Silesian Stadium

The Silesian Stadium (Polish: Stadion Śląski; Polish: [ˈstadjɔn ˈɕlɔ̃skʲi]) is a sport stadium located on the premises of Silesian Park in Chorzów, Poland. The stadium has a fully covered capacity of 54,378, after refurbishment completed in October 2017. The stadium hosted many Poland national football team matches and for many decades was Poland's national stadium. After the National Stadium in Warsaw was completed, the Silesian Stadium lost that role. The stadium was not in operation between 2009 and 2017 due to its ongoing reconstruction.

Silesian Stadium is a UEFA Category 4 stadium and hosts the annual Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, a Diamond League meeting. The stadium hosted the athletics events of the 2023 European Games and is set to host the 2028 European Athletics Championships.

In 1950, as a part of an ambitious project to build Silesian Park, plans for Silesian Stadium were drawn up by Julian Brzuchowski. Construction began in 1951, and the stadium opened in 1956. The stadium was inaugurated on 22 July 1956 with a match against East Germany.

In 1993, the stadium officially was branded as Polish national stadium, due to the state of the venue in Warsaw. The stadium regularly hosted football matches, as well as concerts and other events.^{[citation needed]}

Silesian Stadium was one of the venues shortlisted for UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, but it did not make the final list. The venue was also shortlisted as the Polish candidate for UEFA Euro 2020.

From 2009, the stadium underwent modernization which included the construction of a 43,000 square metre roof, new stands, lighting, video screens and an improved sound system. The speedway track has been replaced with a traditional track that will allow Chorzów to host international athletics events. The new roof collapsed in 2011 putting project on hold. Though originally planned to be completed by autumn 2011 for 415 million złoty, the finishing touches were only completed in 2017 costing around 650 million złoty.

Numerous Ekstraklasa matches have been played - mostly by the local team Ruch Chorzów, especially for the Great Silesian Derby matches against neighbours Górnik Zabrze due to extra interest from the fans. As it used to be the only national stadium with such a large capacity in the country for numerous years, Polish Cup matches have been frequently hosted there too, especially the final matches.

The football pitch at the Silesia Stadium used to be surrounded by a 384 metres (420 yards) long Motorcycle speedway track. The first World Final held at the stadium in 1973, was run in front of the largest crowd in world speedway history. English speedway 'golden boy' Peter Collins won the 1976 World Final at Silesian.