Pancho Arena, home to Hungarian first division side Puskás Academy FC, has been named the world’s best luxury football stadium by sport portal footballstopten.com.
The unique football arena, located in Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s hometown, was named after Hungary’s football legend Ferenc Puskás (1927-2006) who was nicknamed “Pancho” at Real Madrid. The stadium, which has a capacity of 3500, was designed by acknowledged Hungarian architect Imre Makovetz (1935-2011) who is known as one of the most prominent proponents of organic architecture.
The stadium was opened in the village of Felcsút in 2014, surrounded in political controversy. However, “the wooden interior and lighting make for a truly beautiful place to play football”, says footballstopten.com, which ranked Pancho higher than world-famous facilities such as the Maracana of Rio de Janeiro or Bayern München’s Allianz Arena.
Top 5 luxury football stadium:
1. Pancho Arena, Felcsút, Hungary
2. Estadio Municipal de Braga, Braga
3. National Stadium, Kaohsiung
4. Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro
5. Mmabatho Stadium, Mafikeng
via footballstopten.com and nemzetisport.hu