The BBC published their list of the ten most beautiful stadiums in the world, on September 7, 2017. Among them is one of the jewels of Inland Dalmatia.
While the BBC considered C.F. Monterrey's home turf in Mexico, the HPCA Stadium in India, and a floating stadium in Singapore to be the most jaw-dropping sporting arenas to exist in the world, it was the nod for Croatia’s Stadion Gospin Dolac in Imotski that had us listening.
BBC’s Ciaran Varley writes about Gospin Dolac:
“It seems like the whole of Croatia was designed with Instagram in mind, so it should be no surprise that the country hosts this straight-out-of-a-dream football stadium on the Croatian/Bosnian border.
Built into a natural valley in the late seventies, the Gospin has a capacity of around 4000, but - and disclaimer: we're definitely not suggesting you'd do this as it would no doubt be incredibly dangerous- we're betting some people have clambered up that natural rockface and enjoyed the action for free.”
Located in the heart of Imotski, right next to the famous Red and Blue lakes, Gospin Dolac was built in 1989 as the home stadium for football club NK Imotski. The stadium is said to be named after the nearby church, Gospe od Anđela.
The first official match of NK Imotski was played at the stadium on March 22, 1993, against NK Mladost from Koprivnica when Imotski won 5:2.
This is not the first time Gospin Dolac was named as one of the best in the world, and back in 2009, the stadium was recognized as one of the most unusual stadiums by popular portal This Blog Rules. It was also named as one of the stadiums you must visit before you die in the video below.
To further convince you of the stadium's beauty, here's a closer look with the help of Instagram.