Maksimir Stadium (, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Croatia. Named after the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir, it is one of the largest stadiums in the country with a current seating capacity of 25,912 and a maximum possible capacity of 35,423. It is the home stadium of Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb and has been used since 1990 by the Croatia national football team for the majority of international competitions.
Built in 1912, the stadium underwent renovations in 1948, 1998, and 2011. Its facilities can be converted into a concert stage which has been used to host musical acts.
Maksimir Stadium has four stands: north, east, west, and south, with all seats seated, and no standing places for spectators in the stadium.
A major renovation of the stadium in June 2011 saw new seats installed, and a greater distance created between seats.
Due to the strong earthquake that struck Zagreb on March 22, 2020, the east stand has not been open to spectators.
History The construction and the early years With the rising popularity of the sport in Zagreb, the local football club HAŠK, which was one of the first multi-sports club in Croatia, decided to build a new stadium for their club. They bought the ground in the Svetice neighbourhood in Zagreb, which lies on the opposite side of the Maksimir Park, from the Archdiocese of Zagreb. HAŠK built a wooden stand with a capacity of 6,000, which was also the first ground with a proper stand in Zagreb at that time. The stadium was opened on 5 May 1912, and at the opening ceremony of the new stadium, HAŠK and their city rival, HŠK Građanski Zagreb, played several friendly matches to commemorate the opening. Due to the close relationship and alliance of HAŠK and HŠK Građanski Zagreb and the latter one playing at the Stadion Koturaška, which was in a poor state, Građanski also started playing their home matches at the new Stadium Maksimir.
On 26 May 1941, a representative of the Ustashe fascist government of the Independent State of Croatia addressed young Zagreb students at their meeting at the Maksimir Stadium, and at one point ordered the Serbian and Jewish students to be segregated, but the children disobeyed. Soon afterwards, in June 1941, rebel youths burned the stadium down. The 1977 film Operation Stadium was made to commemorate the segregation incident.
After World War II and the development After World War II, Građanski got dissolved by the newly established communist regime of Yugoslavia and a new club, FD Dinamo Zagreb, inherited the clubs' colours, honours and the ground and is, therefore, the direct successor of HŠK Građanski Zagreb. When the UEFA Euro 1976 final tournament was held in Yugoslavia, Maksimir hosted the Netherlands v. Czechoslovakia semi-final match and the Netherlands v. Yugoslavia third place match. Maksimir was the central venue for the 1987 Summer Universiade hosted by the city of Zagreb.
In 1990, several events happened at Maksimir. On 13 May, the Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot took place, an infamous riot involving Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade supporters. The last match of the Yugoslavia national football team was hosted at Maksimir on 3 June. On 17 October of the same year, Croatia played the United States in what was Croatia's first match in the modern era.
In modern times In 1998, plans were made for a massive renovation, and the first phase started the same year. The old northern stand was demolished and a new one built within a year. This renovation increased Maksimir's seating capacity to 38,079. After 1992, for 16 years the Croatian football team had a proud unbeaten record at this stadium in any competitive match, however, on 10 September 2008 (two years after suffering a 2–0 defeat at the same venue) England became the first team to beat Croatia in Zagreb, winning 4–1, ending a thirty match undefeated streak.
In the summer of 2011, a little, but much needed "facelifting" was made on the stadium. All seats were replaced, a new drainage system, under-soil heating and automatic watering were installed along with a new turf, the athletic track was covered with blue artificial grass and all brick surfaces were covered in blue cloth.
2020 earthquake
The earthquake, which happened on the morning of 22 March 2020, damaged the structural stability of the stadium. After an inspection by a structural engineer, the Maksimir stadium was deemed "temporarily unusable". The eastern stand, which is also the biggest single stand by capacity, took the most damage and is awaiting the final decision following a detailed building inspection. While waiting, the club is allowed to host matches on the Maksimir stadium, but with the eastern stand being closed for viewers.
In August 2023, Maksimir was ranked the third ugliest football stadium in Europe according to research carried out by the Money agency based on reviews on platforms such as Google, TripAdvisor and Football Ground.
Capacity per sector Four stands (8 sectors) contribute to the total seating capacity of 35,423: 25,912 with the East stand closed.
