Tehelné pole

Tehelné pole (meaning "Brickfield") is the informal name of a city quarter in Bratislava, Slovakia, characterized by the presence of several sports facilities. Administratively, the quarter belongs to Nové Mesto borough, situated around 5 km north-east of the centre. The German and Hungarian names for this locality are "Ziegelfeld" and "Téglamezö".

Football (soccer)

Most commonly the name refers to the football stadium which is the home field for Slovan Bratislava and the regular home for the Slovakia national team in this quarter. The stadium has a capacity of 30,085 spectators, [ [http://www.fussballtempel.net/uefa/listeuefa2.html Football stadiums of the world - Stadium List Europe ] ] and is 105 m long and 68 m wide. [ [http://www.slovanfutbal.com/sk/?go=klub_zaklad_info O Slovane - Slovan Bratislava - Futbalový klub ] ] The stadium was built during the first Slovak Republic, when Nazi Germany occupied Petržalka in 1938 and Bratislava lost almost all of its sporting facilities.Lacika, "Bratislava", p. 195 (Slovak)] The construction lasted from 1939 to 1944 and the stadium became home ground for Slovan Bratislava. The stadium was officially opened in September 1940 with 25,000 places, and the first international match was played on 27 October 1940, with Slovan Bratislava playing against Hertha Berlin, ending in 2–2 tie. The old stadium underwent reconstruction in 1961, which added second tribune, boosting its capacity to 45,000 and modernising by adding score table, artificial light and revamping the field. [ [http://www.slovanfutbal.com/sk/?go=klub_historia&show=obdobie6 História Slovana - Slovan Bratislava - Futbalový klub ] ] However, the stadium could hold up even 50,000 spectators, and just before breakup of Czechoslovakia, it was the largest one in use (Strahov Stadium in Prague had a capacity of 220,000 but was disused in the 1990s) and was the home ground for Czechoslovak national team. [http://aktualne.centrum.cz/sportplus/fotbal/reprezentace/clanek.phtml?id=231476 Tehelne pole nahradi narodni stadion - Reprezentace - Fotbal - Sportplus - Aktualne - Aktualne.cz ] ] The stadium was reconstructed once more in the 1990s to the "all-seater" stadium, reducing the capacity into 30,000. After this, the Tehelné pole stadium was the second-largest in Slovakia after Všešportový areál in Košice, however, that stadium is now disused. In 2005-06, it was also used as the "home" ground for FC Artmedia Bratislava in that club's Champions League and UEFA Cup campaigns, as Artmedia's own ground did not meet minimum standards for UEFA competition. It is planned that the current stadium will be demolished and a new one with the capacity around 35,000 people will be built, costing around 80 million Euro.cite news|url=http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/23624|title= State to finance Sk3 billion football stadium|work=The Slovak Spectator] The need for a new stadium stems from the UEFA rules, which require to play international matches on stadiums of certain standards from 2008, however, Slovakia lacks these stadiums so far.

Lido

A lido (swimming pool) with the same name was built near the football stadium in 1939. It survives to the present day and currently has three swimming pools of varying size, with additional services.

Other stadiums/venues nearby

Other stadiums or venues near Tehelné pole locality include Štadión Pasienky (built 1962), home ground for FK Inter Bratislava, ice hockey Samsung Arena (built 1938), home of the Slovak Extraliga team HC Slovan Bratislava and the [http://www.ntc.sk National Tennis Centre] , which is used for Fed Cup as well as Davis Cup matches, concerts and other events.

References

Citations

General references

*cite book
last = Lacika
first = Ján
title = Bratislava
edition = 1st ed.
series = Poznávame Slovensko
year = 2000
publisher = [http://www.dajama.sk DAJAMA]
location = Bratislava, Slovakia
language = Slovak
isbn = 80-88975-14-X

External links

* [http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Teheln%C3%A9%20pole&w=all Flickr: Photos tagged with "Tehelné pole"]