Venue: Stadionul Dan Păltinişanu
Capacity: 32,019 (all seated)
City: Sibiu (population - 311,500)
Opened: 1963
Condition: average
Tenant: FC Timişoara
Normal attendances: 8,000 - 30,000
Dan Păltinişanu Stadium, home of FC Timişoara (a club formerly known as Politehnica Timişoara; and I'm willing to bet they'll return to that name sooner rather than later, but this is another story). Built in 1963 and, with a current capacity of 32,019, it is for the moment the largest stadium in Romania. The stadium gets its name after local legend Dan Păltinişanu, a football player which spent a decade with the local club. He's probably best known in Romania for scoring the wining goal in the 1980 Romanian Cup final against none other than Steaua. If you ask me, considering the bitter hatred of Timişoara fans for Dinamo Bucharest, it's a bit ironic that they would name their stadium after a guy who was born in Bucharest and learned football at Dinamo... but, hey, I'm not a local so I don't know the whole story behind it.
The stadium itself is a rather simple construction. The stands are built on top of an earth embankment which, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, is a rather common stadium construction method employed for communist era stadiums. So basically the whole thing is a big concrete bowl. The stands where originally terraces which where converted to all-seater as late as the 2000s. Also during this period a modern floodlight system was added, as well as a video-scoreboard. I'd say it's a rather modest in size scoreboard for a stadium this big, but at least it's better than what it had previously. Other improvements were made, including to press and executive facilities in the Main Stand which means the stadium complies with (most) UEFA regulations. If the local club makes it to the Champions League, which is a possibility, further investments will be made. The is a good example of turning a wreck into a decent stadium; a decade ago this stadium was in a worse condition than the from Sibiu, which in my previous post; now it can host UEFA Cup and national team matches and, in the future, Champions League matches. Not a bad turn of events, right?
The Main Stand of the stadium contains a number of executive boxes and is the only part of the stadium with a partial roof. On top of this zig-zag roof there's also a peculiar looking set of floodlights. The Opposing stand differs from the main stand in that it doesn't have any executive boxes, nor a roof. Also behind this stand there is a building which houses number of club offices and some other facilities.
The two ends are nearly identical in construction. However the North End has a tunnel at the bottom which allows vehicles to get inside the stadium. The South Stand has a scoreboard perched on top is the traditional home end where the CVUCS, the Timişoara ultras group, makes for a pretty great atmosphere inside the stadium. The whole thing is rounded off by four modern floodlights in the corners (or as much as an oval can have corners ).
Unfortunately the stadium isn't football dedicated as it also has track and field facilities. This means the stands and especially the ends are quite far from the pitch. Needless to say that if you want a good view of the match you'd better pray you're not sitting at the bottom of one of the ends. However this is true for most stadiums with a running track. All in all it's a good day out and if you're lucky enough to visit when they're playing Dinamo or their local rivals UTA Arad, then you're in for a pretty special atmosphere. It's also nice to visit when they play Steaua (they hate our guts too, but not as much as the other two) or their friends, Rapid (Rapid and Timişoara ultras groups have some sort of bond going on similar to the one described on another thread between St. Etienne and Bordeaux).
Pictures:
Main Stand:
Opposing Stand with Romanian Cup banners:
Home End:
North End, aerial view:
This is what to expect at a big match:
0
-- Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:22 pm --
Venue: Stadionul Dan Păltinişanu
Capacity: 32,019 (all seated)
City: Sibiu (population - 311,500)
Opened: 1963
Condition: average
Tenant: FC Timişoara
Normal attendances: 8,000 - 30,000
Dan Păltinişanu Stadium, home of FC Timişoara (a club formerly known as Politehnica Timişoara; and I'm willing to bet they'll return to that name sooner rather than later, but this is another story). Built in 1963 and, with a current capacity of 32,019, it is for the moment the largest stadium in Romania. The stadium gets its name after local legend Dan Păltinişanu, a football player which spent a decade with the local club. He's probably best known in Romania for scoring the wining goal in the 1980 Romanian Cup final against none other than Steaua. If you ask me, considering the bitter hatred of Timişoara fans for Dinamo Bucharest, it's a bit ironic that they would name their stadium after a guy who was born in Bucharest and learned football at Dinamo... but, hey, I'm not a local so I don't know the whole story behind it.
The stadium itself is a rather simple construction. The stands are built on top of an earth embankment which, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, is a rather common stadium construction method employed for communist era stadiums. So basically the whole thing is a big concrete bowl. The stands where originally terraces which where converted to all-seater as late as the 2000s. Also during this period a modern floodlight system was added, as well as a video-scoreboard. I'd say it's a rather modest in size scoreboard for a stadium this big, but at least it's better than what it had previously. Other improvements were made, including to press and executive facilities in the Main Stand which means the stadium complies with (most) UEFA regulations. If the local club makes it to the Champions League, which is a possibility, further investments will be made. The is a good example of turning a wreck into a decent stadium; a decade ago this stadium was in a worse condition than the from Sibiu, which in my previous post; now it can host UEFA Cup and national team matches and, in the future, Champions League matches. Not a bad turn of events, right?
The Main Stand of the stadium contains a number of executive boxes and is the only part of the stadium with a partial roof. On top of this zig-zag roof there's also a peculiar looking set of floodlights. The Opposing stand differs from the main stand in that it doesn't have any executive boxes, nor a roof. Also behind this stand there is a building which houses number of club offices and some other facilities.
The two ends are nearly identical in construction. However the North End has a tunnel at the bottom which allows vehicles to get inside the stadium. The South Stand has a scoreboard perched on top is the traditional home end where the CVUCS, the Timişoara ultras group, makes for a pretty great atmosphere inside the stadium. The whole thing is rounded off by four modern floodlights in the corners (or as much as an oval can have corners ).
Unfortunately the stadium isn't football dedicated as it also has track and field facilities. This means the stands and especially the ends are quite far from the pitch. Needless to say that if you want a good view of the match you'd better pray you're not sitting at the bottom of one of the ends. However this is true for most stadiums with a running track. All in all it's a good day out and if you're lucky enough to visit when they're playing Dinamo or their local rivals UTA Arad, then you're in for a pretty special atmosphere. It's also nice to visit when they play Steaua (they hate our guts too, but not as much as the other two) or their friends, Rapid (Rapid and Timişoara ultras groups have some sort of bond going on similar to the one described on another thread between St. Etienne and Bordeaux).
Pictures:
Main Stand:
Opposing Stand with Romanian Cup banners:
Home End:
North End, aerial view:
This is what to expect at a big match:
0
