Arsenal will play their Europa League match against FC Zurich on Thursday, at St Gallen’s stadium, a slightly smaller ground than the club’s stadium
By Kehinde Okeowo
Arsenal will face FC Zurich in a Europa League group stage away match on Thursday, August 8, but the encounter has been moved from the home side’s 26,104 capacity Letzigrund arena.
Instead, the Gunners will now play the Swiss side at St Gallen’s stadium, which is a 78.7km drive away from Zurich’s home ground.
The stadium named Kybunpark is a slightly smaller ground with 19,700 sitting capacity compared to Zurich’s 26,104 capacity Letzigrund arena.
The match was moved to accommodate the Diamond League athletics event set to be hosted in Zurich’s ground on the 7th and 8th of September.
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FC Zurich share the Letzigrund with their local rivals Grasshopper, so it is not solely their home.
The ground was built due to the successful bid to host Euro 2008 and both the club sides benefitted from having a new stadium as their home ground.
Despite this, the St Gallen stadium remains a formidable ground for FC Zurich who won the first leg of their Europa League qualifier against Hearts at the venue.
At that time, the Letzigrund played host to Swiss rock and folk double act Gola and Trauffer and had to be prepared for the concert, which increased the capacity to 50,000.
Arsenal did not play any European competition last season after finishing in the 8th position in the Premier League the previous season.
However, a 5th place finish last season means they automatically qualify for the Europa League this season and will be facing FC Zurich, PSV and Norwegian side, Bodo Glimt, at the group stage.
