IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Soccer stadium in Shimizu-ku, Japan.
IAI Stadium Nihondaira is a football ground in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, with four separate all-seated stands holding 20,033. The Main Stand and the west half of the Back Stand are roofed, while the east half of the Back Stand is open. The pitch is slightly farther from the goal ends than in a football-specific stadium, and four steel floodlight towers stand above the stands.
The stadium opened in 1991 as Shimizu City Nihondaira Sports Park Ball Game Stadium with 13,000 seats and grass banks on three sides. It was expanded in 1994 with two-tier stands behind each goal and a larger back stand, reopening in March 1995. Renamed in 2003 after Shimizu merged with Shizuoka, it has held the IAI Stadium Nihondaira name since March 2013.
The stadium serves as home ground for Shimizu S-Pulse football club and regularly hosts J-League matches that draw devoted fans. Match days are significant events in the sporting calendar of the city.
The stadium sits over 4 km from Shimizu Station, so most spectators take shuttle buses from Shimizu and Shizuoka stations, starting three hours before kick-off. Local buses also stop about ten minutes' walk away. On match days surrounding roads close to general cars, so use park-and-ride lots near Shimizu Station or Espalps Dream Plaza.
The Back Stand roof covers only two-thirds of the pitch. A popular explanation says it was left short to keep Mount Fuji visible across Suruga Bay, but the real reason is an access road behind the stand that blocked the foundations needed for a full roof.
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