North stand (up): 4,510 North stand (down): 4,950 North stand (VIP): 300 West stand (up): 5,101 West stand (down): 6,369 West stand (VIP): 748 East stand: 9,514 – temporarily closed due to earthquake damage South stand: 3,931
International matches
Date Result Competition 25 June 1952 4–1 International friendly 18 October 1953 3–1 9 May 1954 0–2 17 June 1956 1–1 1955–60 Central European International Cup 12 September 1956 5–2 Unofficial friendly 12 May 1957 6–1 1955–60 Central European International Cup 5 October 1958 4–4 International friendly 19 November 1961 2–1 30 September 1962 2–3 3 November 1963 2–0 8 May 1966 18 November 1970 21 October 1973 0–0 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification 28 September 1974 1–0 International friendly 15 October 1975 3–0 UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying 24 April 1976 2–0 UEFA Euro 1976 quarter-final 16 June 1976 3–1(a.e.t.) UEFA Euro 1976 semi-final 19 June 1976 3–2(a.e.t.) UEFA Euro 1976 third place play-off 8 May 1977 0–2 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification 4 October 1978 1–2 UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying 13 June 1979 4–1 International friendly 12 November 1983 0–0 6 September 1989 3–1 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification 3 June 1990 0–2 International friendly 17 October 1990 2–1 Unofficial friendly 22 October 1992 3–0 International friendly 25 June 1993 3–1 4 June 1994 0–0 9 October 1994 2–0 UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying 25 March 1995 4–0 26 April 1995 2–0 3 September 1995 7–1 10 November 1996 1–1 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 6 September 1997 3–2 29 October 1997 2–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification play-off 6 June 1998 7–0 International friendly 14 October 1998 3–2 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying 28 April 1999 0–0 International friendly 21 August 1999 2–1 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying 4 September 1999 1–0 9 October 1999 2–2 29 March 2000 1–1 International friendly 28 May 2000 0–2 11 October 2000 1–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification 6 October 2001 1–0 27 March 2002 0–0 International friendly 17 April 2002 2–0 29 March 2003 4–0 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying 11 October 2003 1–0 15 November 2003 1–1 UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying play-off 31 March 2004 2–2 International friendly 4 September 2004 3–0 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 9 October 2004 2–2 26 March 2005 4–0 30 March 2005 3–0 8 October 2005 1–0 7 October 2006 7–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying 11 October 2006 2–0 24 March 2007 2–1 6 June 2007 0–0 8 September 2007 2–0 13 October 2007 1–0 6 September 2008 3–0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 10 September 2008 1–4 15 October 2008 4–0 6 June 2009 2–2 5 September 2009 1–0 7 September 2010 0–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying 12 October 2010 2–1 International friendly 17 November 2010 3–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying 6 September 2011 3–1 15 November 2011 0–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-off 29 February 2012 1–3 International friendly 7 September 2012 1–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 22 March 2013 2–0 7 June 2013 0–1 11 October 2013 1–2 19 November 2013 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification play-off 9 September 2014 2–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying 28 March 2015 5–1 10 October 2015 3–0 5 September 2016 1–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 12 November 2016 2–0 24 March 2017 1–0 3 September 2017 1–0 9 November 2017 4–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification play-off 15 November 2018 3–2 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A 21 March 2019 2–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying 11 October 2020 2–1 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A 14 October 2020 1–2 22 September 2022 2–1 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A 21 November 2023 1–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying 12 October 2024 2–1 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A 8 September 2025 4–0 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
Concerts
The stadium has also been used as the venue for some big concerts, including:
DateHeadlining ArtistConcert or Tour Attendance 5 September 1990 David Bowie Sound+Vision Tour50,000 14 June 1994 Oliver Dragojević & Gibonni Cesarica40,000 2000 Gibonni Judi, zviri i beštimje32,000 22 June 2005 Bijelo Dugme Turneja 2005: Sarajevo, Zagreb, Beograd70,000 17 June 2007 Marko Perković Thompson Turneja: Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj Maksimir70,000 09 June 2009 U2 360° Tour 124,012 10 June 2009 8 June 2011 Bon Jovi Bon Jovi Live 33,698 13 August 2013 Robbie Williams Take the Crown Stadium Tour45,000 04 June 2022 Various performers Progledaj srcem44,000
On 11 June 2012, Madonna was scheduled to perform a concert as a part of the MDNA Tour, but the concert was cancelled due to logistic reasons. On 23 May 2013, Depeche Mode was scheduled to perform a concert as a part of their Delta Machine Tour, but the concert was changed to the Arena Zagreb due to logistic reasons.
Renovation plans
The 1998 renovations plans included lowering the pitch and adding seating where the current running track is, gaining 16,000 seats. The plans also included the addition of a modern roof structure. Maksimir was to have a capacity of 60,000 and was to be an exclusively football stadium. However, in the beginning of the 2000s, the renovations were suspended.
In 2008, the Zagreb city government presented two potential stadiums; Project Maksimir at the current location and Project Vulkan (Volcano), which was proposed for the Kajzerica neighbourhood. The two proposals were to go to a citizens vote, however, little progress was made.
Kajzerica Proposal The design competition for the new stadium was won by architect Hrvoje Njirić in May 2008. The winning design, nicknamed "Blue Volcano" (), would have a capacity of 55,000 and would include a blue-coloured polycarbonate dome exterior and a cloud-like structure suspended above the stadium covered in photovoltaic panels.
The referendum about the proposal, which had originally been scheduled for June 2008, was postponed several times since and has not been held. In October 2012, the project was abandoned, to be briefly revived in 2013 with an eye to a possible UEFA Euro 2020 bid, and again in 2018, following Croatia's historic success in the World Cup.
Recent Plans There were talks in 2018 that the stadium was going to be demolished and a new, state-of-the-art stadium would be built on the same location. In 2019, Dinamo Zagreb announced that it will demolish Maksimir and build a new stadium on its own, without the help of the Croatian Government, but needed confirmation from the governing body of Zagreb and its mayor, Milan Bandić. Shortly after, it was announced that Dinamo Zagreb and the City of Zagreb will enter a joint collaboration to build the new stadium. The new stadium was supposed to be built on the ground of the current Maksimir Stadium and have had a capacity of 30,000 spectators. The stadium would have had a garage, shopping centre, hotel and several fan corners. After the 2020 Zagreb earthquake, the talks were, once again, put on hold.
Between 1997 and 2015, a total of HRK 800 million (c. €108 million) has been spent renovating the stadium.