Ullevi

Not to be confused with Gamla Ullevi.

Ullevi

Location	Gothenburg, Sweden
Coordinates	57°42′21″N 11°59′14″E
Owner	Higab
Operator	Got Event
Capacity	43,000 75,000 for concerts
Field size	105 × 66 m
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	29 May 1958
Architect	Sten Samuelsson and Fritz Jaenecke
Tenants
1958 FIFA World Cup 1995 World Championships in Athletics 2006 European Athletics Championships 1959, 1971, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012 Finland-Sweden Athletics International UEFA Euro 1992 2004 UEFA Cup Final

Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (Swedish: [(ˈnyːa) ˈɵlːəviː], New Ullevi), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then Ullevi has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times, the 1995 World Championships in Athletics and the 2006 European Athletics Championships, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1983 and 1990, the UEFA Euro 1992 final, the UEFA Cup final in 2004, and annually hosted the opening ceremony of the Gothia Cup—the world's largest football tournament in terms of the number of participants. IFK Göteborg has also played two UEFA Cup finals at the stadium, in 1982 and 1987, but then as home game in a home and away final. The stadium hosted several events, like football, ice hockey, boxing, racing, athletics and concerts.

The stadium is one of the biggest in the Nordic countries, with a seating capacity of 43,000 and a total capacity of 75,000 for concerts.

History

Sport

The ground opened for the 1958 FIFA World Cup held across Sweden. It hosted four matches in Group D, including a play-off. It also held a quarter-final, a semi-final and the third-place match.

The stadium'srecord attendance, for football, is 52,194 and was set on 3 June 1959, when Örgryte IS played against IFK Göteborg.

The stadium hosted the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, which saw Scotland's Aberdeen beat Spanish giants Real Madrid 2–1 after extra time.

It was also the venue for the first game between NFL teams to be played on the European continent, organised by Swedish motor company Volvo. In a pre-season game on 14 August 1988, the Minnesota Vikings won 28-21 against the Chicago Bears.

The 1990 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was also held at the stadium. It saw Sampdoria of Italy defeat Anderlecht of Belgium 2-0 after extra-time.

Ullevi held three Group B matches at UEFA Euro 1992 as well as a semi-final, and the final itself on 26 June in which Denmark won the trophy against Germany.

The 2004 UEFA Cup Final was held at the stadium on 19 May of that year. Valencia of Spain defeated Marseille of France 2-0.

Music

Ullevi nearly collapsed during a famous Bruce Springsteen concert on 8 June 1985, due to the rhythmic movement of tens of thousands of people in the audience and the clay soil on which the stadium is built. The concert also caused nearly £3 million in damages, while David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour in June 1987 was relocated from Ullevi to Eriksberg because of fears about the safety of the structure. Since then, the concrete pillars supporting the stadium have been extended down to the bedrock. Springsteen has performed at the stadium on subsequent tours.

Michael Jackson came to Ullevi on August, 16 1997 as part of his HIStory World Tour too, with a crowd of 50,000 people.

Elton John hosted a sell-out concert in 1998. It was part of the Face-To-Face Tour with Billy Joel, but Joel was unable to perform, due to illness. Elton John played for over three hours.

The "big four" of thrash metal (Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Metallica) played in the stadium on 3 July 2011.

U2 performed at the stadium four times: the first one was on 2 August 1997 during their PopMart Tour, in front of a crowd of 46,658 people. The second one was on 29 July 2005 during their Vertigo Tour, in front of a sold out crowd of 58,478 people. The third and the fourth were on 31 July and 1 August 2009 during their U2 360° Tour, in front of a total sold out crowd of 119,297 people. The performance of "The Unforgettable Fire" from the first 2009 show was recorded for the group's live album U22.

Foo Fighters performed at the venue on 12 June 2015 on the Sonic Highways World Tour. However, Dave Grohl fell off stage during the second song of the concert, which led to him suffering a broken leg. Grohl was treated in the stadium before returning to the stage to continue the rest of the concert, albeit while sitting down in a chair while a medic applied a cast. Despite Grohl's injuries, the band was able to complete the concert.

Iron Maiden performed at the stadium four times: the first one was on 9 July 2005 during their Eddie Rips Up the World Tour. The second time was on 26 July 2008 during their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour. The third time was on 1 July 2011 during The Final Frontier World Tour. The fourth time was on 17 June 2016 during The Book of Souls World Tour.

Innovation

Since March 2007, Ullevi has one of Sweden's largest solar power plants, consisting of 600m² of solar photovoltaic panels situated on the roof of the luxury boxes section. The top effect is 86.4 kW and the yield is supposed to cover the total power used by the artificial lighting used for events, with a surplus.

Speedway

Ullevi has also hosted Motorcycle speedway and hosted the Speedway World Championship on no less than eight occasions, second only to the old Wembley Stadium in London, England which hosted the World Final a record 26 times. The track is a dirt surface laid out over the athletics track and is officially 404 metres (442 yards) long with a track record of 69.4 seconds (4 laps clutch start).

The first Championship World Final to be held at Ullevi was the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup competition in 1960. Led by reigning world champion Ove Fundin and his team mates Olle Nygren, Rune Sörmander and Björn Knutsson, Sweden swept to victory over England, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Ullevi would have wait 26 years before World Team Cup competition returned with the stadium hosting the first round of the three round 1986 Final.

