The Esbjerg Stadium (), known as the Blue Water Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium located within Esbjerg Idrætspark in Esbjerg, Denmark. It is the home ground of Esbjerg fB and has a capacity of 17,442, of which 11,286 is seated. It is currently the second-biggest stadium in Jutland, and the fourth-biggest in Denmark.
History The Esbjerg Idrætspark was founded in 1926 and the football pitch, with a running track and area for shot put, high jump, pole vault and long jump, opened on 22 September 1929. In 1948, the adjacent Esbjerg Atletikstadion was constructed and opened. During 1951, the reconstruction of the football stadium began but the municipality ran out of funds and the project stopped. In 1955, a new grandstand was built and the new stadium was inaugurated.
In 1999, the stadium was venue of the football tournament at the European Youth Olympic Festival.
On account of the 2008 UEFA qualifier fan attack resulting in the forbidding of play of UEFA qualifier matches for Denmark within 250 km of Copenhagen, the Esbjerg Stadium was mentioned as the only possible venue within Denmark in which Denmark UEFA qualifier home games can be held as it is the biggest stadium in the country more than 250 km from Copenhagen. UEFA later changed the verdict, and on July 9, 2007 the Danish Football Association announced that the games against Spain and Liechtenstein would be played in Århus and the games against Latvia and Iceland would be played in Copenhagen.
National games Esbjerg Stadium has twice been used as home ground for the Danish national team. Further it has been venue of several youth national matches:
DateHome teamRes.Away teamCompetitionSpectators22 June 1952Denmark U-213–2Sweden U-21Friendly match6,60010 October 1954Denmark B1–2Sweden BFriendly match15,46719 May 1956Denmark U-191–2England U-19Friendly match5,0005 November 1961Denmark U-210–0Poland U-21Friendly match5,80021 June 1966Denmark1–3PortugalFriendly match14,50026 May 1969Denmark U-210–3Switzerland U-21Friendly match4,50014 November 1972Denmark U-230–2Poland U-231974 UEFA European Under-23 Football Championship qualifying1,1004 September 1974Denmark U-212–2Belgium U-21Friendly match2,00031 October 1979Denmark U-181–3England U-181980 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship qualifying?13 April 1994Denmark U-174–1Austria U-17Friendly match?13 July 1999Denmark U-163–2Rep. of Ireland U-161999 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival?14 July 1999Denmark U-160–2Switzerland U-161999 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival?15 July 1999Denmark U-162–1Iceland U-161999 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival?14 November 2009Denmark0–0South KoreaFriendly match15,78915 November 2011Denmark2–1FinlandFriendly match14,137
Footnotes
See also Esbjerg fB Esbjerg Skøjtehal Esbjerg Stadionhal List of football stadiums in Denmark
References
External links Blue Water Arena at Sport & Event Park Esbjerg Renovation blog