Salt Lake Stadium, also known as Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan is the home stadium of East Bengal for I League & International matches. The multi-purpose stadium in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, can hold up to 85,000 people in a three-tier configuration. It hosts the home games of East Bengal FC in I League and AFC Cup. It is the largest stadium in India by seating capacity. The stadium was built in 1984. Before its renovation in 2011, it was the second largest football stadium in the world, having a seating capacity of 120,000. Prior to the construction and opening of Rungrado May Day Stadium in 1989, it was the largest football stadium in the world. The stadium hosted the final match of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, alongside hosting other matches of the tournament. As part of security measures for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, the stadium was only open for 66,687 viewers instead of the stadium's capacity of 85,000.
The stadium is known for its unique synthetic track for athletic meets, giant TV screens, main football arena made of natural turf with imported Reveria Bermuda grass, VIP enclosures, peripheral floodlighting arrangement from the roof-top, air conditioned VIP rest room and press conference hall along with referees room, medical room & doping control room.
The stadium's record attendance was reached in 1997 when 131,781 spectators watched the Federation Cup Semi-final between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
|