Which of the big 4 leagues have the best stadia (and worst)?

[n00bie deluxe]

Big 4 being Spain, Italy, England, Germany

[yellowbismark]

After viewing a website about stadiums, I would have to say England has the best (from top-to-bottom), the drop-off from there seems pretty big, although I like a few of the stadiums from the other leagues as well.

Worst stadiums go to Italy.

Charming stadiums: Villa Park, Stadio Renato dell'ara (Bologna)

Intimidating: Nou Camp, Westfallen stadium, Santiago Bernabeu, San Siro, Olimpico (Lazio)

interesting/unusual: Arena Auf Schalke

ugly stadiums: Dell Api, San Siro, both German olympic stadiums, Artemio Franchi (Fiorentina), Maine Road

[thepremierleague]

I think Italy have the most run down and old looking stadiums that sometimes look very dark, intimidating and dangerous, especially the extreme fan sections.

Spain has the biggest capacities of all 4 generally, better quality than Italian, and less dark intimidating areas of extreme fans.

England has lower capacities but better all round quality so is probably the best, but some may prefere Spanish.

I'm not sure about Germany, but some seem decent. Bayer's is quite intimidating when they are actually good.

[AFCA]

What is a good stadium?

Sure, the English stadia look very good. But I'm a 100% sure I'd pick a game at the bottom of the first tier at San Siro over a game at any English stadium.

It's hard to explain what makes a good stadium a good stadium. A run down stadium can be just as good or 10 times better than these so-called state of the art piles of s.h.i.t. built for a nice family's day out.

Italy's stadia aren't that run down. Aren't run down whatsoever.

English stadiums are beautiful. But a bit too sophisticated and neat sometimes. But all in all... I think they're the best (on average). Close to the field is always nice. Too bad we can't have that in Holland.

I like Westfahlen a lot too. Been there once. Believe it's become a bit bigger since then.

[olafgb]

Might be a bit subjective, but I think that due to the WC Germany has the best stadiums. For me main criteria is the stadium itself, i.e. architecture inside and outside, comfort, atmosphere, roof, etc.

In Spain and Italy the stadiums of the top teams are great, no doubt about that, but the smaller stadiums are pretty bad. Often they are not even roofes - understandable due to their good weather - but that already makes it impossible to rate them good according to my preferences.

England for sure has the greatest atmosphere in their stadiums. Most of them look good, but some have a major mistake regarding the architecture that would even increase the atmosphere: often the stadiums look like four stands simply put somewhere in the landscape next to the pitch. My criticism is that many have gaps between the stands where the atmosphere escapes - with stands as an unit with a non sound evading roof (e.g. beton) you can keep the atmosphere inside.

And Germany... there are not many really bad ones. Cottbus, Mönchengladbach, Munich and Hannover were recently evaluated to be the worst ones by far - and this with good right. But what's happening? Munich, Mönchengladbach and Hannover get a new stadium, Cottbus improves their old one. Dortmund (same bad architecture as many English stadiums at the moment) gets the corners filled. Stuttgart's critical point remains the track and field lane. Hamburg has a great new stadium with a bad roof (linen?, kills the sound). Bremen improves, Berlin will finally get a great update (although track remains). Bochum, Rostock, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have great small stadiums. Bielefeld as shifting club between Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga has three of four very good stands. Nuremberg reminds me a lot to some Italy 90 stadiums (is also built in this time), but is already a bit old fashioned IMO. Kaiserslautern has a good stadium. And it even continues below Bundesliga with Cologne or Frankfurt (will be great) and even Leipzig and Düsseldorf with D4 teams only will get WC capable stadiums. All I'm criticising is that they missed the opportunity to use retractable roofs for most of the stadiums, which will cause that in ten to twenty years these arenas will already be old fashioned - but for the present they are unbeatable IMO.

Stadium guide with pictures btw:
Germany: http://www.stadionwelt-stadien.de/Stadien-Startseite/Stadionlisten/Stadionlisten_Deutschland/Stadionlisten_Deutschland.html (click on the league or below WM 2006 to get to the team list)

England: http://www.stadionwelt-stadien.de/Stadien-Startseite/Stadionlisten/Stadionlisten-England/Stadionlisten-England.html

Spain: http://www.stadionwelt-stadien.de/Stadien-Startseite/Stadionlisten/Stadionlisten_Spanien/Stadionlisten_Spanien.html

Italy: http://www.stadionwelt-stadien.de/Stadien-Startseite/Stadionlisten/Stadionlisten_Italien/Stadionlisten%20Italien.html

Overview over many countries: http://www.stadionwelt-stadien.de/Stadien-Startseite/Stadionlisten/Stadionlisten.html

[minorthreat]

Originally posted by AFCA
Italy's stadia aren't that run down. Aren't run down whatsoever.Yeah, I don't get why people are saying they're run down considering that a good number of them were renovated for WC '90. And while, say, the delle Alpi is a white elephant that Juventus doesn't want, it's still not a bad stadium by any stretch of the imagination.

