Stadion Lokomotiv, nicknamed Lauta after the name of the park in which the stadium is situated, is a multi-purpose stadium located in southeastern Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It is currently used for football matches and is the home ground of PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv. The stadium was officially opened in 1982 and is a part of a sports complex, which includes an indoor sports hall and a tennis court. The stadium initially held a capacity of 24,000 people, but in 2004 when the team became champions of Bulgaria, after the end of the season part of the stands collapsed, and the capacity was reduced to 11,800 people. The record attendance on this stadium was back in 1983 when Lokomotiv played against Chernomorets Burgas in a playoff game for entering the Country's top tier league. There were 33,000 people attending this game and at least 6,000 of those were actually outside of the stadium. In 2013, electric floodlights were introduced to the stadium. In 2019, the stadium was renovated again in order to comply with UEFA Category 3 and be able to host European competitions games up to the play off round. Bessica stand received 660 brand new plastic seats and the West Stand called Sportclub got 1460 extra seats added to its corner sector. Also the stadium conference hall got renovated and made bigger to be able to accommodate more journalists and personnel. Some areas around the stadium got cleaned up and turned into car parking's in order to comply with the UEFA requirements for available parking spots. After the renovation the stadium capacity become 9,220 people for European competition games and the total stadium capacity 13,220 people. Shortly after the renovation works were complete, Lokomotiv Plovdiv played their first European game on this stadium in their history against the Slovak team Spartak Trnava. The game on 25/07/19 was won by Lokomotiv Plovdiv with 2:0 in front of nearly 10,000 spectators. This date also matched with Lokomotiv's 93rd birthday and the win was a great gift for the thousands of people attending the game.
Location
Lokomotiv stadium is located in Trakia district, on the south-eastern periphery of the large urban center of Plovdiv. Near the stadium is Lauta Park, one of the largest green areas in Plovdiv.
