THE ARENA FOR GREAT MOMENTS

Friends Arena is Sweden’s national arena and one of the most modern multi-arenas in the world. With uninterrupted views from all seats, proximity to the arena floor and the latest in communication technology, you get to experience great moments here.

Friends Arena is located in Arenastaden, one of northern Europe’s most modern city districts and shares space with Quality Hotel Friends and Scandinavia’s largest shopping mall; Mall of Scandinavia, with 224 shops and restaurants.

The Arena can manage events on all types of surfaces; grass, gravel, ice and parquet flooring and switch between them at lightning speed. The retractable roof lets us put on concerts and sports events all year round – whatever the weather outside.

The Arena has a maximum capacity of 75,000 but can host events of all sizes and types. For football matches and other sports events the maximum capacity is 50,000 seated guests. For concerts, the size of the crowd is decided according to the wishes of the artists with the usual formats being 12,000, 30,000 or 50,000 guests.

Despite its young age Friends Arena has hosted concerts by Beyoncé, Coldplay, Guns N' Roses, Eminem, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Swedish House Mafia.

Friends Arena is the home ground of AIK Fotboll and the national arena of the Swedish men’s national football team. The Arena complies with UEFA and FIFA regulations for international football and has hosted two major UEFA competitions; the UEFA Europa League Final in 2017 between Ajax and Manchester United and the UEFA Women’s Euro 2013, played in front of a record crowd.

Friends Arena is operated by Nationalarenan i Solna AB, part of ASM Global, a world leading venue management and services company, based in Los Angeles, USA. ASM Global’s venue network spans five continents, with more than 300 of the world’s most prestigious arenas and over 60,000 passionate employees. The owners of the property are the Swedish Football Association and Fabege.

FRIENDS ARENA IN NUMBERS

• Friends Arena was inaugurated on 27th October 2012 with the show ‘Swedish Moments’ and was broadcast live on SVT to an audience of over 1.7 million.

• The retractable roof consists of two sections that measure 3,750 sq. m each and together they are the size of six residential gardens.

• It takes around 15 minutes to open and close the roof.

• Each side of the media cube that hangs from the roof of the Arena is 65 sq.m and just one of the screens is about the size of an average two-bedroom apartment.

• The entire screen area of the media cube is equivalent to around five hundred and twenty 40-inch screens and it weights in at 64 tonnes.

• To enhance visitors’ visual experience there are 647 LCD screens in the Arena

• If the concrete piles on which the Arena rest were put in a line they would stretch some 230 kilometres.

• The façade of the Arena illuminates in 17 million colours

• There are 724 WCs, 392 men’s rooms and 519 wash-basins in the Arena

• In July 2018, 57,520 Slim Shady fans came to see Eminem´s concert at Friends Arena, meaning Bruce Springsteen´s attendance record from 2013 was relegated to second place. 

• Three marriage proposals have been made and one wedding ceremony held at the Arena. Martin Mutumba, an AIK Fotboll player proposed to his girlfriend at his club’s home ground.