Key facts
Club: none | Opening: 1953 | Closing: 2016 | Final capacity: 38,652 seats
History and description
Puskás Ferenc Stadion, previously known as Népstadion, was built to provide Hungary with a larger national stadium to replace the Üllői úti Stadion.
Plans initially involved a 70,000-stadium, but this was later expanded to 100,000 places. Construction got approved in 1948, and works finished five years later.
Népstadion officially opened on 20 August 1953 with a large event and a match between Honvéd and Spartak Moscow (3-2).
Two years later, the stadium recorded its largest attendance when 104,000 people attended an international between Hungary and Austria.
Few changes were made to the stadium until it got converted into an all-seater in the 1990s. Capacity got further reduced due to safety measures.
The stadium got renamed in 2002 in honour of legendary Hungarian football player Ferenc Púskas.
In the mid 2000s, plans were made to rebuild Puskas Ferenc Stadion as part of Hungary’s bid to host the Euro 2012 Championships. While the bid failed, the Hungarian government kept working on plans to build a new modern stadium, which became concrete in 2014 when Budapest was selected as one of the host cities of the Euro 2020 Championships.
Demolition of the stadium started in 2016, and the new Puskas Arena opened in 2019.
Photos of Puskas Ferenc Stadion
1 comment
We travel quite a lot and have been to many countries’ concert halls and stadiums and coming for Depeche Mode on 21.05. was a long-waited event, but this one in Budapest was a SHAME. Old, with peeling plaster,scattered garbage everywhere spoiled our mood at once. In addition, to the long lines to the toilets and them being filthy, I saw two HUGGING dead rats, tha almost stumbled over on the stairs. The seats that we paid for were very dirty. We tried to clean them but uselessly (along with other unlucky spectators). But the worst thing was that everybody smoked. Whilst the whole world has accepted the non-smoking policy in public places, Hungary “knows better”. Shame on you, people, in charge of the stadium!!!!!!!!!Is it that hard to hire cleaning staff before such big an event!? I wish DM’s tour organisers knew better about the facilities they chose for their concerts.