Football in The Faroe Islands - Stadiums and Football Grounds

Stadiums and Football Grounds

Most of the pitches in the Faroe Islands are covered with artificial grass, as the weather conditions aren't good for natural grass pitches. The two national stadiums used for international matches, Svangaskarð (cap. 5,000) situated at the village of Toftir, and since 1999 the new Tórsvøllur Stadium in Tórshavn (cap. 6.000), are two main natural grass pitches. Royn Hvalba, a club in one of the lower divisions, play their matches on real grass. B68 Toftir is the only other club to play on a grass pitch, as they play at the Svangaskarð. But all other league clubs play their home matches on artificial pitches.

The Gundadalur (cap. 5,000) was built in 1911 as a grass pitch, but it was soon changed to a sand pitch like all other pitches in those days. The introduction of artificial grass is regarded as one of the greatest benefits to football in this country. In the summer of 1998 the old surface was replaced with a new one. Gundadalur Stadium is owned by the Tórshavn City Council.

During the 1980s almost all pitches on the islands were covered with artificial grass, and now more than ever the pitches are the public playground (outside training and match hours) for the kids in particular. Many of the grounds aren't real stadiums, as several of them have no seats for the supporters, you have to stand up under no cover, often in harsh weather conditions and watch the matches, which usually attract approx. 300 to 1,000 people in the top division. The first official competitive match against Austria was played in Sweden, because there was no suitable grass pitches in the Faroe Islands at that time. Most teams played on artificial pitches, but a few still played on sand pitches.

All Faroese UEFA and FIFA matches are being played at these two stadiums. But since 2009 all international matches could in principle be played at Gundadalur Stadium, as UEFA and FIFA have now approved of the artificial grass in this stadium.

In general each football club/town in the Faroes has only one single pitch for both training and matches. This is most often a matter of physical circumstances (e.g. no space) and also very much a question of money. Most pitches today are owned by the town council and not by the clubs themselves. For most of the small clubs/towns one pitch is indeed enough, as the population in general is very small 400 to 2,000 people.

HB and B36, the two big clubs from Tórshavn (18,000 people) have only two artificial grass pitches in Gundadalur Stadium area, and both clubs have about 30 teams training and competing every year, so they have rather bad training conditions compared to other clubs, which can pick their training hours much more freely. The pitches in Tórshavn are owned by the city council and the clubs use it at no cost. In 1999 a new stadium with natural grass for international matches only - clubs and country - was built in Tórshavn (cap. 6,000 seats) owned by a private consortium.

Gundadalur training ground, Tórshavn. The other artificial pitch in Tórshavn. It is used for training by 3 of city's clubs: HB, B36 and FC Hoyvik. It is also used for matches in the lower divisions. The pitch is situated just behind the Tórsvøllur Stadium and next to the Gundadalur Stadium.