Tose Proeski National Arena

The Toše Proeski National Arena sits in the City Park of Skopje.

It is the largest stadium in North Macedonia and the only venue in Skopje with a UEFA Category 4 rating, so the top clubs and the national team camped in the final third of the evening there. The surface is a GrassMaster hybrid system, laid down during the reconstruction that ran from 2008 to 2013. That work cost over €60 million and replaced almost every part of the original 1947 structure, leaving only the basic outline of the South Stand intact. The other three sides were pulled down and rebuilt with a new roof and an illuminated facade that was completed in 2013.

Before the rebuild the venue carried the name Philip II National Arena, but the change came after the Prespa Agreement required the removal of references to ancient Hellenic history from public infrastructure. The singer Toše Proeski, for whom the ground is now named, played concerts there between 2004 and 2007, long before the name change. The stadium also hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, when Real Madrid defeated Manchester United 2–1, but the decision was overturned in later years regarding the name, and the ground has not hosted another major European final.

There is an old brick building nearby that stands empty, its windows dark, and a line of trees that separates the park from the city road. The stands do not wrap around the pitch at a uniform distance; the South Stand sits closer to the river and feels different from the three upper tiers. The ground has not won since its last major renovation, and the track remains a bright blue, untouched by the grass that grows beneath it.