Champions League Final Stadium Guide: Stadio Olimpico

The 2009 Cham­pi­ons League Final will be the 54th final of the tour­na­ment and the 17th under the cur­rent for­mat. The final will be played at the Sta­dio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. The sta­dium is located in the North of Rome along the river Tiber in the Foro Ital­ico, about 4 miles from the city cen­tre. It has a seat­ing capac­ity of 82,000 and is one of the largest sta­di­ums in Europe. It is the host sta­dium for two Serie A clubs in Roma and Lazio, along with the Ital­ian National side.

His­tory

The sta­dium, designed by archi­tect Anni­bale Vitel­lozzi, sits between the Tiber river and the Monte Mario hill. It was built in 1952 as a venue for the 1960 Sum­mer Olympics. In the outer grounds are var­i­ous mosaics depict­ing dif­fer­ent Olympic sports and sim­i­lar stat­ues in the gar­dens next to the sta­dium. Sta­dio Olimpico also hosted the 1987 World Ath­let­ics Cham­pi­onships. As a venue for the 1990 World Cup, the sta­dium under­went a good deal of recon­struc­tion. A roof was added and the stands rebuilt closer to the play­ing sur­face, though retain­ing the “bowl” shape of the sta­dium. 2009 will be the fourth time the final has been played at the sta­dium, fol­low­ing Liverpool‘s wins over Borus­sia Monchenglad­bach in 1977 and AS Roma in 1984, along with Juven­tus‘ win over Ajax in 1996.

Accom­mo­da­tion near Sta­dio Olimpico

Hotels

Rome has hotels in abun­dance, but given that the Sta­dio Olimpico is an hour and a half walk from the city cen­tre, it seems sen­si­ble for those just wish­ing to attend the Cham­pi­ons League final to stay as close as pos­si­ble. For those wish­ing to make the trip a bit more of a hol­i­day, buses 32 and 280 and tram 225 from the cen­tre of Rome serve the sta­dium. Some appro­pri­ate hotel choices close to Sta­dio Olimpico include:

Hotel Astrid, Largo Anto­nio Sarti 4, Rome. This hotel is located within easy walk­ing dis­tance of the sta­dium and offers garage parking.

Hotel Far­nesina, Via della Far­nesina 23, Rome. Also close to the sta­dium, offer­ing full buf­fet break­fast and free Inter­net use.

Hos­tels

Rome‘s many hos­tels, mostly located near the Ter­mini train sta­tion, are a cheap and cheer­ful alter­na­tive to hotel accom­mo­da­tion, cost­ing sub­stan­tially less than a Man­ches­ter United hotel. One appro­pri­ate hos­tel is the Happy Days Hos­tel, Via Tri­on­fale 146, Rome. This is close to the sta­dium and a mere 10-minute walk from Vat­i­can City, but has an age restric­tion of 18–35.

Apart­ments

Var­i­ous self-catering apart­ments are also avail­able for rent near Sta­dio Olimpico, with prices falling in the range between hos­tels and hotels.

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