The first ever Individual World Final staged at Ullevi was in 1964 when New Zealand's Barry Briggs won with a 15-point maximum. The largest attendance for a World Final at Ullevi occurred in 1974 when 38,390 turned out to see Sweden's own Anders Michanek win his only World Championship with an unbeaten 15 point maximum. No World Championship winners at Ullevi dropped more than one point in their five rides with five of the seven World Finals being won with a 15-point maximum. The stadium also hosted other qualifying rounds for the Individual World Final including the inaugural running of the Intercontinental Final in 1975 won by New Zealand legend Ivan Mauger.

Since the World Championship was changed in 1995 from a single meeting Final to the Speedway Grand Prix (SGP), Ullevi has hosted a round of the series in 2002, 2003, 2004 (Grand Prix of Scandinavia), 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 (Grand Prix of Sweden). No rider who has won a SGP at Ullevi has gone on to be that years World Champion, though 2011 Swedish Grand Prix winner Chris Holder from Australia did go on to become the 2012 World Champion.

Ullevi hosted its only World Pairs Championship Final in 1983 when Peter Collins and Kenny Carter won England's 6th Pairs crown.

Speedway World Finals

Individual World Championship

• 1964 - Barry Briggs - 15pts
• 1968 - Ivan Mauger - 15pts
• 1971 - Ole Olsen - 15pts
• 1974 - Anders Michanek - 15pts
• 1977 - Ivan Mauger - 14pts
• 1980 - Michael Lee - 14pts
• 1984 - Erik Gundersen - 14pts
• 1991 - Jan O. Pedersen - 15pts

World Pairs Championship

• 1983 - England (Peter Collins / Kenny Carter) - 25pts

World Team Cup

• 1960 - Sweden (Ove Fundin / Olle Nygren / Rune Sörmander / Björn Knutsson) - 44pts
• 1986* - Denmark (Hans Nielsen / Erik Gundersen / Tommy Knudsen / Jan O. Pedersen / John Jørgensen) - 130pts

* Ullevi hosted the first of 3 rounds in the Final.

Speedway Grand Prix

• 2002 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia - Leigh Adams
• 2003 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia - Ryan Sullivan
• 2004 Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia - Hans N. Andersen
• 2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden - Rune Holta
• 2009 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden - Emil Sayfutdinov
• 2010 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden - Kenneth Bjerre
• 2011 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden - Chris Holder
• 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden - Fredrik Lindgren
• 2013 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden - Emil Sayfutdinov

Record attendances

The east stand of Ullevi during the 2006 European Athletics Championships

19 most attended concerts

#	Event	Attendance	Date
1	Håkan Hellström	70,144	5 June 2016
2	Håkan Hellström	70,091	4 June 2016
3	Håkan Hellström	69,349	7 June 2014
4	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Wrecking Ball Tour	66,561	28 July 2012
5	P!nk The Funhouse Summer Carnival	66,373	23 July 2010
6	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Wrecking Ball Tour	66,018	27 July 2012
7	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band The River Tour 2016	64,959	23 July 2016
8	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Born in the U.S.A. Tour	64,312	8 June 1985
9	Metallica 2015 European Tour	63,000	22 August 2015
10	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band The River Tour 2016	62,701	27 June 2016
11	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band The River Tour 2016	62,676	25 June 2016
12	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Born in the U.S.A. Tour	62,544	9 June 1985
13	David Bowie Serious Moonlight Tour	61,206	11 June 1983
14	U2 U2 360° Tour	60,099	1 August 2009
15	Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour	59,600	9 August 2009
16	Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour	59,400	8 August 2009
17	Gyllene Tider GT25 Summer Tour	58,977	7 August 2004
18	David Bowie Serious Moonlight Tour	58,914	12 June 1983
19	Iron Maiden Eddie Rips Up the World Tour	57,000	9 July 2005

Sports

One day events

#	Event	Attendance	Date
1	Ingemar Johansson – Eddie Machen Boxing	53,614	14 September 1958
2	IFK Göteborg – Örgryte IS Football	52,194	4 June 1959
3	Sweden – Denmark Football	51,062	23 October 1960
4	Sweden – Göteborgsalliansen Football	50,989	29 May 1958
5	Brazil – Soviet Union Football	50,928	15 June 1958

Multi day events

#	Event	Attendance	Date
1	World Athletics Championships Athletics	592,240	4–13 August 1995
2	European Athletics Championships Athletics	269,038	6–13 August 2006
3	World Speed Skating Championships Speed Skating	69,599	13–14 February 1971
4	Finnkampen Athletics	51,567	4–5 September 2004
5	Finnkampen Athletics	49,366	28–29 August 1971

Location and transportation

Ullevi is located on the eastern edge of Gothenburg's city centre and is one of the centre pieces of the event district Evenemangsstråket, with Scandinavium, Liseberg, Universeum, the Museum of World Culture and Bergakungen nearby. Public transport is easily accessible. There are two tram stops named after the stadium; Ullevi Norra (North) and Ullevi Södra (South). Both tram stops serve lines 6 (orange) and 8 (purple). Ullevi Södra also serves lines 2 (yellow) and 13 (beige), while Ullevi Norra also serves lines 1 (white) and 3 (blue). Approximately 700 metres west of Ullevi lies the Gothenburg Central Station and Nils Ericson Terminal. 900 metres south of Ullevi lies Korsvägen, a major public transport hub which serves more than fifteen different bus lines and several tram lines, and the Liseberg station serving the Gothenburg commuter rail.

The stadium has 650 parking spaces located in a garage underneath the pitch. Additionally visitors are guided to eighteen nearby parking lots and parking garages—with a total of 7,000 parking spaces—by the event districts parking guidance and information system. The system has a total of 130 digital signs, located on motorways with information about which exit to use, and on streets in the city with more detailed information about directions and number of available parking spaces.

External links

• Ullevi — Official site