[RichardL]

I suppose it depends on how you define best. If it's just architecturally impressive then Italy & Spain have some great, big stadiums, but Italy certainly has some pretty poor or uninspiring small ones, mainly due to the drop-off in support being far greater than England for example. I've also been to both the Bernabeu and the San Siro and up close both have all the charm of a multi-storey car-park (although with its ramps the san siro is at least a decent car park). England is let down by the fact that too many of its new stadia look too similar. Derby & Middlesrough are Identical (stoke would be too, but doesn't have its corners filled in). Leicester & Southampton play in identical stadiums too. I'd say Germany, once all the new grounds are built, will have the best, but if you were to go deeper down, outside the top divisions, I doubt anyone could come close to England for the sheer number of decent stadia.

[Wolves_67]

After the work Germany is doing for the next WC, I would think they will be in the lead for stadia.
Some of ones being built and those being improved are incredible.

[thepremierleague]

The standard of stadiums in the lower divisions in England is incredible. I think partly because some used to be premier league teams and built new stadiums. Some however have never been in the EPL and still have amazing quality stadiums.

Many are better than some first division stadiums in other countries.

From top to bottom divisions England is miles ahead of everyone in terms of history, strength of teams, fan base and professionalism.

Unfortunatly many may eventually die financially and England will become closer to the rest of Europe with most support for the top division teams.

[AFCA]

Originally posted by olafgb
[B]Might be a bit subjective, but I think that due to the WC Germany has the best stadiums. For me main criteria is the stadium itself, i.e. architecture inside and outside, comfort, atmosphere, roof, etc.

In Spain and Italy the stadiums of the top teams are great, no doubt about that, but the smaller stadiums are pretty bad. Often they are not even roofes - understandable due to their good weather - but that already makes it impossible to rate them good according to my preferences.

England for sure has the greatest atmosphere in their stadiums. Most of them look good, but some have a major mistake regarding the architecture that would even increase the atmosphere: often the stadiums look like four stands simply put somewhere in the landscape next to the pitch. My criticism is that many have gaps between the stands where the atmosphere escapes - with stands as an unit with a non sound evading roof (e.g. beton) you can keep the atmosphere inside.

And Germany... there are not many really bad ones. Cottbus, Mönchengladbach, Munich and Hannover were recently evaluated to be the worst ones by far - and this with good right. But what's happening? Munich, Mönchengladbach and Hannover get a new stadium, Cottbus improves their old one. Dortmund (same bad architecture as many English stadiums at the moment) gets the corners filled. Stuttgart's critical point remains the track and field lane. Hamburg has a great new stadium with a bad roof (linen?, kills the sound). Bremen improves, Berlin will finally get a great update (although track remains). Bochum, Rostock, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg have great small stadiums. Bielefeld as shifting club between Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga has three of four very good stands. Nuremberg reminds me a lot to some Italy 90 stadiums (is also built in this time), but is already a bit old fashioned IMO. Kaiserslautern has a good stadium. And it even continues below Bundesliga with Cologne or Frankfurt (will be great) and even Leipzig and Düsseldorf with D4 teams only will get WC capable stadiums. All I'm criticising is that they missed the opportunity to use retractable roofs for most of the stadiums, which will cause that in ten to twenty years these arenas will already be old fashioned - but for the present they are unbeatable IMO.



comfort is the least important on my list.

Atmosphere in England the best? What I saw last night at Birmingham - Villa was pretty good. And pretty unique. Save some games the atmosphere isn't that good at all in England. Nothing compared to Italy in general.

[bocatuna]

Originally posted by AFCA
comfort is the least important on my list.

Atmosphere in England the best? What I saw last night at Birmingham - Villa was pretty good. And pretty unique. Save some games the atmosphere isn't that good at all in England. Nothing compared to Italy in general.

How did the atmosphere of the Ajax v Arsenal match compare to other Ajax games ?. From the 30 minutes or so of the game that I watched the place seemed to be pretty rocking.

[AFCA]

Originally posted by bocatuna
How did the atmosphere of the Ajax v Arsenal match compare to other Ajax games ?. From the 30 minutes or so of the game that I watched the place seemed to be pretty rocking.

It can be very silent as well. Moving to the Arena really killed the atmosphere at Ajax matches (in the old Olympic I remember matches where you couldn't see anything for 10 minutes because of the smoke the fireworks and flares produced - that's over now) At CL matches the atmosphere can be pretty good at times. But in general atmosphere is really something for the big matches nowadays. Especially when in the CL, smaller domestic matches are very tame. Both in football and atmosphere.

