Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, Football stadium in Heraklion, Greece.
Theodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, nicknamed Yedi Kule, is a football ground in Heraklion with an official capacity of 9,088 seats. It has nine numbered gates: the open east curve (Gate 1, 1,700 seats after advertising boards cut its 2,200), the low south stand (Gates 2, 3, 7; 860 seats), the west curve for organised OFI fans (Gates 4 and 5; about 2,500 seats, most seats removed), the covered Gate 8 (2,300 seats), the 400-seat main stand at Gate 9, and the open north Gate 6 for away fans (770 seats).
Built in 1951 on the site of Christian, Jewish and Armenian cemeteries, the ground was inaugurated on 11 November 1951 with OFI losing 4–1 to ASDAN. Workers had found two large pits there, gun emplacements left by the German army during the WWII occupation of Crete. Long disputed, the land's ownership was settled in OFI's favour during the 1967–1974 dictatorship; the north stand was the last extension, completed in 1987.
The stadium is the former home of OFI and now hosts the Greece women's national team; OFI still owns it. Its nickname Yedi Kule, "seven towers", comes from the Heptapyrgion fortress in Thessaloniki, chosen for the ground's fortress-like feel. Gates 4 and 5 hold OFI's organised supporters, with no fence between them and most seats removed.
The stadium has nine numbered gates: Gate 1 is the uncovered east stand, Gates 4 and 5 hold OFI's organized supporters, Gate 8 is the large covered stand next to the VIP area, Gate 9 is the 400-seat VIP section, and Gate 6 is the uncovered away section behind the visitors' bench. City buses stop at Sofokli Venizelou Kantanou and Kaminia.
The record crowd of 12,391 on 25 September 1988 saw OFI beat Olympiacos 2-1. The east side gained a match-stats display in 2018, and in 2004 the ground served as an Olympic football training venue. A floodlight pylon near Gate 6 collapsed in a storm on 25 March 2013, crushing three parked cars; all four pylons have since been replaced.
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