#Toumba #Paok #thessaloniki
Toumba Stadium is a multi–purpose stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece, mainly used for football.
It is property of AC PAOK and hosts PAOK FC since its completion in 1959.
The official name of the stadium is simply PAOK Stadium, but through the years it has become synonymous with the borough it is built at, the borough of Toumba.
The stadium is located in the district of Toumba in eastern Thessaloniki.
Its original capacity was around 20,000 and would be expanded continuously until 1971, when it was finally expanded to 45000 capacity, becoming the second largest stadium in the country, behind Kaftanzoglio Stadium, home of rivals Iraklis Thessaloniki.
After the collapse of Toumba's Gate 8 in March 1980 and the Karaiskakis Stadium disaster in February 1981, the legal capacity was lowered to 41073 until the installation of seating on all stands in 1998, which reduced the capacity to 32000 seated.
The introduction of security zones in 2000 further reduced the capacity to the current capacity of 29000 seats.
A record attendance of 45252 has been recorded in a 1st division football match between PAOK and AEK on 19 December 1976.
Toumba Stadium is infamous for its hostile atmosphere, a factor that led to the attribution of the Stadium as 'The Black Hell'.
On high-profile encounters, when the players walk out of the tunnel, the song Hells Bells by AC/DC is heard from the stadium's speakers.
PAOK commonly known as A.C. PAOK, is a major multi-sports club based in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece.
P.A.O.K was founded in April 1926.
Because of its crest, it is also known as the "Double-Headed Eagle of the North", in contrast with AEK, the "Double-Headed Eagle of the South".
They are one of the most popular Greek sports-clubs with many fans all over the country (mostly, but not exclusively, in Northern Greece), and also among the Greek diaspora.
The original logo of PAOK was a horseshoe and a four-leaf clover.
The current symbol since 1929 is the double-headed eagle.
The eagle symbolizes the origins of the club in the former Byzantine capital, Constantinople, and the legacy of the Greek refugees from Asia Minor, Eastern Thrace, Pontus and Caucasus.
In 2013, a golden outline was added to the football team's crest, as a symbol of the club's Byzantine heritage.
The club's traditional colours are black, as sadness for the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 and the end of the Greek presence in Anatolia, and white as hope for recovery.
P.A.O.K. is the most widely supported sports-club in Northern Greece and one of the 4 most popular in the country (along with the big-three of capital Athens and Piraeus).
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