Sammy_Ofer_Stadium
Sammy Ofer Stadium
Football stadium in Haifa, Israel
Sammy Ofer Stadium (Hebrew: אצטדיון סמי עופר), also known as Haifa Municipal Stadium (האצטדיון העירוני חיפה), is a 30,942 seats multi-purpose stadium in Haifa, Israel.[2] Construction began in late 2009 and was completed in 2014. The stadium was developed and built by the Haifa Economic Corporation, managed by Adv. Gal Peleg.
Currently, the stadium is used mostly for football matches, hosting the home games of Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa. The stadium replaced Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, which was closed in 2014 and demolished in 2015. The stadium is named after the late Israeli billionaire Sammy Ofer (1922–2011), who donated $20,000,000 to build the stadium. Ofer's contribution was 19% of the total cost of the stadium. The stadium also serves the Israel national football team for some select home matches.
Statue of World Peace, a 15-meter high stainless steel sculpture created and donated by Chinese artist We Yuan Yan (Yao Yuan), adorns the stadium plaza.[3][4] The design features a woman and a dove poised as if about to take flight.