Belgrade Arena - History

History

In 1989, The City of Belgrade was chosen to host the Basketball World Championship of 1994. However, there was a condition for the city to build an all-new basketball arena. The city government immediately started a competition to find the best design of the new arena that was supposed to have a seat capacity of 20,000. The design submitted by Belgrade architect Vlada Slavica was chosen as the best. In 1991 a location for the project was chosen – Blok 25 in New Belgrade. However the project was already becoming problematic. There were only 3 years left to the World Championships and building this mega structure would have to be done in record time. A team of 126 companies was formed to be part of the arena committee. Two architects were chosen to design the arena's roof. In 1992 construction started as the arena committee formed a partnership with American company HOK that has had lot of experience with building sporting objects. However, tough times were ahead. As the disintegration of Yugoslavia started, the United Nations imposed sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and HOK stopped all co-operation with the arena committee. Even with this setback, work on the Belgrade Arena continued.

In 1993, Belgrade suffered one of its worst economic years in modern history. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia experienced record inflation rates, and as a result of the sanctions and the conflicts in Yugoslavia, Belgrade lost the right to host the 1994 Basketball World Championships. Following the formal announcement by FIBA, the arena's construction still continued for some time, though at a considerably slower pace due to the lack of material. However, sometime in 1995 the construction completely stopped. Work on the arena re-commenced in 1998 as the city was chosen to host the 1999 World Table Tennis Championships to be held in the Belgrade Arena. By this time the roof was already taking shape towards completion, part of the façade was done and the interior was half complete. Once again, Yugoslavia lost the privilege to host the competition as the city was bombed by NATO forces the year the competition was supposed to be held. The first public event held in the Arena (which was still under construction at the time) was the final Slobodan Milošević (president of Yugoslavia at the time) 2000 presidential election campaign rally, which was held September 20, 2000. This was the last time Milošević has held a public speech.

After a change of government in Yugoslavia in 2000 and the lifting of all sanctions imposed on the country, the Arena, under new management, was completed in 2004 in time for the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament and Belgrade finally got the right to host The 2005 European Basketball Championship. Temporary licenses for public use expired in early 2006, following a series of sport events and concerts in 2005. Works on an automated fire prevention system and installation of elevators to meet European standards were completed by November 2006, while no events were held in the Arena in the meantime. The Belgrade Arena received its permanent public use license on November 4, 2006 and re-opened its doors as a result. In February 2007, Serbian basketball coach Božidar Maljković started an initiative to name the Arena after another renowned Serbian basketball coach, Aleksandar Nikolić. Maljković presented his initiative to the city officials and the president of Serbia Boris Tadić, but the name change hasn't been accepted.

The Belgrade Arena was given the honour to be the venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in May 2008. The Arena was host to the 2 semi-finals and the final as well as dress and performance rehearsals. As a result a new multimedia room with latest technology was opened in February 2008 in order to accommodate the technical team that would be in charge of the Eurovision broadcast.

Belgrade Arena is a member of the European Arenas Association (EAA).