Boris Paichadze Stadium

Boris Paichadze Stadium

The Dinamo Arena, formerly known as the Boris Paichadze National Stadium, is a stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia and the home stadium of Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgia national rugby union team and Georgia national football team. With the capacity of 54,549, the stadium is the largest in Georgia and of the largest in Asia. Built in 1976 by the Georgian architect Gia Kurdiani, the Dinamo Arena was called the Boris Paichadze National Stadium, after the famous football player of the same name. Before then, the home stadium of Dinamo Tbilisi was a small ground with an approximate capacity of 35,000. The demand for a new, bigger stadium was increased because of the successful performance of Dinamo Tbilisi in the middle 1970s. When the new stadium was built, it was the fifth-largest in the Soviet Union, with a capacity of 74,354 spectators.

On 29 September 1976, the first official match was played at the newly-built stadium between Dinamo Tbilisi and Welsh Cardiff City. The game ended 3–0.

The stadium hosted many glorious days during Dinamo's 1978 and 1979 triumphs. Holding lighted torches, 80,000 fans came in 1981 just to congratulate the 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup winning team Dinamo Tbilisi.

The Dinamo Arena is now one of the largest stadiums in Eastern Europe. Most of the seats in the second tier are covered by the roof. The USSR national football team played several international matches on the Dinamo Arena. Football clubs Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Kiev often played their autumn international matches at the stadium.

100,000 fans attended on the opening game of the First Georgian Championship, match between FC Dinamo Tbilisi and FC Kolkheti-1913 Poti. The record attendance was in 1979, when 110,000 gathered to help Dinamo beat Liverpool FC 3:0 to go through to the European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter final. In the Soviet Union, the stadium had the record for the highest average attendance at 90,000.

In 1995, the stadium was renamed to Boris Paichadze National Stadium, after the former Georgian football player. The National Stadium has been the home ground of the Georgian National Football Team for several years. Georgia achieved memorable wins against Wales (5-0), and Poland (3-0).

The stadium was most recently refurbished in 2006 when it became an all-seater stadium. This reduced the capacity to 54,549.