Nicosia Atatürk Stadium

About

Lefkosa Atatürk Stadium (Turkish: Lefkoşa Atatürk Stadı) is a multi-purpose stadium in North Nicosia, Northern Cyprus. It is the largest stadium in Northern Cyprus. It is currently used mostly for football matches and hosted some matches for the 2006 ELF Cup.

It also serves as the home of Çetinkaya and Yenicami of the KTFF Süper Lig and Gençlik Gücü of the KTFF Birinci Lig. The stadium holds 15,000 people, and has a tartan track that is used for athletics competitions and for walking by the locals. The stadium also hosts celebrations on national holidays, and dance shows, attended by thousands.

The plans to build a stadium with a capacity of 20,000 in northern Nicosia were announced on 20 November 1975, when a sign was placed on the fields that would be the site of the stadium. The stadium was opened on 28 January 1990, with a match between Fenerbahçe and Sarıyer, which was won 1-0 by Sarıyer. The inauguration was attended by 25,000 people, a record for Northern Cyprus, as well as Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu, Minister of Sports Günay Caymaz, and Turkish ministers Mehmet Yazar and İsmet Özarslan.

Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor were also invited. The stadium was later used by...