Maribor's Ljudski Vrt Stadium has plenty of atmosphere, creature comforts and passionately loyal fans
Maribor's Ljudski Vrt Stadium, or "People's Garden", is an almost inch-perfect reflection of the team that call it home. It was originally intended as the venue for Branik Maribor, but the club were disbanded in August 1960 and NK Maribor, established just four months later, took their place. And as they say, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Much like the team, who have undergone a number of transformations in reaching their current form as Slovenia's fixed representatives in European competition, Ljudski Vrt too underwent a "face-lift" at the time the Slovenian PrvaLiga was established in the in the 1990's to complete its suitability for hosting all European competitions in the new millennium. With a capacity of close to 13,000, the stadium now provides a splendid mosaic in the home colours of purple and yellow that has earned it a place on the list of the world's most attractive stadiums in its size category.
Despite this ideal blend of esthetics and abundant fan support, Ljudski Vrt suffers from a chronic shortage of parking dating back to the establishment of the original training complex somewhere back in the 1950's. Assembled in patchwork fashion on the banks of the Drava river, the stadium is situated in the heart of a residential district whose many buildings left little room for building car parks to accommodate a burgeoning host of motorists that has increased a hundred-fold in recent decades. Perhaps for this reason the Slovenian Football Association have shown a preference for holding the games of the Slovenian national team in various cities, despite the fact that in their last ten contests at Ljudski Vrt Slovenia have only lost once in all competitions.
In 1973 a record 20,000 fans packed Ljudski Vrt to watch Maribor face off against FK Proleter Zrenjanin (now Banat Zrenjanin) in a play-off for promotion to the former Yugoslavian Superliga, some 25 years before the first seats were installed in the stadium. The current post-seating record, 12,700 spectators, was established last season when Maribor hosted Spanish side Sevilla in the round of 32 of the Europa League. Maribor lost on aggregate to the competition's eventual winners and bowed out of a club record European campaign that saw them make their farthest advance in the competition after three consecutive years of participation.
In spite of the club's European success last season, Ljudski Vrt itself was not terribly kind to the home side in the process. True, Maribor won at home in both Champions League qualifying rounds, but then proceeded to lose at home to Czech champions FC Viktoria Plzen in the play-off round and to Russians Rubin Kazan and Belgians Zulte Waregem in the group stage of the Europa League. This run of bad home form was only broken in the final game of the group stage in a dramatic come-from-behind home win against English side Wigan that catapulted the club into the competition's round of 32.
But the fact remains that in the past three years, Maribor's Champions League campaign has come to an abrupt end due to losing at home. At Maccabi Tel Aviv they will no doubt be hoping that that run of bad home form will not be coming to an end anytime soon.
*photographs courtesy of the NK Maribor Facebook page
