Sammy Ofer Stadium, also known as
Haifa International Stadium, is a 30,000-seat planned
multi-purpose stadiumMulti-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...
in
HaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, that began construction in late 2009. It is hoped to be completed by 2013, to be used mostly for football matches and host the home matches of Hapoel Haifa and
Maccabi HaifaMaccabi Haifa Football Club is an Israeli football team from the city of Haifa, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club has won 12 championships, 5 State Cups and 4 Toto Cups...
. It will replace their current
Kiryat Eliezer StadiumThe Haifa Municipal Stadium , more commonly known as Kiryat Eliezer , is a multi-use stadium in the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa...
. The stadium is named after naval-mogul
Sammy OferSammy Ofer KBE was a businessman, shipping tycoon and one of the wealthiest people in Israel, although most of his time he spent abroad, and managed his businesses from Monte Carlo in Monaco...
, who donated
$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20,000,000 to build the stadium and name it after himself. It is said that Ofer's contribution is 20% of the cost of the stadium and naming it after him was one of his conditions.
The stadium is planned to be used in the
2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship2013 UEFA U-21 Championship will be the 19th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Football Championship. The final tournament will be hosted by Israel between the 15–28 June 2013...
that will be held in Israel.
History
On September 16, 2008, the Haifa Construction Committee approved the stadium's plans and gave it the green light.
On August 2009, official plans of the stadium released.
On September 2009, it has been announced that the works on building the foundations of the stadium would begin at the end of September 2009.
External links
Municipality of Haifa Haifa Economic Corporation Ltd. Official Plans