ZELPO Arena

Podbrezová, Slovakia

Formerly: Štadión Kolkáreň, Štadión ŽP ŠPORT

On the map fkzp.sk

ZELPO Arena hosting a match between Podbrezová and Spartak Trnava Fcstmani · CC BY-SA 4.0

Stadium for Slovak football club FK Podbrezova Fcstmani · CC0

They stand out against the night sky, a skeleton for the ZELPO Arena in Podbrezová.

What makes the ground different is what lies beneath the grass. The surface is natural, but it is kept warm by hot water piped in from the nearby steelworks. The pitch was rebuilt using Fibresand technology, a method not seen elsewhere in Slovakia until then.

The stadium was not built for glamour. It opened in 1959.

The attendance record stands at 3,472, set during a match against MFK Dukla Banská Bystrica. The stadium is owned by FK Železiarne Podbrezová, and the name on the side of the building still refers to the ironworks. The steel trusses hold up the roof, and the roof holds back the rain.