Designed by leading Croatian architect Boris Magaš, Split’s bowl-like Poljud Stadium, opened in 1979, is a masterpiece of modern stadium architecture that has gone on to influence football-ground construction all over the world.

Inspired by the shapes of sea shells, and set against a backdrop of coastal mountains, the stadium is a statement of local identity as well as a functional arena.

It was built in order to host the 1979 Mediterranean Games, an event that helped to move forward the transformation of Split into a modern city, and is nowadays associated with Hajduk Split, the team that enjoys mass local support and has become a symbol of Dalmatian identity.