Stadium of Championships

The World Cup in football was held in Sweden in 1958, with the then promising football legend, Pelé, making his international debut in the Ullevi Stadium. Seventeen-year-old Pelé became world champion, together with his Brazilian team, after winning the final against Sweden. At that time, the newly built Ullevi arena received a flying start with the World Cup. This was the beginning of a fantastic chain of events of all different kinds, with football, boxing, speedway racing, ice-skating, athletics, skiing and music, among others, keeping spectators and audiences alike, entertained to the highest standards.

The history of the Ullevi Stadium since 1958 can be divided into four different periods, where each period has its own special identity.


1958 – 1971: Successful period with hordes of spectators

The 1958 FIFA World Cup immediately placed Ullevi Stadium on the world map of arenas. Boxing of the best class came to the arena, when Ingemar Johansson beat Eddie Machen in front of 53,000 spectators. This lead to the World Championship matches against Floyd Pattersson. Athletics made an impressive entrance to the arena on 28th August 1958 when Herb Elliott ran 1500m in a new world record of 3:36.0 in the presence of 35,000 spectators. The first time that “Finnkampen”, the annual athletics match between Sweden and Finland, was held at Ullevi in 1959, it attracted a total of 45,000 spectators over a two day period. Frölunda, the local ice hockey team, won its first Swedish Championships at Ullevi in 1965.


1972 – 1981: Speedway Racing and IFK Göteborg filled the arena

The numbers of spectators during this period slackened off. Ice hockey was shifted indoors and the Göteborg football clubs in the Premier Division of the Swedish football league played in the lower divisions. IFK Göteborg, Swedish Champions in 1969, was the only exception. Apart from IFK Göteborg, the main sport during this period was Speedway Racing and its World Championships finals, which were held at Ullevi four times. The best year was 1974, when Sweden’s Anders Michanek became the world champion in the presence of 38,000 spectators. This was a Swedish spectator record for speedway racing.


1982 – 1991: International football and concert arena

International football found its way to the arena in connection with the two victories of IFK Göteborg in the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987.
Major concert events began with the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. The arena experienced problems with the strains of the Bruce Springsteen concerts and a reinforcement of the foundations had to be carried out as a result. Pink Floyd reopened Ullevi with their concert in 1994 and, since then, there have been world-leading artists performing in the arena every year.
At the end of the 1980s, a much-needed modernisation of Ullevi commenced, including restaurant and conference facilities, combined with a VIP stand for almost 700 people.


1992 – now: Ullevi in modern times

EURO 92 in football and the World Championships in Athletics 1995 began a new era and now we can look back at 10 years of many seasons of extraordinary events. For the 1995 World Championships in Athletics, the standing room was turned into seating areas. The seating capacity was consequently increased by 9000 seats to reach a total of 43,000. This makes Ullevi Stadium the biggest arena in Scandinavia.
“Finnkampen” has attracted large crowds since it returned to Ullevi in 1999. This match will probably be held in Göteborg when it takes place in Sweden. The Swedish spectator record for “Finnkampen” was set in 2004, with 51,500 people in the audience. In 2005, a new winter sport event was introduced at Ullevi, the World Cup in cross country skiing for sprinters.
A new restaurant and VIP Lounge were built in time for the 2006 European Athletics Championships. This means that the arena is even more prepared for all kinds of events.


The future

The future of the arena looks promising and we expect notable occasions to continually present themselves in the form of performances by world renowned artists, high level national and international sporting events, international championships, mainly in football and athletics and, hopefully, scores of many more surprising events.