The National Stadium: a garden for 52,000

About The National Stadium: a garden for 52,000

By the ULTIMATE Belgrade Editorial Team

Serbia is building its first true national stadium: a circular ‘garden stadium’ for more than 52,000 fans, wrapped in planted terraces, at the heart of the EXPO 2027 site in Surčin, and already chosen to host the 2029 UEFA Europa League final.

The back story

For a football-mad country, Serbia has never had a national stadium of its own. Its great matches have always been played at the grounds of Belgrade’s two rival clubs: Partizan’s stadium, opened in 1951, and Red Star’s Rajko Mitić Stadium, the famous Marakana, opened in 1963 and named after the Maracanã in Rio.

The Marakana has seen some glorious nights. It hosted the European Cup final of 1973, when Ajax beat Juventus, and the final of the 1976 European Championship, when Antonín Panenka of Czechoslovakia chipped the winning penalty past West Germany’s goalkeeper so gently that the shot still bears his name. But like most stadiums of its era it was built with a running track around the pitch, which keeps the fans far from the action, and by the 2000s it was showing its age.

For the first time, Serbia will have a stadium built for its national team rather than borrowed from its great rival clubs.

A stadium for Serbia

As Warsaw, Bucharest and Budapest built new national stadiums, the idea of one for Serbia kept returning: talk of a joint bid for Euro 2020, plans to rebuild a club ground instead, and finally, in 2015, a government commitment to build a national stadium. In 2018 a site was chosen in Surčin, on the open plain west of New Belgrade near the airport, and when Belgrade won the right to host EXPO 2027 in 2023, the stadium became the centrepiece of the new Expo district.

A garden stadium

The design, by Fenwick Iribarren Architects of Madrid, who also designed stadiums for the Qatar World Cup, is a perfect circle about 292 metres across and 54 metres high. Two tiers of steep stands bring the 52,000 spectators close to the pitch, under a white membrane roof, while the outside is wrapped in an open steel facade with three terraces planted with shrubs and trees, which is why it has been called a ‘garden stadium’. Wood is used alongside the steel, and the planting is meant to make the building part of the parkland around it.

Construction by PowerChina began on 1 May 2024. The soft ground of the Sava plain has proved a challenge: some 2,300 piles are being driven to stabilise the foundations, and the work will pause during the Expo itself in the summer of 2027. The stadium is now expected to be completed in early 2028.

The big nights to come

In September 2026 UEFA chose the new stadium to host the 2029 Europa League final, on 23 May 2029, bringing one of Europe’s great football occasions to Belgrade. The stadium will be the home of the Serbian national team, and is planned for cup finals, big club matches and concerts too.

Getting there

The stadium stands at the heart of the EXPO 2027 site in Surčin, about 13 kilometres from the city centre. The new railway from Zemun, with a station for the National Stadium and the Expo, is due to open in 2027 and will link it to the airport, New Belgrade and the city. Until it is finished, the place to feel Belgrade’s football passion is still the Marakana or Partizan’s stadium on a derby night.

The stadium at a glance

From the EXPO 2027 organisers, the architects, UEFA and contemporary reports, October 2026. Dates may still change.

Listings, fees and opening hours change, so please contact The National Stadium: a garden for 52,000 directly before you visit.