It’s time to place your vote for Budapest’s newly opened national Puskás Aréna to win a major international award for Best Sports Stadium of 2019! The ballot has been run by renowned experts, Stadium Database, since 2011. This year, their panel has nominated 21 candidates for the public vote, including new stadiums from Albania to Indonesia. Voting closes at midnight on Sunday, 15 March.
Every year, the dedicated team at Stadium Database runs an annual vote to find the best new sports arena to open over the course of the year. Two competitions are set up, one for the public, another adjudicated by a panel of architects. In 2018, the new stadium in Volgograd was chosen by sports fans across 111 countries, while the DVTK stadium in Miskolc, Hungary, was selected by the jury.
“We began the Stadium of the Year in 2011,” explains Michal Karaš of Stadium DB, “in response to demand from our users. It began to grow and is now the largest competition of its kind. Because it's not a commercial project, the award doesn't come with financial gratification, just recognition in the media and among the public. We remain faithful to the idea from 2011, that is we set minimal requirements ourselves and let the public and jurors decide”.
For 2019, the public can vote for their five favourite stadia of the 21 nominated, with five points given to the best, four to the second-best, and so on.
The last of the 21 to open during 2019, the Puskás Aréna stands on the site of the legendary Népstadion opened in 1953. Now named after the most famous Hungarian player of that era, Ferenc Puskás, the new arena is a complete rebuild holding 67,000 spectators. Unveiled in November 2019, it is due to host four matches for this summer’s Euro 2020 football tournament and, as recently announced, the Europa League final of 2022.
Vote for the Stadium of the Year 2019 here.
