As a spin-off to our World Cup series, the Tatran Čierny Balog stadium is a very special football ground located in Čierny Balog, Slovakia, which is the home ground of the local football club TJ Tatran Čierny Balog. The stadium is known for having an active train track that runs through it, even during games.
History
The Čiernohronská railway was built before the stadium itself. The train itself runs on the routes in the Slovak Ore Mountains. The network reached its greatest total length after World War II, with the entire track measuring 131.98 km. Before the suspension of traffic in 1982, only 36 km of the track was in operation. Operation on this track was suspended for a period of time, but in 1992 it was resumed.
It was at the time when the track lost its function that a village football stand was built on the site. Now the train, which serves as an attraction for tourists, runs every day in the main season.
World fame (kind of)
The municipal stadium located in Čierny Balog gained international recognition in late 2015, after a video clip that depicted a train entering the ground went viral. The line is believed to be the only railway in the world to pass through the middle of a football stadium, the tracks running along the front of a grandstand at the stadium belonging to the TJ Tatran Čierny Balog club.
Look at this video:
Those who spotted the railway tracks before the hint:
- Eloy Cano
- Paul Voestermans
- Martin de Bock
- Phil Ower
- Garfield
- Lighthouse
And after the hint:
- Graham Hedley
- Bernd