Friends Arena

Friends Arena

Nationalarenan
UEFA Category 4 Stadium
Former names	Swedbank Arena (2009–2012) Friends Arena (2012-2024)
Location	Solna, Stockholm, Sweden
Coordinates	59°22′21″N18°00′00″E / 59.37250°N 18.00000°E / 59.37250; 18.00000
Owner	Swedish Football Association, Folksam, Solna Municipality, Jernhusen, Peab, Fabege [1]
Executive suites	92
Capacity	50,000 (national capacity) [2] 50,653 (international all-seated capacity) (football) 35,000 (scaled-down) (football) [3] 65,000 (concerts) [4]
Record attendance	60,000 (Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour, 17-19 May 2024) [5] 50,128 (AIK–Sundsvall, 4 November 2018) [6]
Surface	Natural grass turf
Construction
Broke ground	7 December 2009 [7]
Built	2009–2012
Opened	25 October 2012 [4]
Construction cost	2.8 billion SEK (€ 300 million)
Architect	Arkitekterna Krook & Tjäder, Berg Arkitektkontor, Populous [8]
Main contractors	Peab
Tenants
Sweden national football team (2012–present) AIK Fotboll (2013–present) Melodifestivalen final (2013–2020, 2022–present)

Nationalarenan, currently known as Friends Arena for sponsorship reasons (to be named Strawberry Arena from July 2024 onwards ^[9] ), is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden.

Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the largest stadium in Scandinavia. Since its opening, the venue has served as Sweden's national stadium for men's football, hence the name Nationalarenan.

The main tenants of the stadium are Sweden's men's national football team and Allsvenskan football club AIK; both relocated from their previous home at the Råsunda Stadium. The venue has a total capacity of 65,000 at concerts and 50,000 seated at football matches, but the stadium can be scaled down to provide for smaller events with approximately 20,000 guests. The arena is designed by Danish C.F. Møller Architects.

History

Initially there were plans to build a new national stadium close to the indoor venue Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, but on 1 April 2006 the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) made the decision to build the new stadium in Solna. It was calculated to cost around 1.9 billion kronor (202 million euro) to complete. The estimated cost before construction had begun was 2.3 billion kronor. It replaced Råsunda Stadium, Sweden's former national arena for football. Råsunda was torn down and replaced by some 700 flats and office buildings.

Swedbank acquired the naming rights to the stadium in a 153 million kronor (about 20.5 million euro) deal that will last until 2023. While the arena was originally to be known as Swedbank Arena, Swedbank announced in 2012 that it would donate its naming rights to Friends, a nonprofit organization against school bullying of which Swedbank is a sponsor. Consequently, the stadium was renamed Friends Arena.

On January 13, 2024, a naming rights sponsorship agreement was reached with the Norwegian hotel company Strawberry. The new name, "Strawberry Arena", will take effect on July 12, 2024. ^[10]

Structure and facilities

The stadium has a retractable roof, enabling events to take place during the winter season and to host indoor entertainment shows. The facade of the arena can be lit up in 17 million different color schemes. For example, the stadium is lit up in blue and yellow when Sweden's national team is playing matches. Nationalarenan is a UEFA Category 4 stadium, and the natural turf pitch measures 105 x 68 metres. In the middle of the stadium roof, a 240 square metres big media cube is placed where the attendance can follow what is happening. In addition, 647 LED-screens are installed throughout the facility to enhance the guest experience. ^[4]

Events

Exterior

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden declared the arena inaugurated at the opening ceremony, which took place in the venue on 27 October 2012. The show, directed by famous Swedish director Colin Nutley, was entitled "Svenska ögonblick" (Swedish Moments).Popular swedish artists as Agnes Carlsson, The Hives, Icona Pop, two-times Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen, First Aid Kit and Roxette performed in front of a crowd of 46,000 people. Furthermore, 1,700,000 TV viewers watched the inauguration show live at SVT1. ^[11]

Swedish House Mafia made three concerts during their One Last Tour in the arena. A total of approximately 115,000 people visited Nationalarenan during the three sold-out concerts in November 2012.

