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Sepa Jalgpallikeskus
Sepa Jalgpallikeskus (English: Sepa Football Centre) is a football stadium in Tartu, Estonia. Opened in 2016, it is the training centre of Tartu Tammeka, whose first team also uses the artificial turf field as a home ground during winter and early spring months.[2] In addition to the artificial turf ground with under-soil heating, Sepa Jalgpallikeskus also has a 90 × 70 m natural grass training ground.[2] The football centre is located in the Ropka industrial district. HistoryFormer Sepa StadiumThe history of the ground dates back to 1972–1975, when a stadium was built on the corner of Sepa and Vasara streets by the adjacent "Tartu katseremonditehas" factory, who used it as a training ground for their Estonian SSR Football Championship football team.[3][4] Sepa's revival through CrowdfundingIn 2012, Tartu Tammeka set their sights on building an artificial turf football ground with under-soil heating and in the following year, a decision was made to construct it on the site of the depreciated Sepa Stadium.[2]  In order to gather funds for the project, Tammeka started a crowdfunding campaign, which was to become the biggest crowdfunding project in Estonia's sports history. The campaign kicked off on 2 November 2015 and ended on 12 January 2016, during which over 3,000 people raised €150,000 for the construction of the football centre.[5]  In total, the budget of the project mounted to €452,818, of which €200,000 came though a bank loan taken by Tammeka, €150,000 through the crowdfunding campaign and €100,000 from the Estonian Football Association.[6] The construction of the Sepa Jalgpallikeskus started in April 2016 and the stadium was opened on 10 July 2016. The opening festival saw a stadium concert by Daniel Levi and a viewing party of the 2016 European Championship final.[7] In 2017, a 504-seat grandstand with a roof was constructed for the artificial turf ground.[8] External linksReferences
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