Several stadiums in Poland and Ukraine that are designated for the 2012 European Championship football (soccer) tournament feature impressive lighting schemes from the likes of Traxon, Philips and Osram.

Philips has installed pitch and façade lighting in six of the eight stadiums that are hosting the games, including the Olympic stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, which will host the final on July 1. Likewise, Osram has also supplied lighting for several stadiums.

National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland 

The façade of the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, is characterized by its semi-transparent white and red structural mesh panels: red and white are Poland’s national colors. The panels are lit by LED fixtures and a control system from Traxon, an Osram subsidiary.

The façade’s panels conceal, in specially designed housings, more than 1700 custom Traxon Liner Shield AC XB-36 red/white fixtures that illuminate the stadium’s exterior. These are outdoor-rated fixtures containing a linear array of LEDs, and have a simple connection system and long run-length capability of up to 32 fixtures, enabling easy installation for large-scale lighting projects.

For this project, the fixtures were customized and aimed precisely during installation to allow uniform illumination of the individual façade panels. Additionally, the fixtures consist only of red and neutral white LEDs, which enhance the rich saturation of the already red and white panels.

Poznan City stadium, Poland

The stadium in Poznan is notable for its dynamic, multi-colored lighting of the outer facade, using LED lighting systems from Philips. A total of 195 Philips LED projectors, each consuming 55W, plus a control system and software, were used to illuminate the lower sections of the outer façade.

Olympic Stadium, Kiev

Philips has tailor-made lighting systems for the Olympic stadium in Kiev, capable of hosting 60,000 spectators. The system includes a total of 608 Philips ArenaVision sport floodlights – these are 2 kW floodlights that use quartz metal-halide lamps. Philips designed the lighting concept combining functional and decorative requirements to create the effect of a “ring of fire” on the stadium’s roof edge.

Philips’ lighting systems also illuminate the football field and other areas in accordance with various standards for TV broadcasting of football matches and athletic competitions.

Outside the Olympic Stadium, LED lighting has been used to illuminate the steps behind the stadium. Lighting specialist Elektronnyi Svet (Electronic Light Ltd) installed 1350 LED modules with a total of 16,000 LEDs in the handrails next to the steps – corresponding to a total length of approximately 1.5 kilometers. The company used warm-white Golden Dragon Plus LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors with a wide beam angle of 170°.