Football (or soccer) is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the world and transcends gender, race, culture and age. Its simple rules and few essential equipment make it one of the best games to play almost anywhere; beaches, streets, school grounds or parks. Football stadiums are impressive and iconic backdrops for the football games we love to watch week in and week out. The legacy of many of our most beloved football teams is often said to be held in their individual sporting venues.
‘The Beautiful Game’ has quite a collection of impressive football stadiums under its belt, with Europe playing host to some of its best. Why not use our list of some of the biggest and best football stadiums to combine football and travel and take a short break to enjoy a break from your usual 9-5 routine? While visiting any of the following football stadiums it’s important to carry a European Health Insurance Card. Applying for a European health insurance card will entitle you to treatment for free or at a reduced cost in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries. This includes all 27 countries in the European Union, including Norway, Iceland, France and Liechtenstein.
- Camp Nou, Barcelona
With a capacity of 98,787, this impressive stadium has been home of Barcelona’s football club since 1957, when their previous Camp De Les Corts stadium had no room for expansion. The stadium is frequently used to host other sporting events alongside housing the Catalan national team FC Barcelona, such as the 1992 Summer Olympics and European Cup Final in 1989.
- Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
The Santiago Bernabeu stadium was inaugurated in 1947 and is named after the legendary president of the club, Santiago Bernabeu. Its previous capacity of 75,000 was improved upon in 1954 to 125,000. The stadium has also been an important part in football match history, having hosted four European Cup and Champions League finals.
- Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund
The Signal Iduna Park is the home stadium of Germany’s Borussia Dortmund football team in the German Bundesliga. It was built to serve as the playing venue for the 1974 World Cup and was called Westfalenstadion before being taken over for use by its current football team in 2005.
- San Siro, Milan
The Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, or San Siro as it is commonly known, is located in the San Miro district in Milan. This impressive building has the capacity of 80,000 and is home to AC Milan and Inter Milan. The San Siro is a UEFA category four stadium and was named after Giuseppe Meazza, a two time World Cup winner in the 1930’s.
- Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
This stadium is interestingly named after the flood meadows in the bend of the Moscow River where the stadium was built and translates to roughly mean ‘The Meadows’. Although previously used by Torpedo Moscow and PFC CSKA Moscow, today it is mainly used as one of the home grounds for the Russian national football team. Due to the harsh Russian winters it is also one of the few major European stadiums to use an artificial pitch.
