The Alfred Hajos Swimming Complex is a historical venue where legends were born in the past 90 years
The indoor complex, designed by – and named after – Alfred Hajos, swimming’s first Olympic champion in 1896, was built in 1930 and became the continental Europe’s first-ever indoor pool used for sport purposes.
Eight years later the outdoor 50m pool was added which shall host the very best of water polo action once more this summer – its seating capacity is 5,000 but can be enlarged to 7-8,000. For the 1958 Europeans the old diving tower and the 33m outdoor pool was added, then, in 2006, another 3m deep, 10-lane outdoor pool and a new diving facility was constructed.
The complex is unique as it’s located in the green heart of Budapest – apart from swimming complexes, an athletic field, two hotels, an outdoor theatre and a couple of restaurants, the island is a closed area, further constructions are forbidden once and for all and public car traffic is also barred.
During nine decades, the complex hosted some memorable events with the water polo tournament of the 2017 FINA World Championships on top. Before that, the 1958, 2006 and 2010 European Aquatics Championships, the 2001 and 2014 European Water Polo Championships took pace here, as well as the Champions League Finals (2002, 2004, 2016), the FINA Water Polo World Cup (2006), the European Junior Swimming Championships (2005), just to mention the international highlights.
Water polo shall return to the well-known ‘old’ 50m outdoor pool, while artistic swimming will visit the new 50m outdoor pool again after the 2006 and 2010 Europeans.
