Borås Arena

Players warming up in the Borås Arena opening game against Örgryte IS.

Borås Arena is a football stadium in Borås, Sweden, and it is the home ground of IF Elfsborg and Norrby IF. Borås Arena has an artificial turf pitch, and was changed to the most modern synthetic turf on the market during the UEFA Euro 2012[4] at a cost of £500,000. The capacity of the arena is 14,500–17,800 depending on usage, 14,800 is mostly the capacity during international matches, because Uefa would not approve the installation of seats on the standing because of fire risk which means a lower capacity is needed to be approved by Uefa. Borås Arena is located next to Elfsborg's old home ground Ryavallen, both of the stadiums are built together at the roofs, which means that the new stadium is still attached to the old historical Ryavallen.[5]

The first construction started on 31 December 2003 and was inaugurated April 17, 2005 at a cost of 1,120 000 £. Which was very cheap at this time considering to be Sweden's most modern stadium at that time. It was an effort by Borås Municipality that went out as a lender to Elfsborg. A necessary investment for the club and the city, Elfsborg would own their own stadium by the company Borås Arena AB and would receive all revenues without any intermediaries from matches. Borås Arena didn't only open a new era for IF Elfsborg but also for other clubs in Allsvenskan, Elfsborg was the first club to build a new arena owned by their own investment company. Many other clubs have built new arenas copying the model Elfsborg set up, trying to own their arena which gives big economic resources. Borås Arena consists of four main grandstands; Knallelandsläktaren, Ålgårdsläktaren, Sjuhäradsläktaren and Elfsborgsläktaren.[6]

Borås Arena seen from above where it is connected with old Ryavallen.

The first game at Borås Arena was between IF Elfsborg vs Örgryte IS on 17 April 2005 in the top Swedish league, Allsvenskan. The game ended in a 1–0 victory for Elfsborg, Daniel Mobaeck scoring the only and first goal in history on Borås Arena. The current record attendance is 17,070 and was set 4 July 2005 in a game between IF Elfsborg and Kalmar FF which marked the return of both Anders Svensson and Mathias Svensson. Anders Svensson also became the first on Borås Arena to score a hat-trick in the derby against rivals IFK Göteborg, Elfsborg won with Anders 3 goals, 3–1. The highest attendance on an international tournament was during the Champions League play-off against Valencia CF where 13,148 spectators came to see Elfsborg deal with the Spaniards. Elfsborg lost with 2–1, after a goal by Daniel Alexandersson.[7]

The stadium was originally scheduled to be a tournament site for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, but a sponsorship conflict with Max fast food chain's location at the stadium and official UEFA sponsor McDonald's, plus a contractual requirement for official sponsors to have a monopoly over the stadium's area, and a refusal to close the restaurant led to it losing its status as a site for the tournament. A strange conflict that led to Elfsborg and Borås Arena lost the championship as an arranger.[8]

2006[9] was the highlight in Borås Arenas young history. The year when Elfsborg received dividends on their great effort by salvaging the club's 5th SM-Gold. An explicit goal from the club was to win SM-Gold by 2007 and this was accomplished a year in advance, 5 November 2006. The association was strengthened at all levels for a couple of years, not least organizationally and financially, with new sports director "Mr. Elfsborg" Stefan Andreasson, President-elect Bosse "Bank" Johansson and two billionaires as external funders. The new highly skilled (and young) manager couple Magnus Haglund and Peter Wettergren, who was employed before the 2004 season, was also of course in the club's big bet. The following year (2005) was also Elfsborg Fortress, Borås Arena, completed while enlisted old heroes in the form of Anders and Mathias Svensson came back. Memorable matches this season on Borås Arena was at home the victory against Malmö FF (4-2), which many described as the best in the season and where Anders Svensson made the team's single best effort during the season. Another memorable match was the last and crucial one. Gold match at a packed Borås Arena against Djurgårdens IF where Joakim Sjöhage became gold shooter with the only goal which meant that over 40 years of waiting was over for Elfsborg's fans.[10][11]

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  Borås Arena
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  Ålgårdsläktaren, Long side
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  Ålgårdsläktaren, Long side
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  Elfsborgsläktaren seen from Ålgårdsläktaren
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  Max restaurant on Borås Arena
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  Sjuhäradsläktaren, Long side
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  Sjuhäradsläktaren, Longside and Knallelandsläktaren, Short side
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  Borås Arena seen from above