The North Carolina Tar Heels’ football program is lucky to call Kenan Stadium its home.
Situated in the heart of UNC’s campus, Kenan Stadium is amongst the country’s most beautiful college football venues. No matter where you’re sitting inside, you can clearly see pine trees, blue sky, the Bell Tower and other campus buildings.
There are too many memorable games to count inside Kenan, but a few that come to the top of my mind are: Giovani Bernard’s game-winning punt return against NC State in 2012, then North Carolina’s near-upset of top-ranked Clemson in 2019.
Kenan Stadium hosted plenty of UNC lacrosse games in the past, but it’s recently expanded to host a couple of soccer friendlies. Last year was the first-ever international soccer match in Chapel Hill, with Chelsea and Wrexham facing off July 20.
This year – on Tuesday, July 23 – Premier League power Manchester City FC hosted top Scottish club Celtic FC. Celtic won, 4-3, in a game that all in attendance appeared to enjoy.
If you couldn’t make the friendly in person, ESPN2 broadcasted the match. I caught the last 20 minutes of the second half – seeing Kenan, even though it wasn’t for a Tar Heels football game, increased my hunger for the Sept. 7 home opener vs. Charlotte.
Let’s take a look at photos from Tuesday’s match, which featured plenty of Carolina blue: