Vasil Levski National Stadium

Vasil Levski National Stadium is the country’s second biggest stadium, named after Bulgarian national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski. The stadium, which has 43,230 seats, is situated in the heart of Sofia, on the grounds of the city’s oldest and most well-known park, the Borisova gradina. The facility hosts home matches for the Bulgaria national football team as well as the Bulgarian Cup finals, as well as athletics tournaments. It was the home site for Levski Sofia’s Champions League games, and it is often utilized for crucial derbies between Sofia’s top teams instead of their own home grounds.

The National Stadium “Vasil Levski” has 26 entrances, two of which are transit and one of which is central.

The stadium’s landscape, as well as the light track, are heated and illuminated. The course’s flooring is made of natural grass.

An integrated computer system manages the entire maintenance of the heating, ventilation, sound, and lighting system, as well as monitoring and other support tasks.

All areas of the stadium are guarded and monitored by 91 cameras.

There are over 270 bathrooms.

The National Stadium “Vasil Levski” has a signal-security (through) system with tourniquets (counters) that offer a sample of the number of fans at any given moment at all entrances. These are the only systems in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, no other sports facility, playground, or stadium has equipment with comparable technological features.

The “Vasil Levski” National Stadium is one of Europe’s top five facilities.

The sound system of the National Stadium “Vasil Levski” is JBL and the only one in Bulgaria and Central Europe. The crew came to a halt at JBL after several exploratory efforts owing to the technological qualities and many chances presented by the American corporation.

80 seats are reserved for journalists, with full transmission and output of sound and image to a mobile television station in the stadium’s parking lot.

History

Vasil Levski National Stadium first opened its doors in 1953, was expanded in 1966, and was restored in 2002.

Two older stadiums existed on the site of the present national stadium before being demolished by Communist authorities in the 1940s and 1950s. One of these was Levski Sofia’s club stadium, known as Levski Field (Bulgarian: Igrishte Levski, finished 1934), while the other was Yunak Stadium (constructed 1928), which was somewhat to the southwest. With a capacity of around 15,000 seats, the latter used to host national football team matches. Levski were compensated for their loss with a plot of land in Sofia’s outskirts where they could construct a new stadium – the current Georgi Asparuhov.

The Vasil Levski stadium opened in 1953, having a capacity of 42 000 people. Originally, just the bottom tier of stands (about half the height of the present stands) were erected, and the western end of the pitch and stands were below ground level owing to the uneven slope of the terrain. The top deck was constructed roughly a decade later, and the present lighting towers were constructed in the late 1960s.

Immediately upon its formal inauguration on July 5, 1953, the Vasil Levski stadium was utilized for athletics contests. The first football match played there after it opened was a friendly between Dinamo Sofia and FC Wien, and a month later it started to be used for league games as well. The first international was a world cup qualifier versus Czechoslovakia on September 6.

Judo, artistic gymnastics, basketball, boxing, aerobics, fencing, and table tennis halls are also available, as well as a general physical training hall, two conference rooms, and three restaurants. It hosted the European Basketball Championships in 1957.

In Sofia’s campaign for the 2014 Winter Olympics, it was recommended as the site for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Plans to construct a new 40,000-seater national stadium in the Sofia suburbs were announced in July 2011, but were subsequently canceled.

Concert venue

A number of regional and international music stars have performed at the stadium.

Yugoslav superstar Lepa Brena performed in front of 100,000 people on July 24, 1990, the largest performance ever organized in Bulgaria and hence in the Vasil Levski stadium. This record has yet to be broken. The manner Lepa Brena came at the stadium piqued everyone’s interest: he landed from a helicopter right on the stage using a rope.

Metallica, an American metal band, performed one of the most successful performances in Bulgaria at the stadium as part of their 2008 European Vacation Tour, which drew 50,000 people.

On August 29, 2009, American diva Madonna performed here as part of the second European leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour. She performed in front of 54,000 people and was greeted enthusiastically by her many followers. The turf was extensively destroyed after the performance, which created some dissatisfaction among football fans, national team players, coaches, and personnel.

AC/DC performed in Sofia, Bulgaria, on May 14, 2010, in front of almost 60,000 people as part of their Black Ice World Tour.

The Vasil Levski National Stadium hosted a Sofia Rocks event as part of the Sonisphere Festival. On the 22nd and 23rd of June, the event included live performances by world-renowned bands such as Rammstein, Metallica, Manowar, and Alice in Chains, among others.

Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax all played together at the Sonisphere Festival. On June 22, 2010, the performance at the Sonisphere Festival in Sofia was broadcast to more than 450 movie theaters in more than 140 areas in the United States, as well as select cities in Europe, Canada, and South America. In October 2010, the live footage was released on DVD and Blu-ray as The Big 4 Live from Sofia, Bulgaria.

Location

The stadium is situated in the heart of the city.

Tram lines Nos 10, 12, 14, 2 and 18, stop 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 Vasil Levski – Blvd. Hristo Smirnski

Bus lines No 72, 76, 204, 604, stop – 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 0 Graf Ignatiev – Pl. Eagle Bridge

Route taxis Nos 16, 17, 35, 36, 42a, 47

Metro station stop: Vasil Levski National Stadium