Stadium velodrome Marseille security. Stadium Velodrome

The Velodrome is the home stadium of the Olympique Marseille football club and is one of the twenty most visited stadiums in the world. It was originally intended to host cycling competitions, but today is used exclusively for football matches.

Built for the 1938 World Cup, the Vélodrome stadium opened in 1937 with a friendly game between Olympique Marseille and Italian Torino, in which the French won. During World War II, the stadium served as a warehouse for French military equipment, and was later used by the German and American armies.

Before the 1984 European Championship, bicycle lanes were removed from the stadium, and for the 1998 World Cup its capacity was significantly increased - to sixty thousand seats instead of forty. The stands of the Velodrome were named after famous residents of Marseille - athlete Jean Boin, cyclist Victor Ganet, boxer Ray Grassi and a historical figure, Chevalier Rose, who saved people during the plague epidemic of 1720.

Currently, the stadium is undergoing a grandiose reconstruction in connection with Euro 2016. It is planned to build a canopy over the stands, increase the number of spectator seats by another 10 thousand, modern arrangement of the surrounding area, use of renewable energy sources and a unique system for collecting rainwater.

The Velodrome was built specifically for the 1938 FIFA World Cup. Its official opening took place on June 13, 1937, when a friendly match between the team and Turin was played on its field. It is now the home stadium of the Marseille club Olympique, which moved here from the Ivan Stadium, which became too small for the club.

The Russian national team will play at the 2016 European Football Championship. Tickets for this match can already be booked.

Initially, the Velodrome had running and cycling tracks. Gradually they disappeared due to the increase in the number of stands.

The Velodrome was first renovated in preparation for Euro 1984, during which the stadium hosted the semi-final game between France and Portugal. In 1998, the stadium was almost completely rebuilt for the next World Cup. Its capacity increased to 60,000 seats, but many criticized the stadium because its roof was too small.

European Championships in Marseille

For the upcoming European Championship 2016, the stadium again underwent major reconstruction and renovation, mainly affecting the unsuccessful roof and increasing the capacity (up to 67,000). The transport infrastructure around the site has been improved. The Velodrome will host a number of important matches of the tournament (quarter-finals and semi-finals). Today it is a very beautiful and modern stadium.

How to get there?

The stadium is located in the southern part, 3.5 kilometers from the city center and 1 kilometer from the Saint-Charles central train station at 3 Boulevard Michelet. The stadium can be reached by metro line 2: the Rond-Point du Prado and Sainte Marguerite Dromel stops are located on opposite sides of the stadium.

Stadium Velodrome- home stadium of the Olympique Marseille football club. This is the largest club stadium in France. The Velodrome hosted matches of the FIFA World Cup (1938, 1998) and the European Championship (1960, 1984) over the years. Euro 2016 will be the fifth big tournament for this stadium. The Olympique football club is one of the most titled in France; it has won the national championship 9 times. In 1993, Olympique became the first French club to win the Champions League. Olympic has been playing at the Velodrome stadium since 1937.

The size of the field is 105 by 68 meters (natural surface), the capacity of the stadium after reconstruction for Euro 2016 is 67,394 spectators.

Architecture and history of construction

The stadium was built in the 1930s and officially opened on June 13, 1937, before the 1938 home World Cup. Initially, the stadium was intended for 35,000 spectators and to host cycling competitions, which was reflected in its name (Velodrome). Subsequently, the stadium was reconstructed and expanded several times (1971, 1983, 1998 and 2014); the bicycle paths were finally abandoned in favor of additional seating during the 1983 reconstruction.

Field dimensions Coating

natural

Website Coordinates: 43°16′11″ n. w. 5°23′45″ E. d. / 43.269722° N. w. 5.395833° E. d. / 43.269722; 5.395833(G) (I) K:Stadiums built in 1937

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Excerpt characterizing the Velodrome (Marseille)

