Within a few hours of Serbia's Eurovision victory in Helsinki, it was announced that the venue for the 2008 contest would be the Belgrade Arena (Beogradska Arena), in the Serbian capital. The arena  which can hold up to 20,000 people for major sporting events will have a capacity of 15,000 for the Eurovision Song Contest, making it the second largest audience for the event, beaten only by Copenhagen's Parken Stadium, venue for the 2001 contest.

The story of the Belgrade Arena begins in 1989, when Belgrade, the then capital of Yugoslavia was awarded the 1994 World Baskbetball Championship. The city authorities held a competition for the best design of an arena with 20,000 seat capacity and this was won by architect Vlada Slavica, who submitted the best design for an arena in which it would be possible to hold congresses and fairs in addition to sports competition.

The building site in Block 25 in Novi Beograd (New Belgrade) was agreed in 1991. However soon after the construction began in 1992, Yugoslavia began to disintigrate and due to United Nations sanctions the World Championships were taken away from Belgrade and work on the arena came to a halt.

Work resumed in 1998  after Belgrade was elected to host the 1999 World Table Tennis Championship. At that time, the roof of the hall had already got its final shape, a part of the façade was almost finished, and the interior was partially equipped. But Serbia again lost the right to organise a competition, this time due to the 1999 NATO bombing campaign, that followed Serbia's attacks on Kosovo's Albanian population.

The first event held in Belgrade Arena was a Socialist Party of Serbia and Yugoslav Left final election campaign rally, held September 20th, 2000 just before the 2000 elections in Yugoslavia. The construction of the Arena wasn't finished at that time. After the change of government in Serbia and the lifting of sanctions, construction work intensified and the sports arena was completed in 2004. The official opening was on July 31st, 2004, in time to hold Basketball's Diamond Ball Tournament. Belgrade at last got the opportunity to organise a large competition and the Belgrade Arena became the place where the European Basketball Championship was held in 2005. The Belgrade Arena has become Belgrade’s trademark and one of the new symbols of the Serbian capital, as well as the place of interest for the visitors to Serbia's capital. 

The arena's temporary license for public use expired in early 2006, following a series of sport events and concerts in 2005. Works on an automated fire prevention system and installation of elevators to meet European standards were completed by November 2006, while no events were held in the Arena in the meantime. The Belgrade Arena received its permanent public use license on November 4, 2006 and re-opened its doors as a result. It is a facility that meets the latest standards and, together with the Prague Arena, it is at the highest technological level in Europe. 

The Belgrade Arena complex consists of three units: a large hall, a small hall, and the parking space. The large hall, which stages the Eurovision Song Contest covers the area of 48 000 m2 and has six levels, the seating capacity of 20 000 - 25 000, depending on the event to be held. The small hall covers the area of 2 275 m2 on two levels; the over-all dimensions of the hall are 30 x 60m and it serves as the ancillary facility that is used for athletes’ preparation and training. It will be used for dressing rooms and backstage preparations in May, after originally being considered and rejected as the site of the Press Centre.  It was designed as the facility where the athletes can warm up and then, through an underground pedestrian walkway, go to the large hall. 

As well as being a major sporting facility, the Belgrade Arena has also staged many entertainment events and is one of Europe's most successful and frequently used multi-event locations. The biggest sporting events held in the Arena include the European championships in basketball (EuroBasket 2005), volleyball (2005 Men's European Volleyball Championship), table tennis (2007 European Table Tennis Championships) and judo (2007 European Judo Championships). When it comes to music, the arena has staged concerts by some of the most significant artists of Serbia and former Yugoslavia. The highest live audience in the Arena was for a concert by Zdravko Colic (Yugoslavia's 1973 Eurovision entrant) held in October 2005 which accommodated 25,000 people.

International acts have also played the Belgrade Arena including the likes of 50 cent, Phil Collins, Rihanna, The Chemical Brothers, Andrea Bocelli. Just after the Eurovision stage is taken down, the venue will host the internationally famous "Lord Of The Dance" musical. The Arena has also staged political rallies, product exhibitions and numerous other events.  You can read more about the venue on its official website.

On the left you can see the seating configuration that will be used for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Click on the image for a larger view. The seating area shaded in green is reserved for the official Eurovision Fan Club, while the area is blue is the priority area for corporate sponsors. 

The sale of tickets for this year's Eurovision Song Contest began on January 29th and was one of the best organised ticket launches in the history of the competition. While the final show is long since sold out, there are still tickets available for the semi-finals and for the rehearsals for all three shows. These can be bought on the official ticketing website.  

Getting to the Arena would also not appear to be a problem, although those staying across the river in the downtown part of Belgrade should give themselves plenty of time, as Belgrade is notorious for its traffic congestion at peak times.  Normally it takes a 15-minute drive from downtown Belgrade to the Arena unless in rush-hour, when it could take up to 30 minutes to get to central Novi Beograd, where the Arena is located. A drive from Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport would take around 20 minutes. The Belgrade Transport Authority provides services to and from the Arena. The following means of transportation will take you to the Arena: Bus Lines 17, 18, 67, 88 and 601 serve the Arena. Within short walking distance are buses no. 16, 65, 68, 71, 74, 75, 94 and 95; Tram Tram links 7, 9 and 11 provide services to the Arena. If taking Beovoz urban railway to the Arena, exit at the Novi Beograd station. Then it is a short walking distance to the Belgrade Arena. You can find a satellite map of the local area here.

While the Belgrade Arena will be the centre of activities for this year's Eurovision Song Contest, it will not host the media centre or press conferences, which will be housed in Sava Centre, about a half mile away. The Sava Center is an international, congress, cultural and business centre and a successful music venue in its own right, hosting this year's Serbian national final. The Sava Centre which built in the late 1970s is a multi site venue totalling 69,720 square meters on a 100,000 square metre site. The centrepiece is a large theatre seating 4000, but it also hosts 15 conference halls an exhibition area with  modern audio-visual equipment a press-centre and a number of contemporary fitted offices. 

As in Helsinki in 2007, there will be regular transport links between the rehearsal in the arena and the press centre and live feed from the stafge area for those unwilling to make the regular trek between venues.