[Clan]

Originally posted by AFCA
comfort is the least important on my list.

Atmosphere in England the best? What I saw last night at Birmingham - Villa was pretty good. And pretty unique. Save some games the atmosphere isn't that good at all in England. Nothing compared to Italy in general.

I just made a comment in the premiership forum saying as much AFCA.It has taken a very "tame" attitude over the last decade.Nothing like it used to be in the 80's especially.The type of football has a lot to do with it as well.The drift towards a more continental way of playing has taken a good hold of the game today.

A fact not often mentioned on these boards is the great European nights that went on in Anfield...but i guess that is more to do with the age of the average poster on here.
We were in the second division most of the games i went to, but, what a laugh we used to have.
Even the old bill trying to take me celery away was good for a laugh too as we used to pass it around to get their attention whilst somebody else sliped into the ground fom the "search line"

[evilcrossbar]

There are several criteria that go into good stadia.
The English and Spanish ones are good.

The stadia in Germany are well maintained but they tend to have running tracks making the action on the pitch too far. Hopefully this will change by WC 2006.

Italian stadiums are the worst since they are both poorly maintained AND mostly have running tracks around the pitch.

[BadAzzSnowboarder]

If only this were a "which stadium is th ebest in the world," I'd say all of the World Cup stadiums of South Korea. They are true works of art.

As for the big 4, I'd say Bernabeu and Camp Nou are the best stadiums out of the 4 leagues.

The English stadiums are too small in their capacity. One good thing about them is the fact the seatings are as close as you can get tot he pitch. This definitely gets the fans more roused up and makes them feel as though they become part of the game. This alone covers up all of the other negatives regarding the stadiums in England.

Italian staidums are just plain ugly. For the amount of talent it carries, it's just wrong that they have to play the game in such ugly architectural disasters(I'm guessing the Eye-talian mafioso's took the money to build the stadiums and used only a couple of bucks to have a bunch of paisano's build them). I'd say San Siro is their least ugly.

[olafgb]

Originally posted by evilcrossbar

The stadia in Germany are well maintained but they tend to have running tracks making the action on the pitch too far. Hopefully this will change by WC 2006.


In Bundesliga Munich, Stuttgart, Bremen, Berlin, Hannover and Nuremberg have running tracks. Munich gets a new stadium, Stuttgart keeps it, Bremen sinks the height of the pitch and gets further seats where the track is now, Berlin keeps it for historic reasons, Hannover I think gets rid off them and Nuremberg oddly keeps it.

[comme]

A benefit of not having the enormous stadiums of europe is that they are always full in england and they don't prevent sunlight getting to the pitch. The San Siro has suffered from terrible pitches in recent years and luckily this is a problem we don't have (except Chelsea). Also we have pitches which are used solely for finals and internationals. We have great stadia like the Millenium and (when its built) wembley lying empty so it gives an extra special feeling to those games.

[Clan]

Originally posted by comme
A benefit of not having the enormous stadiums of europe is that they are always full in england and they don't prevent sunlight getting to the pitch. The San Siro has suffered from terrible pitches in recent years and luckily this is a problem we don't have (except Chelsea). Also we have pitches which are used solely for finals and internationals. We have great stadia like the Millenium and (when its built) wembley lying empty so it gives an extra special feeling to those games.

Er..there are more pitches that have the "wrap around" effect than Stamford bridge and don't get the sunlight.
Aren't the Manc having trouble with theirs?

Totenham don't have any sustained runs in anything to have to worry about "pitch wear" from extra games ;)

[Treetaliano]

Originally posted by yellowbismark

Worst stadiums go to Italy.

Agreed. Not one in Serie A is worth a damn...A few in B are nice...Genoa and Triestina are nice, San Niccola (Bari) is a great little stadium, unfirtunately is always empty

Fiorentina

Who? Fiorentina no longer exists. However Florentia Viola plays in a stadium called Artemio Franchi here in Florence, and unfortunately I have the {cough} pleasure to go to every under weekend to see a match in the crappiest stadium I have ever seen. Garbage

[Alberto]

Originally posted by comme
A benefit of not having the enormous stadiums of europe is that they are always full in england and they don't prevent sunlight getting to the pitch. The San Siro has suffered from terrible pitches in recent years and luckily this is a problem we don't have (except Chelsea). Also we have pitches which are used solely for finals and internationals. We have great stadia like the Millenium and (when its built) wembley lying empty so it gives an extra special feeling to those games.

Old Trafford and several other English stadiums that don't come immediately to mind have problems with the pitch due to a lack of light reaching the grass for any extended period of time.

Overall, I think England has the best stadia. In particular I believe St. James Park, Sunderland, Highbury, Anfield, and the New Reebock stadium are beautiful and intimate.