On 14 November 2012, the stadium hosted its first football game. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored the first goal at Sweden's new national stadium in the 4–2 victory against England. The game was seen by 49,967 people, which until 2017 was the attendance record for a sport event. ^[12]

Sweden vs Republic of Ireland, 22 March 2013

A new record for Swedish bandy was set at the 2013 Swedish Bandy Championship Final, when Hammarby IF defeated Sandvikens AIK ahead of an audience of 38,474 persons under the closed roof. ^[13]

AIK played their first competitive football match on April 7, 2013. Visiting team Syrianska FC succeeded to get one point after a goalless game, but the better for AIK, they set a new club record attendance for a home game in Allsvenskan of 43,463.

Sandvikens AIK players pose before the 2013 Swedish men's national bandy championship final game.

On 28 July 2013, the final of the UEFA Women's Euro were played. 41,301 people watched Germany overcome Norway with a score of 1–0. The game set a new attendance record for a Women's Euro fixture. Solna became also the first city in Europe which has hosted all four big football championships (FIFA World Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA European Championship and UEFA Women's Championship). The arena also hosts Motorcycle speedway as part of the Speedway Grand Prix World Championship series and has hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Scandinavia since 2013. The temporary track at the arena is 275 metres (301 yards) in length.

The arena also hosted the final of Melodifestivalen every year since 2013, with the exception of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the arena also hosted the fourth heat and the semi-final of that year's competition. The stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2017 UEFA Europa League Final.

Concerts

Concerts at Friends Arena
Date	Artist	Event	Attendance	Revenue
3 May 2013	Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band	Wrecking Ball World Tour	169,325 / 169,325 [14]	$17,932,099 [15]
4 May 2013
8 May 2013	One Direction	Take Me Home Tour	29,723 / 29,723	$1,783,380
11 May 2013	Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band	Wrecking Ball World Tour	—	—
1 June 2013	Kiss	Monster World Tour	—	—
13 July 2013	Iron Maiden	Maiden England World Tour	—	—
22 November 2013	Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath Reunion Tour	—	—
13 December 2013	Elton John	The Diving Board Tour	—	—
13 June 2014	One Direction	Where We Are Tour	88,978 / 88,978	$7,358,040
14 June 2014
28 June 2014	Pearl Jam	Lightning Bolt Tour	—	—
19 July 2015	AC/DC	Rock or Bust World Tour	—	—
19 March 2016	Simple Minds	Big Music Tour + Greatest Hits 2016	—	—
3 July 2016	Coldplay	A Head Full of Dreams Tour	53,575 / 53,575	$3,970,140
9 July 2016	Black Sabbath	The End Tour	—	—
26 July 2016	Beyoncé	The Formation World Tour	48,519 / 48,519	$3,937,498
5 May 2017	Depeche Mode	Global Spirit Tour	36,400 / 36,400	$2,734,164
8 May 2017	Ariana Grande	Dangerous Woman Tour	14,106 / 14,106	$995,461
29 June 2017	Guns N' Roses	Not in This Lifetime... Tour	53,654 / 53,654	$4,460,555
12 October 2017	The Rolling Stones	No Filter Tour	53,770 / 53,770	$7,880,697
21 November 2017	Queen + Adam Lambert	Queen + Adam Lambert Tour 2017–2018	—	—
25 June 2018	Beyoncé Jay-Z	On the Run II Tour	46,647 / 46,647	$4,610,554
2 July 2018	Eminem	Revival Tour	—	—
14 July 2018	Ed Sheeran	÷ Tour	54,234 / 54,234	$4,818,972
31 July 2018	Justin Timberlake	The Man of the Woods Tour	23,303 / 23,303	$1,818,015
18 August 2018	Roger Waters	Us + Them Tour	19,043 / 19,238	$1,782,758
12 June 2019	Phil Collins	Not Dead Yet Tour	—	—
17 October 2019	Cher	Here We Go Again Tour	27,025 / 27,025	$2,274,898
21 July 2022	Lady Gaga	The Chromatica Ball	34,934 / 34,934	$3,540,732
31 July 2022	The Rolling Stones	Sixty	50,889 / 50,889	$6,916,424
10 May 2023	Beyoncé	Renaissance World Tour	90,169 / 90,169	$9,802,155
11 May 2023
23 May 2023	Depeche Mode	Memento Mori World Tour
17 May 2024	Taylor Swift	The Eras Tour
18 May 2024
19 May 2024
25 July 2024	Pink	Pink Summer Carnival

Points of interest

Interior

The stadium is located a 700-metre (800 yards) walk from the Solna commuter train station, where the Tvärbanan tramway and local buses are also available (a slightly longer walk away). The 18th meridian east runs through Nationalarenan. There are two boards informing that the eighteenth meridian has passed through this point, at the entrance B and F. ^[16]

Plaque marking the passage of the eighteenth meridian.

