Stadion Widzewa Łódź (Stadion im. Ludwika Sobolewskiego)
Łódź, Poland
Formerly: Stadion im. Ludwika Sobolewskiego, Serce Łodzi, Kurnik
Stadion im. Ludwika Sobolewskiego stands on the same ground it has occupied since 30 May 1930, though almost nothing of that first stadium remains. The old bowl, holding 10,500, came down at the start of 2015 after eighty-five years of use — long enough to host seven Polish national team fixtures and, on one afternoon in 1977 against Manchester City, a crowd locals still put at 40,000, well past its official limit.
The rebuild between 2015 and 2017 shifted the pitch twenty metres east to make room for a wider West Stand, at a total cost of roughly 137–138 million złoty against a city budget of 151.13 million złoty. The North Stand was built as a demountable structure, a detail that sets it apart from the fixed bowl around it and allows the ground to be reconfigured for concerts. It reopened on 18 March 2017 with a 2-0 win over Motor Lubawa in front of 17,443.
Two finals bookend the ground's history at opposite ends of its life. The old stadium staged the 1987/88 Polish Cup final, Lech Poznań beating Legia Warsaw on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The new one held the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup final, where Ukraine beat South Korea 3-1. Between those two dates sits the name that outlasted the old stands themselves: Kurnik, the "chicken coop," a nickname from the club's leaner years that has stuck regardless of what has since been built over it.
Who plays here
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Widzew Łódź
164 matches
Recent matches here
| Date | Match | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Sep | Widzew Łódź — Radomiak Radom | 0:0 |
| 2 Sep | Widzew Łódź — Korona Kielce | 0:1 |
| 30 Aug | Widzew Łódź — Lech Poznan | 2:3 |
| 15 Aug | Widzew Łódź — Korona Kielce | 1:2 |
| 26 Jul | Widzew Łódź — Motor Lublin | 2:2 |
| 19 Jul | Widzew Łódź — Puszcza Niepołomice | 2:0 |
| 13 Jul | Widzew Łódź — Mannsdorf-Großenzersdorf | 4:3 |
| 10 Jul | Widzew Łódź — Mattersburg Sv 2020 |