The 2018 World Cup in Russia kicks off this week in the Luzhniki Stadium which can hold up to 81,000 spectators. But towering tribunes and large crowds don’t necessarily translate into the most beautiful and unique stadiums. At least according to Danish TV broadcaster, TV2 Sport.
Their recently published overview of twenty of the world’s most aesthetic and special stadiums includes two football pitches in the Faroe Islands. Svangaskarð Stadium in the village of Toftir (picture below) was listed as number seven, and the stadium in the village of Eiði (picture above) made it to fourth place on the list.
The pitch in Eiði, which was completed in 2017, is where local team EB/Streymur train and play their home matches. Their old pitch, located closer to the ocean, is now used as a camping site.
Svangaskarð Stadium, originally built in 1980, is so close to the ocean that people at sea can pick footballs up from the ocean, should a player have been so misfortunate to have kicked a ball that far wide of the goal. B68 Toftir train and play their home matches in this stadium, which is also used for home matches of the Faroese National Team. The National Team have achieved some remarkable and memorable results in Svangaskarð – most notably wins against Luxembourg (2001), Lithuania (2011) and Estonia (2011), and credible draws against Scotland (1999 and 2002), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1999), Slovenia (2000) and Northern Ireland (2010), among other good results. The highest attendance recorded at a football match in the Faroe Islands was in Svangaskarð in June 1997 when 6,642 people witnessed the Faroe Islands beat Malta 2-1.
Today, most national team football matches are played at Tórsvøllur Stadium in Tórshavn, the capital. Tórsvøllur is currently being expanded and will be able to take nearly 5,000 spectators when completed, which equates to approximately ten percent of the Faroese population.
Other stadiums on TV2 Sport’s list include Piran Stadium in Slovenia, Henningsvær Stadion in Norway and Kurendhoo Football Field in the Maldives.
Originally published on Faroeislands.fo
Words: Levi Hanssen
