Arena Zagreb

The largest sports arena in Croatia, Arena Zagreb, was built in 2008 for the purpose of holding the 21st World Handball Championship. Due to its beauty, functionality and importance, this grandiose building has become a new architectural symbol of the city of Zagreb.

The project was created in cooperation with the Republic of Croatia, the City of Zagreb and the construction company Ingra. It was realized according to the concept of public-private partnership – a model that is one of the main drivers of urban development and implementation of capital projects in the world, but a new principle of construction in Croatia. The concept has proven to be a very successful model for financing key urban investments. The importance of such a building for Zagreb, the region, but also for the whole of Croatia is almost invaluable, given its capacity, multifunctionality and technical equipment.

Concerts of top world musicians and large sports events that have so far been almost impossible to organize in Croatia, have finally been given more than a suitable space. Proof of this is the calendar of events in the Arena for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, which already includes appointment reservations for numerous concerts as part of the world tours of the most famous musicians.

Construction of the Arena began on July 21, 2007 and lasted a total of 503 days.

The first event organized in the Arena was a friendly match between the handball national teams of Croatia and Russia, on December 27, 2008, in which the Croatian national team won. The Croatian national team was cheered on by 15,200 fans at the Zagreb Arena at the time.

Arena Zagreb was officially opened on January 17, 2009 with a spectacular concert by the famous Croatian rock band Prljavo kazalište, which gathered 22,500 visitors.