Bennigsen from Gorki descended along the high road to the bridge, which the officer from the mound pointed out to Pierre as the center of the position and on the bank of which lay rows of mown grass that smelled of hay. They drove across the bridge to the village of Borodino, from there they turned left and past a huge number of troops and cannons they drove out to a high mound on which the militia was digging. It was a redoubt that did not yet have a name, but later received the name Raevsky redoubt, or barrow battery.
Pierre did not pay much attention to this redoubt. He did not know that this place would be more memorable for him than all the places in the Borodino field. Then they drove through the ravine to Semenovsky, in which the soldiers were taking away the last logs of the huts and barns. Then, downhill and uphill, they drove forward through broken rye, knocked out like hail, along a road newly laid by artillery along the ridges of arable land to the flushes [a type of fortification. (Note by L.N. Tolstoy.) ], also still being dug at that time.
Bennigsen stopped at the flushes and began to look ahead at the Shevardinsky redoubt (which was ours only yesterday), on which several horsemen could be seen. The officers said that Napoleon or Murat was there. And everyone looked greedily at this bunch of horsemen. Pierre also looked there, trying to guess which of these barely visible people was Napoleon. Finally, the riders rode off the mound and disappeared.
Bennigsen turned to the general who approached him and began to explain the entire position of our troops. Pierre listened to Bennigsen's words, straining all his mental strength to understand the essence of the upcoming battle, but he felt with disappointment that his mental abilities were insufficient for this. He didn't understand anything. Bennigsen stopped talking, and noticing the figure of Pierre, who was listening, he suddenly said, turning to him:
– I think you’re not interested?
“Oh, on the contrary, it’s very interesting,” Pierre repeated, not entirely truthfully.
From the flush they drove even further to the left along a road winding through a dense, low birch forest. In the middle of it
forest, a brown hare with white legs jumped out onto the road in front of them and, frightened by the clatter of a large number of horses, he was so confused that he jumped along the road in front of them for a long time, arousing everyone’s attention and laughter, and only when several voices shouted at him, he rushed to the side and disappeared into the thicket. After driving about two miles through the forest, they came to a clearing where the troops of Tuchkov’s corps, which was supposed to protect the left flank, were stationed.
Here, on the extreme left flank, Bennigsen spoke a lot and passionately and made, as it seemed to Pierre, an important military order. There was a hill in front of Tuchkov’s troops. This hill was not occupied by troops. Bennigsen loudly criticized this mistake, saying that it was crazy to leave the height commanding the area unoccupied and place troops under it. Some generals expressed the same opinion. One in particular spoke with military fervor about the fact that they were put here for slaughter. Bennigsen ordered in his name to move the troops to the heights.
This order on the left flank made Pierre even more doubtful of his ability to understand military affairs. Listening to Bennigsen and the generals condemning the position of the troops under the mountain, Pierre fully understood them and shared their opinion; but precisely because of this, he could not understand how the one who placed them here under the mountain could make such an obvious and gross mistake.
Pierre did not know that these troops were not placed to defend the position, as Bennigsen thought, but were placed in a hidden place for an ambush, that is, in order to be unnoticed and suddenly attack the advancing enemy. Bennigsen did not know this and moved the troops forward for special reasons without telling the commander-in-chief about it.

