Tags
- Arena Sports Venue
- Landmark Historical Place
- Arena & Sports Venue
- Landmark & Historical Place
Description
Nikos Goumas was a multi-purpose stadium in Nea Filadelfeia, a northwestern suburb of Athens, Greece. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home stadium of AEK Athens F.C..NameThe stadium was named "AEK's home ground" but was also known as "Nea Filadelfeia Stadium" .In the early 90s it was officially named "Nikos Goumas Stadium" after former club president Nikos Goumas, who contributed to its building and later upgrading.ConstructionWith actions of the first president of the club, Konstantinos Spanoudis, in 1926, a piece of land in Nea Filadelfeia, that was originally set aside for refugee housing, was donated as a training ground for the refugees. AEK Athens F.C. began using the ground as training ground (albeit unofficially) and by 1930 the property was signed over to the club.The stadium was finished in 1929 and was officially opened in 1930 in a ceremony with the presence of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos. The first home game, in November 1930, was an exhibition match against Olympiacos which ended in a 2-2 draw. The stadium had a horseshoe shape (with stands in three of its four sides) and its capacity was 24,729.ExpansionIn 1979 chairman Loukas Barlos started building the double-tiered south stand, the addition of which made it the largest stadium in Athens at the time as its capacity was over 35,000 after the construction of this new stand. This stand, and particularly its lower tier known as "Skepasti" (meaning "roofed"), and became the new home of the AEK ultras who until then resided in the opposite "Gate 21" stand.