The arena, located about six km (3,7 miles) from Stockholm Central Station, has parking for 300 charter buses and 4,000 cars. Along with the stadium, there will also be built a number of hotels with a total of approximately 400 rooms, restaurants for 8,000 guests, office areas for 10,000 employees, conference/exhibition centres and 2,000 flats. Moreover, a shopping mall, Mall of Scandinavia, with 240 shops and a multi screen cinema, opened near the stadium in 2015. The mall is the biggest shopping centre in Sweden.

Friends Arena before Sweden vs. Spain. 15th October 2019.

The total project was calculated to cost more than 4 billion SEK. ^[17]

Football average attendances

^{[ citation needed ]}

Season	Sweden national team					AIK
	Games	Season Average	Highest Gate	Lowest Gate		Games	Season Average	Highest Gate	Lowest Gate
2012	1	49,967	49,967 vs England	49,967 vs England
2013	7	41,973	49,766 vs Portugal	13,438 vs Norway		15	18,900	43,466 vs Syrianska FC	9,388 vs Östers IF
2014	4	27,926	49,023 vs Russia	15,421 vs Estonia		15	16,446	30,650 vs IFK Göteborg	11,408 vs Falkenbergs FF
2015	5	34,925	49,053 vs Denmark	25,351 vs Montenegro		15	20,983	43,713 vs IFK Göteborg	10,701 vs Falkenbergs FF
2016	4	28,581	37,942 vs Wales	18,475 vs Czech Republic		15	16,431	30,843 vs Hammarby IF	8,507 vs BK Häcken
2017	4	44,810	50,022 vs Luxembourg	31,243 vs Belarus		15	17,807	33,157 vs Djurgårdens IF	10,342 vs Halmstads BK
2018						15	23,671	50,128 vs GIF Sundsvall
2019						15	18.970	45,367 vs Djurgårdens IF
2020						15	0
2021						15	12,364	42,539 vs Djurgårdens IF

See also

• List of indoor arenas
• List of indoor arenas in Nordic countries
• List of football stadiums in Sweden
• Lists of stadiums
• Climate Pledge Arena, an indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, US that received its name via a similar donation of naming rights
• Kentucky Proud Park, a baseball park in Lexington, Kentucky, US that received its name via a similar donation of naming rights

References

1. "Säljer del av Friends Arena" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television.
2. "Friends Arena –". Stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
3. "UEFA Euro 2020 Evaluation Report" (PDF). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
4. "This is Friends Arena". friendsarena.se. Archived from the original on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
5. West, Bryan. "Taylor Swift breaks concert crowd record in Stockholm with Eras Tour". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
6. "Ny toppsiffra för AIK – slog publikrekordet på Friends" (in Swedish). fotbollskanalen.se.
7. "Inledande spadtag för nationalarenan" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 2009-12-07. Archived from the original on 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
8. "Frågor och svar" (in Swedish). friendsarena.se. Archived from the original on 2013-04-27.
9. Edwinsson, Lisa (2024-01-13). "Friends arena byter namn till Strawberry arena". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
10. Nyheter, S. V. T.; Damon Dastory, Separam (2024-01-13). "Friends Arena i Solna blir Strawberry arena". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-01-13.
11. "Svenska ögonblick – Invigning Friends Arena" (in Swedish). friendsarena.se. Archived from the original on 2012-11-10.
12. "Zlatan Ibrahimovic: I liked the first goal more because it was history". Guardian UK. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
13. Picture from the 2013 bandy final, with the all time high attendance of 38,474
14. The score data is combined from the three shows held at Friends Arena on 3rd, 4th and May 11th
15. The score data is combined from the three shows held at Friends Arena on 3rd, 4th and May 11th
16. "Google Maps".
17. Arenastaden.se Archived December 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Friends Arena
• Swedish Football Association
• Stadium Guide Article

Preceded by Olympic Stadium Helsinki	UEFA Women's Championship Final venue 2013	Succeeded by De Grolsch Veste Enschede
Preceded by St. Jakob Park Basel	UEFA Europa League Final venue 2017	Succeeded by Parc Olympique Lyonnais Lyon