One feature that I find pretty cool about Parma’s Stadio Ennio Tardini is the fact that it is both an open and closed stadium by design. I like that style of having both open seating behind the goal to add a little city atmosphere and closed seating down the sidelines to comfort the fans that prefer a little shade during the match. i find this to be the perfect design of a smaller football stadium.
Parma has not gotten as much Serie A use out of Stadio Ennio Tardnini as many top level squads, but since 1990 Parma has been pretty consistently on the top level of competition. In fact in the early 90’s to the turn of the millennium, Parma was considered one of the best new surprises in World football. They competed several times for the Serie A title and even won the UEFA Cup one year. Today the club is no longer considered a threat for such hardware thanks to a scandal that disassembled the squad in 2003, but Parma is on the rebound and look to be considered a top level opponent for many more years.
Founded in 1923 Stadio Ennio Tardini was named after a former president of the squad. The stadium holds a solid 27,000 seats in total capacity making it slightly below the league average in seating. The stadium is patiently awaiting their first Serie A title, but it will likely be a long time before that happens. But then again you never know.
But it will probably be a long time.
