Top 3 Kerala’s football stadiums where football is a celebration. If you follow Indian football even a little bit, then you must have heard about the popularity of football in the southern state of Kerala, India. While cricket is celebrated as a festival in most states of India, in Kerala it is football that gets the fame.
If you want to see the passion for football among the people of Kerala, then you should visit their football stadium and enjoy a football match with them. Be it an Indian Super League match, an I-League match, a Kerala Super League match, or a local team match, in every situation you will find the stadium full and loud. Today lets discover top 3 Kerala’s football stadiums where football is a celebration not a sport.
Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kochi
The ‘home ground’ of Kerala Blasters and the fortress of the Yellow Army.
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Kochi, also known as Kaloor Stadium, is one of the most famous football stadiums in Kerala. It is the home ground of Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters FC and Kerala Super League club Forca Kochi FC. This stadium hosts football as well as cricket, where the Indian cricket team has played numerous international matches. The stadium has been operational since 1996, initially having a capacity of 100,000, but it has now been reduced to 41,000.
Today it is known as Manajpada and the hell of the Yellow Army, where the entire stadium is filled with yellow colour during the Indian Super League matches to support their team kerla blaster. If you want to see the romance of Kerala’s football colors, then you must watch an Indian Super League match from this stadium.
E.M.S. Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode
The heartbeat of football in the Malabar region.
North Kerala or Malabar region has a very old football history which flourishes somewhere around this football stadium. Kozhikode Corporation EMS Stadium was established in the year 1977. Although its capacity is 50,000 people, on many occasions attendance of up to one lakh people was recorded here. It is currently the home ground of I-League side Gokulam Kerala FC and Kerala Super League side Calicut FC also uses it as their home ground from 2024. The stadium connects the rural football culture of Kerala to the national stage.
Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Greenfield International Stadium is located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. It is a multipurpose stadium in which football as well as cricket is played. This is one of the most modern and beautiful stadiums present in Kerala. This stadium was rebuilt in the year 2015 in which approximately Rs 390 crores were spent. It also has a capacity of approximately 50,000 people. This stadium also got the opportunity to host the 2015 SAAF Cup final.
Honourable Mentions
These are top 3 Kerala’s football stadiums where football is a celebration not a sport according to our research in khelstories. There are few more football stadiums in Kerla which is worth mentioning in this post as those stadiums too contribute equally in growing the football culture in the state of Kerla
1. Malappuram District Sports Complex, Manjeri
2. Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
3. Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Kollam
Conclusion
In most football stadiums in India, the lack of spectators is felt by the organizers and players. In the Indian state of Kerala, the football stadium is not just a structure of brick and concrete but it is a chapter that connects the people there with their favorite sport, football. If someone tells you that they don’t see the passion and love for football in India, then you must ask them to watch football in a stadium in Kerala once.
