Virginia Beach is an incredibly fun place. The beauty of this city is complimented by a pristine beach and cultural delights. The climate of the area is subtropical, with mild winters and warm summers. It is home to the Virginia Beach Sportsplex that hosts a variety of soccer and hockey games. Soccer scoreboards are alight with colors of the teams and attendance for the games is usually to a packed house. You would think that this type of perfection would have made the city a booming metropolis from the start, but Virginia Beach had a slow and methodical beginning.

In this soccer scoreboards feature, I have listed the five biggest stadiums in the world, but they are not necessarily not used regularly, nor are they the best soccer stadiums in the world. What I am interested in here is pure seating capacity. When it comes to the biggest of the all, expect a surprise!

5. Camp Nou
Who hasn’t heard of this stadium? Camp Now which means ‘new field’ is the home stadium of the best club in the world, Barcelona. This stadium can accommodate 98,772 people and it has seen some amazing matches take place over the years. This is my favorite stadium in Europe. If you get a seat right at the top tier, the feeling is indescribable. The vastness of the stadium is simply awesome.

In this soccer scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the hot topic of fences at English soccer stadiums. Thought to be widely unpopular, they are in fact missed by many older soccer fans across the country. In this article I explain why.

In the rough and ready days of the late 70’s to the early 1990’s, when soccer clubs still belonged to fans, and not to billionaire foreign business interests, one of the most distinguishing features of stadiums we no longer see today was the obligatory fences surrounded the terracing in all UK stadiums.

It’s exactly one year before Euro 2012 kicks off, and it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to many that Ukraine is struggling to construct their stadiums in time, despite official assurances that everything will be ready. In this soccer scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the two stadiums that are causing the most concern, and ask, will they be ready?

The Lviv Stadium
Lviv is located in Western Ukraine, very close to the Polish border. It has a moderately successful soccer team which player in the Ukrainian Premier league, but its stadium was too small and outdated to be considered for the Euro championship (for instance, its soccer scoreboards are still analogue!) Work began on a new 30,000 capacity stadium three years ago, and it was due to be completed by the end of this summer. Ukraine is supposed to play Austria in a friendly in that stadium in November of this year, but already it is looking like that match will have to be moved.

In this feature on soccer scoreboards, I will look at the debate concerning standing being allowed in English soccer stadiums once again. Is it good idea, or should things be left as they are?

20 years ago, standing in English soccer stadiums was banned, because of what is known as the Hillsborough disaster. It happened during an FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool in 1989. Because in those days standing was allowed on terraces, one of these terraces collapsed, and 96 people died as a result.

In this feature on soccer scoreboards, I will talk about how Qatar plans to avoid “white elephants” after the World Cup of 2022 is over.

Many countries have made this mistake. The 2004 Olympic Stadium in Athens. The ‘Bird’s Nest’ Olympic Stadium of 2008 in Beijing. The 2010 World Cup Stadiums scattered all over South Africa. Some of these stadiums were built from scratch and required multi-million dollar investments. What’s happened to all of them now? Nothing – and that’s the whole point. They are just standing there, going unused. Some of them host events very occasionally, but the costs of running them for small games are far greater than the revenue that comes from small crowds. Other stadiums have become mere tourist attractions.

In this feature on soccer scoreboards, I will talk about the worst disasters that soccer stadiums have ever seen.

1. The Ibrox Disaster
This is one of the first disasters recorded in soccer history. On April 5th, 1902, not long before a match between England and Scotland was going to start, the West Tribune Stand, which had been newly built, collapsed right onto the fans. Hundreds of people fell to the ground below the seats, some almost 40 feet. The death toll was 25 and 500 people suffered injuries. The stand was said to have collapsed because of heavy rain the night before.

On no continent in the world does soccer have as high a profile as it does in Europe. Therefore, in this feature on soccer scoreboards, I will list the largest soccer stadiums in Europe. Because of soccer’s popularity on this continent, it is hardly a surprise that it is a home to some of the world’s most prestigious and historic stadiums. Here are the biggest, and also the best soccer stadiums in Europe, and, possibly, in the world:

1. Barcelona, Spain – Camp Nou.
The FC Barcelona home stadium is definitely up there with the world’s best stadiums, and it is home to quite possibly the best soccer team in the world. Camp Nou, which means ‘New Field’ translated from Catalan, used to be a nickname for the stadium. It was called Estadi del Barcelona, but then the nickname became more popular than the name itself. The seating capacity of Camp Nou is almost 100,000 fans.

In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have reviewed the 2nd leg of the Champions league semi-final.

The finalists for the UEFA Champions League have been decided. Barcelona and Manchester United will be playing at Wembley on May 28th. Barcelona had a tough 2nd leg semi-final against their arch rivals, Real Madrid while Manchester United won quite comfortably against Schalke. Barcelona had the advantage of 2 goals from the 1st leg with Manchester United also having the same advantage. Barcelona won 3-1 on aggregate and the soccer scoreboards showed that Manchester United won 6-1 on aggregate.

In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have reviews the last round of the Champions league, and look forward to the games this week. The wait is over. The much awaited knockout stage of the Champions League has begun. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Schalke won their respective matches in the 1st leg. Barcelona and Schalke fired 5 goals each in their matches against Shakhtar Donetsk and Inter Milan respectively.