Salt Lake Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in
Bidhannagar,
Kolkata,
West Bengal. It is the largest stadium in
India, and the second largest stadium in the
World by capacity.
Information
The stadium is the second largest non-auto racing stadium in the world and the largest in the Indian sub-continent. It is currently used for football matches and athletics. The stadium was built in 1984 and holds 120,000 people in a three-tier configuration. It is situated approximately 10 km to the east of the Kolkata downtown and is elliptical in shape. The roof is made of metal tubes and aluminum sheets and concrete. There are two electronic score boards and control rooms. The lighting is uniformly distributed to facilitate nocturnal sports. There are special arrangements for TV broadcasting.
The stadium covers an area of 76.40 acres (309,200 sqm). It was inaugurated in January, 1984. The salient features of the stadium are unique synthetic track for athletic meets, electronic scoreboard, main football arena measuring 105m x 70m, elevators, VIP enclosures, peripheral floodlighting arrangement from the roof-top, air conditioned VIP rest room and Conference Hall. Other features of the stadium are also commentary boxes for All India Radio and TV along with several platforms for TV cameras, press boxes, dormitories and AC. rooms, player's changing rooms, practice grounds for football, cricket and khokho, volleyball field and an ultra-medium gymnasium. The stadium has its own water arrangements and standby diesel generation sets.
Football
Football is the main sport in this stadium.The Salt Lake Stadium hosts the home games of local clubs Kingfisher East Bengal F.C., Mohun Bagan A.C., Mohammedan SC and Prayag United S.C., four of the big clubs in Indian football. The traditional Kolkata derbies between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan AC take place in this stadium accompanied by much fanfare and feverish emotions (and on a few occasions, outbreaks of violence). Most of these matches are attended by capacity crowds of supporters of both teams.
Many of the home games of the India national football team are also played in Salt Lake, as are many important games in major stages of national tournaments.On June 5, 2011 FIFA sanctioned a match to be played at Salt Lake on September 2, 2011. The match was played between
Argentina and
Venezuela. The match did end with Argentina winning the game 1–0 with Nicolás Otamendi scoring the only goal in the 67th minute from a Lionel Messi corner. Venezuela broke a few times into the Argentinean defense but could not make any real chance.
Athletics
The stadium also hosts important athletic events. It has hosted the SAF Games in 1987 and various national athletics events in India.
Connectivity
The stadium lies on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, so it is easily accessible by road. A metro station on the East-West Corridor on the Kolkata Metro is currently being constructed.