On this clear August evening on the 25th, Prince Andrei lay leaning on his arm in a broken barn in the village of Knyazkova, on the edge of his regiment’s location. Through the hole in the broken wall, he looked at a strip of thirty-year-old birch trees with their lower branches cut off running along the fence, at an arable land with stacks of oats broken on it, and at bushes through which the smoke of fires—soldiers’ kitchens—could be seen.
No matter how cramped and no one needed and no matter how difficult his life now seemed to Prince Andrei, he, just like seven years ago at Austerlitz on the eve of the battle, felt agitated and irritated.
Orders for tomorrow's battle were given and received by him. There was nothing else he could do. But the simplest, clearest thoughts and therefore terrible thoughts did not leave him alone. He knew that tomorrow's battle was going to be the most terrible of all those in which he participated, and the possibility of death for the first time in his life, without any regard to everyday life, without consideration of how it would affect others, but only according to in relation to himself, to his soul, with vividness, almost with certainty, simply and horribly, it presented itself to him. And from the height of this idea, everything that had previously tormented and occupied him was suddenly illuminated by a cold white light, without shadows, without perspective, without distinction of outlines. His whole life seemed to him like a magic lantern, into which he looked for a long time through glass and under artificial lighting. Now he suddenly saw, without glass, in bright daylight, these poorly painted pictures. “Yes, yes, these are the false images that worried and delighted and tormented me,” he said to himself, turning over in his imagination the main pictures of his magic lantern of life, now looking at them in this cold white light of day - a clear thought of death. “Here they are, these crudely painted figures that seemed to be something beautiful and mysterious. Glory, public good, love for a woman, the fatherland itself - how great these pictures seemed to me, what deep meaning they seemed filled with! And all this is so simple, pale and rough in the cold white light of that morning, which I feel is rising for me. Three major sorrows of his life in particular occupied his attention. His love for a woman, the death of his father and the French invasion that captured half of Russia. “Love!.. This girl, who seemed to me full of mysterious powers. How I loved her! I made poetic plans about love, about happiness with it. Oh dear boy! – he said out loud angrily. - Of course! I believed in some kind of ideal love, which was supposed to remain faithful to me during the whole year of my absence! Like the tender dove of a fable, she was to wither away from me. And all this is much simpler... All this is terribly simple, disgusting!
My father also built in Bald Mountains and thought that this was his place, his land, his air, his men; but Napoleon came and, not knowing about his existence, pushed him off the road like a piece of wood, and his Bald Mountains and his whole life fell apart. And Princess Marya says that this is a test sent from above. What is the purpose of the test when it no longer exists and will not exist? will never happen again! He's gone! So who is this test for? Fatherland, death of Moscow! And tomorrow he will kill me - and not even a Frenchman, but one of his own, just as yesterday a soldier emptied a gun near my ear, and the French will come, take me by the legs and head and throw me into a hole so that I don’t stink under their noses, and new conditions will arise lives that will also be familiar to others, and I will not know about them, and I will not exist.”

Vélodrome Stadium in Marseille

One of the most popular sports venues in France is the Vélodrome, home of Olympique Marseille. The arena hosted events such as the World Championships in 1938 and 1998, the European Championships in 1960 and 1984. The Velodrome is a gigantic stadium and can accommodate 67,394 people.

Now this stadium is used only for football matches. Previously, the Velodrome hosted rugby competitions, as well as various music concerts. Initially, the stadium was conceived as an arena for cycling competitions, hence its name. But in the mid-80s, the bike paths were replaced with stands.

Construction of the stadium began in 1933. However, it soon became clear that construction required huge financial investments, so construction was suspended. The impetus for the resumption of construction was the opportunity to host the 1938 FIFA World Cup games at the Velodrome. And in April 1935, work on the construction of the arena began to boil again; after 26 months, the beautiful Velodrome was ready to welcome spectators.

On June 13, 1937, the arena opened. The opening ceremony was watched by 30 thousand people. They witnessed bicycle races and track and field races. The opening ended with a match between Olympic and Torino. The match ended with a score of 2:1, the owners of the new stadium won.

In 1938, the Velodrome hosted two world championship matches, including a thrilling semi-final between Italy and Brazil.

The hosting of sporting events ended during the Second World War. The stadium began to be used to park French military equipment. But even the war did not become an obstacle to holding football matches in the arena. One of the most significant was the match in 1942 between France (Vichy club) and Switzerland (national team). This match was attended by 39,000 spectators, and it ended in a loss for the French.

In 1984, during the European Football Championship, the Velodrome hosted several matches. Especially for this event, the stadium was renovated and a new surface was laid on the field. Capacity increased to 40,000 due to the removal of bike lanes. But during the legendary semi-final between France and Portugal, the arena was able to host 58,848 people who were able to watch Michel Platini put the decisive ball into the net in the 119th minute.

In 1998, on the eve of the World Cup, the arena was again faced with changes. Part of the stands was redone, the number of seats was increased to 60,000 people.

At the European Championships in 2016, the arena hosted 7 matches: 4 in the group stage - fights between England and Russia, France and Albania, Ukraine and Poland, Iceland and Hungary. In addition, the Velodrome will host the 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2 final matches. The 2016 match calendar can be viewed here.

Now local residents often criticize their famous arena. They are dissatisfied with the fact that there is no canopy over the stands, very poor acoustics and many other shortcomings. Plans for reconstruction of the arena appear periodically, but none of them have been implemented yet. The last proposal was put forward in 2005. It was planned to build a roof and expand the capacity of the Velodrome to 80,000 people.

Stade Velodrome: Vœux 2016, video