On a typical day in Paris, tourists and Parisians speckle the Champ de Mars, a swath of grassy lawn extending under the Eiffel Tower. When there’s cause to celebrate—the first Bastille day in 1790 or the 2018 World Cup final—a cheering river of people consumes the Champ de Mars. Over the next two weeks, crowds will flock to the Champ de Mars for another crowd-drawing festivity: beach volleyball at the Paris Olympics.
A temporary outdoor venue, simply named Eiffel Tower Stadium, was built atop the Champ de Mars’s grass to host beach volleyball and blind football events. (Blind football is soccer for those with visual impairments.) The 12,000-seat stadium has a sand court in its center and court views afford unobstructed views of the Eiffel Tower.
The stadium is located minutes away from the Champ de Mars Arena, a temporary indoor venue for wrestling and judo. Or, alternatively, beach volleyball–attendees can walk straight past the tower and across the Seine via the Pont d’Iéna bridge to reach the Trocadéro, a broad esplanade where cycling events are taking place.
Olympic-goers attending events near the Eiffel Tower reap the benefits of an ongoing renovation effort sparked in anticipation of the games. In 2019, an international design competition tasked architects to reimagine the landscape surrounding the tower, specifically from the Pont d’Iéna to the Trocadéro. The City of Paris selected Gustafson Porter + Bowman for the job.
The first phase completed in March; it primarily focused on landscaping, with the exception of new limestone benches and lighting masts equipped with LED. The park’s sloped lawns have been re-turfed, and 26 new cherry trees, along with 15,000 shrubs and perennials, were planted. The project will resume after the Olympics, transforming the Pont d’Iéna and Place de Varsovie from roads into pedestrian walkways.
At Eiffel Tower Stadium, the beach volleyball matches were played this Saturday. In an interview with The Associated Press, French beach volleyball player Lézana Placette noted, “Whenever I get a bit nervous, I’ll just turn my head and look at the Eiffel Tower. That should help remind me what I play for.”
As part of the Paralympic Games, blind football will be played at the stadium between September 1 and 5.
