History

Baku Olympic Stadium is a 68,700-seat stadium, designed and constructed to meet the international standards for stadiums set by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and European Safety and Stadiums Management Association (ESSMA).

Baku Olympic Stadium was elected 7th Best Stadium in the world (by STadiumDB) and is UEFA Elite Stadia since 2019.

In 2008 started preliminary work on the design of the stadium. A contest was announced, during which many proposals were considered by local and foreign companies. From the standpoint of economic efficiency, modernity, the case of functional features, matching the city's architecture, as well as the technical specifications set by the organizers have approved the concept of the project. On the basis of this concept have been carried out design work.

Preparation of the territoryof the stadium, the construction was carried out by construction company of SOCAR. These preliminary measures included landscaping, work on plugging underground piles to ensure the reliability of the foundation of the stadium and also developing the conditions of the forthcoming international tender for the provision of full-scale construction services

In June 6, 2011 during celebration of the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijani football was held a ceremony of laying the foundation of the Baku Olympic Stadium. The ceremony was attended by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva, Joseph Blatter and Michel Platini, prominent members of the global football community, heads of various federations, football veterans and other guests.

Ilham Aliyev put a symbolic metal capsule inside the ball. The son of the president, Heydar Aliyev, scoring a goal in a symbolic gate, dropped it into the foundation. Later, President Ilham Aliyev, Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini switched on the installation of concrete pouring and signed on a soccer ball, which will be stored in the memory of the ceremony.

The venue will host games for the Azerbaijan national football team as well as concerts. Baku Olympic Stadium fulfils FIFA's and UEFA's highest technical recommendations andelite stadium obligations for football stadiums and is automatically qualified to arrange tournaments and qualification games in European Football Championships. The stadium hosted athletics, ceremonies during 1st European Games in 2015, UEFA U-17 European Championship in 2016, IV Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017, UCL and UEL group stage matches of "Qarabagh" FC, UEFA European Qualifiers and Nations League matches for “A” National Football Team, in 2019 BOS hosted European League Final and will be the home venue for Quarter-finals and Group stage during UEFA EURO-2020.