Estadi Olí­mpic Lluís Companys

The Estadi Olí­mpic Lluís Companys (formerly known as the Estadi Olí­mpic de Montjuïc) is a stadium in Barcelona. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 Expo in the city (and Barcelona bid for the 1936 Olympic games, awarded to Berlin), it was rebuilt in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

	Capacity		55,926
	Opened		1927

The stadium is named for the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya Lluís Companys i Jover, and is located on Montjuïc, a large hill to the southwest of the city which overlooks the harbour. Companys was executed at the nearby Montjuïc Castle in 1940 by the franquism because of his ideas of self-determination for Catalonia.

When the Spanish Grand Prix and other races were held at the Montjuïc Formula One racing circuit until 1975, the stadium was used as a paddock for the teams. Due to safety concerns, the 1975 F1 race was nearly boycotted by drivers.

The stadium has a capacity of 55,926, and served as the home of RCD Espanyol since 1998. It also served as the home of the Barcelona Dragons American Football team until 2003. Because the size of the playing surface was slightly shorter than the regulation American Football length, the stadium only had 7-yard end zones, three yards shorter than regulation NFL size.

The stadium hosted the Euro 2008 qualifying match between Andorra and England on the 28th of March 2007.

The Estadi Olimpic will make its final La Liga appearance during the 2008-2009 season, as Espanyol will move to the newly constructed Estadio Cornellá-El Prat.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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RCD Espanyol official website
Real Federación Española de Fútbol
wikipedia entry
Football Ringtones
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