Champions League final 2023 venue: where is the Atatürk Olympic Stadium and what is its capacity?

Located in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul, the Atatürk is Turkey’s biggest stadium boasting a capacity of 74,753 spectators and will host the 2023 UEFA Champions League final as Inter face Manchester City.

The Turkish city was supposed to host both the 2020 and 2021 editions of the the UEFA Champions League final but concerns over health risks due to the high number of Covid-19 cases meant that these showpiece games were move to Lisbon and Porto respectively.

Several Istanbul based clubs have called the stadium ‘home’ temporarily as throughout the years Fatih Karagümrük, Başakşehir, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş have played home games there. Recent plans on the table to redevelop the ground and remove the running track as part of Turkey’s Euro 2024 bid were shelved after UEFA awarded hosting rights of the competition to Germany.

The ground has also hosted a series of Turkish Cup finals and hosted many music concerts with the likes of U2, Phil Collins and Paul Van Dyk having all performed at the famous stadium.

One night in Istanbul

Ask any Liverpool fan of what Istanbul means and the chances are that a misty-eyed recollection of the heroics of the night of 25 May 2005 trips off the tongue. The Anfield side trailed AC Milan by 3-0 at halftime but came back to level the game and finally take the win away from the Italians in a spectacular penalty shoot out.

The 2005 final was the first UEFA showpiece at the event with many fans previous complaints of the stadium being inaccessible from central Istanbul now allayed after the opening of the Olmpiyat metro station with the journey time from the city centre now taking approximately 45 minutes.