Lia Manoliu Stadium
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| Lia Manoliu Stadium | |
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| Lia Manoliu Stadium | |
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| Full name | Lia Manoliu Stadium |
| Location |  Bucharest, Romania |
| Built | 1953 (5 month) |
| Opened | August 02, 1953 |
| Closed | November 22, 2007 |
| Demolished | December 18, 2007-February 20, 2008 |
| Owner | Municipality of Bucharest |
| Operator | Romania |
| Former names | 23 August |
| Tenants |
1981 Summer Universiade |
| Capacity |
70,000 (concerts) |
The Lia Manoliu Stadium (Stadionul Lia Manoliu in Romanian) was a multi-use stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It was used mostly for football matches.
The stadium held 60,120. It was built in 1953, for the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students. It was first known as Stadionul 23 August, and later on as Stadionul Naţional (National Stadium). It is now named after Lia Manoliu, a discus thrower who competed at a record six Summer Olympics, winning three medals.
It hosted numerous concerts after the 1989 Revolution. One of the biggest ones was Michael Jackson's Dangerous World Tour concert, on October 1, 1992. Some 70,000 people attended the concert, which was the only concert broadcast live by the HBO channel; it has since been the highest rated program to air on HBO and had the largest TV audience in history. Other bigger concerts include Depeche Mode (2006), The Rolling Stones and George Michael (both in 2007).
In October 2005, it was decided to rebuild the stadium completely; however, initially no funding was found, so some repairs proceeded in lieu of rebuilding. Later, funds became available and the rebuilding is expected to begin in November 2007. The plan calls for completion of a new five-star arena by April 2010, with further plans to host the 2011 UEFA Cup final. The last football match played was a 6-1 win against Albania on November 21, 2007. After the match, a few seats were removed from the stadium, as a symbolic start of the rebuilding operations. The old stadium will be demolished to make room for a new one.
