi, Israel
Formerly: Kiryat Malakhi Municipal Stadium
Nino Stadium sits at 78 Herzl Street in Kiryat Malakhi. The ground was originally opened in 1970. The playing surface is natural grass, and the capacity is modest at 1,000 spectators.
The stadium underwent a major renovation in 2010, a project that cost 10 million NIS and was completed by November 19 that year. Before the renovation, the venue carried the name Kiryat Malakhi Municipal Stadium, a designation that stuck long after the original clubs had come and gone. Hapoel Kiryat Malakhi F.C., which once called the ground home, dissolved in 1999, a casualty of financial pressures that have haunted lower-division football across the country.
Maccabi Ironi Kiryat Malakhi is the current tenant, one of several clubs that have shared the space since the original tenants departed. The stadium does not host State Cup finals or international matches; it is a local ground for local football, a place where the wheels come off less spectacularly than in the top flight but with the same weight of consequence for those involved. The owner is the Kiryat Malakhi Municipality, which maintains the facility as a civic asset rather than a commercial venture. A photo of the exterior shows a plain facade, unadorned and functional, with no distinction from the other municipal buildings that line the streets of the town.