Kalevi Keskstaadion


Kalevi Keskstaadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Tallinn, Estonia. Opened in 1955 and having a capacity of 12,000, it is the traditional venue of the Estonian Dance Festival and the former home ground of JK Tallinna Kalev. The address of the stadium is Staadioni 8, 10132 Tallinn.
Since 1955, all of the Estonian Dance Festivals have been held there.

History

20th century

The stadium was built during the Soviet occupation of Estonia and was opened on 12 July 1955. It was the first new large-scale sports complex built in Tallinn after World War II. The initial plans were grandiose: the first blueprints saw the stadium have a 30,000-capacity seating area and a 16,000-capacity standing area, as well as a  statue depicting Estonian folklore hero Kalevipoeg. However, the project was later scaled down and saw the stadium have a capacity of 12,000.
The record attendance of 21,100 was set in a friendly match between Tallinna Dünamo and Swedish third tier club Stockholm IK Sture in 1956. It was the first time since the country's occupation when an Estonian football club was able to face a foreign opponent coming outside of the Soviet Union.In 1960, Tallinna Kalev joined the Soviet Top League and in the following two years, the stadium hosted numerous high-profile football matches. The match against Dynamo Moscow on 5 August 1960 brought around 20,000 people onto the stands and among the players playing was Dynamo's Lev Yashin, who along with a number of his teammates had been crowned European champions less than a month before and who won the Ballon d'Or three years after said match, while being widely regarded as the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the sport.

21st century

The 2000s saw the stadium's condition worsen to the point that in 2007, the Estonian FA declared the grass pitch unusable for top-flight football. In 2015, it was announced that Kalevi Keskstaadion will undergo a major renovation and the concept design also included a possibility to increase the capacity to 30,000 in the distant future. The renovation works began after the 2019 Estonian Dance Festival and the stadium was re-opened in 2022. Despite that, Tallinna Kalev has not returned to the stadium due to a dispute with the owner of the stadium complex, the Estonian Sports Association Kalev, which evolved into a court case.

Artificial turf stadium

The sports complex of the Kalevi Keskstaadion also has an artificial turf ground named Kalevi kunstmurustaadion. Located at the southwest corner of the main stadium, the field is home to Kalev's youth teams. It also served as the home to Kalev's first team from 2017 until 2019 and in 2021.