LegiaStadium

Legia Warsaw play their matches at the Municipal Stadium of Legia Warsaw named after Marshal J. Piłsudski. The venue is located at 3 Łazienkowska Street. It is a municipal stadium leased by Legia Warszawa S.A. The official opening of the current venue took place in 2010.

The new stadium was opened in 2010 (Legia faced Arsenal in the inaugural match), but Legia had played at the Łazienkowska venue since before the war. The first official match Legia played at the stadium on Łazienkowska 3 was against CF Europa Barcelona on 9 August 1930. The match ended in a 1:1 draw, and the first goal on this venue was scored from a penalty in the 22nd minute by Henryk Martyna. The first league match Legia played on its own stadium was, in turn, against Czarni Lwów (24 August 1930, the first league goal for Legia being scored by Józef Nawrot). In 1933 the Legia stadium was officially given the name Stadion Wojska Polskiego (Polish Army Stadium). During the Second World War and the occupation the stadium came into German hands which — ironically — saved the venue from destruction. The occupiers organised sporting events and football matches there. The stadium felt the effects of the war during the Red Army offensive — after the war ended it required renovation. In the 1960s the Polish Army Stadium became one of the few in Poland to be fitted with floodlights, inaugurated on 5 October 1960 during the Legia — AGF Arhus match in the round of 32 of the European Cup. Over the years the Łazienkowska stadium underwent smaller and larger renovations; benches were replaced with plastic seats. As a result, its capacity also changed. In 1999 the old venue underwent one of its largest renovations — the arches behind the goals were refurbished and fitted with seats. This happened on the occasion of the Poland vs England national team match. In the last years of the old stadium, everyone was impatiently waiting for the construction of an entirely new venue. This was hindered by problems related to the ownership of the land on which the Polish Army Stadium stands. The difficulties were nevertheless overcome, and in the autumn of 2008 the demolition of the old stands began. The last match Legia played at Łazienkowska just before the construction of the new stadium began was against Śląsk Wrocław (14 November 2008). On that day Legia fans bid farewell to the old Żyleta, which on the new stadium was situated not on the eastern stand but on the northern one — behind the goal.

The exceptional architecture of the stadium fitted perfectly into the landscape of central Warsaw. A great design executed with exceptional attention to the smallest detail, and at the same time with remarkable scale, made the stadium on Łazienkowska 3 a venue matching the European ambitions of Legia Warsaw. The history of the Legia stadium, however, is not only the new venue, but above all the one which for 80 years served the players and fans of the most popular club in Poland, while being a witness to their greatest sporting successes — the Stadion Wojska Polskiego named after Józef Piłsudski in Warsaw.