Starting in Belgium, top division club SK Lierse have continued the improvements at the Herman Vanderpoortenstadion that started in 1999, by demolishing the terraced end behind one goal and replacing it with a new all-seater stand . When complete the new stand will have two tiers and will be the largest structure in the ground.  Phase three, the replacement of the existing main stand, will commence at a date to be announced and will bring the capacity of the ground to 14,500 seats. 

  Other brief news from the region is that new stands are planned at Royal Antwerp's Deurne Stadion (newly promoted to the 1st Division, Jupiler league), and Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen's Het Kiel. 

Italian Serie A side Fiorentina have been busy installing new seats in the Maratona Stand at their Artemio Franchi Stadium.  The seats have been arranged to spell out the name ‘AC Fiorentina’.  Inter ground sharing rivals AC Milan have now gained direct control of the Milano Meazza (San Siro) Stadium.  Plans are afoot to introduce stadium tours, a museum and bars.  The stadium will also host the final of the Champions League in 2001 and a large proportion of the flat seats will be replaced by the bucket type by then.  Also in the top division, Reggina have unveiled plans to increase the capacity of the Oreste Granillo with two corner in fills.  Brescia may be looking to relocate from their current stadium to an out-of-town venue holding around 35,000.  Vicenza are hoping to get permission to build two new stands at the Roneo Nenti that will see the capacity rise from 20,000 to 28,000. 

  Newly promoted Serie B side Cittadella will play their home games at nearby Padova this season.  In Serie C1 Como are nearing completion of the new Sinigaglia Stadium which will hold 16,000 when complete.  There is also building work in progress at Lucca, Siena, Crotone, L’Aquila and La Spezia. 

 In Switzerland, FC Basel have agreed a date for returning to their St Jakobs home of next March ahead of an official re-opening in June 2001.  The club are currently playing at Old Boys Basel's ground at Schutzenmatte and will stay there up to the end of the first half of this season.  Although Schutzenmatte passes ground gradings for Swiss first division matches it failed the test for European matches and FC Basel's 1st Round UEFA Cup tie will be played at Grasshoppers ground in Zurich instead.  The ageing St Jakobs ground, which saw England fans involved in another of their infamous 'battles' when the Swiss beat them 2-1 there in a World Cup qualifier in 1981, has been totally rebuilt and now forms part of the new St Jakobs Project.  As well as the new all seater 31,500 capacity stadium a new shopping centre has been built, a fitness centre, offices, restaurant and there's room for brand new old-peoples homes alongside 680 car parking spaces and 360 cycle parking spaces. 

 French side Sedan have at last received approval from their local authorities to build a fourth stand at their new Louis Duguaguez stadium, bringing intended ground capacity up to 24,000.

 Austrian side Salzburg have received approval for a new stadium at Wals-Siezenheim costing approximately £27 million. 

 German Bundesliga 1 club Energie Cottbus intend to rebuild part of their Stadion der Fruendschaft during the next close season at a cost of £8 million, thus bringing the capacity up to 28,000.

Danish club Silkeborg IF have, since winning the Danish League during the mid 90's, been improving their stadion in Marienslundvej stand by stand.  To the left of the corner main entrance is the main stand with a lovely transparent curved roof supported by diagonal struts which rest about 3 rows from the back of the stand.  Rather nicely the stand behind the goal to the right is designed in exactly the same way and has more recently had its seating installed.  Opposite the main stand a new stand is being built this summer and will house the now essential executive boxes, sponsors lounge, restaurant, etc., and you've guessed it the roof design is in keeping with the areas already opened.  The far end behind the other goal has currently only 3 rows of terracing, but the intention is to build there also and to incorporate new club offices.  The corner main 'cottage' entrance currently serves that purpose including dressing rooms, but is rather old-fashioned and cramped.  The good news is that, unlike its counterpart alongside the Thames at Fulham, the club refuse to knock it down and it will be preserved and this means that its interesting wooden timekeeping clock stays also. Returning to the corner between the near-end goal and the new, as yet unfinished stand, the pylon has been removed to facilitate the building of a new corner stand also.  

In Holland, FC Zwolle from the first division are planning the redevelopment of their ground on the same site their current Oosterenk stadium.  Plans are to slightly relocate the pitch and build new stands. The project however is frustrated by the presence of a mill in the proximity of the complex. It's a listed building, still in perfect shape and working order and the roofs of the new stands are supposedly taking the wind out of the wings. ....

This summer Helsinki based Finnish club FC HJK moved to the brand new Finnair Stadium. Having left their familiar base at the Olympic Stadium, the first match at the new stadium took place in June between HJK and ground-share rivals Jokerit.  (See above for illustration of the new Finnair Stadium)

MINOR BELGIAN CLUB NEWS by Peter Abbott                                          

  As a postscript to the last Issue, the merged club of Lokeren and Sint Niklaas will be called Sporting Lokeren Sint-Niklaas Waasland.  Berchem Sport have indeed been relegated to the Antwerpen Provincial league and are replaced by Wuustwezel, a club who 20 years ago had risen to the dizzy heights of the 2nd Division, but then crashed through the divisions;   Rita Berlaar have re-formed as FC Berlaar in the lower reaches of the Antwerpen Provincial leagues;   VV Heidebloem Dilsen, relegated from Div 3 last season, have folded despite many attempts locally in the Limburg area to find another club to join forces with them;   KHO Merchtem-Brussegem, near to Brussels, have folded.  

 Div 4 club Entente Sambreville have NOT merged with Moignélee Sports but have instead folded.  Nevertheless Moignélee Sports, now promoted to the Namur Provincial 1, have moved into the now vacated Stade Communal, Rue Sous-La-Ville in Tamines where Entente Sambreville played.   Only their reserve and youth teams will now use Moignélee’s ground at Chaussée de Charleroi.  Also, they have been forced by the authorities to adopt the name of the town or in this case the local area which is not uncommon.  Therefore, annoyingly, but not unsurprisingly, the Namur Prov 1 club are now Royale Union Sambrevilloise.  Also in the Namur region, a new club comes into the Namur provincial 3A, namely Etoile Sportive Jamboise.  Interestingly, they will play at the ADEPS ground in Jambes to the south of the river Meuse in Namur itself, which is the ground with the athletics track and large stand that can be seen from the railway line running south to the Ardennes.  The local authorities had wanted Div 3 league club Union Namur to move there from their Stade Michel Soulier in Avenue Albert 1er, but so far fans don't want to move out of the centre and I'm not sure if that's the last we'll hear of that one.

 The Blankenberge merger has gone ahead, the new club being Sporting Club Blankenberge.  The former clubs were Daring Club Blankenberge (Div 4) playing at Eric James Laan and KSV Blankenberge (West Vlaanderen Prov) playing at Waffalaaertlaan (Club Matricule No. 48 which will now be used by the merged club).  Daring's ground has a small but very nice wooden stand atop the kantine along its main side - at the far end are, I would say a fairly old, dressing rooms and VIP area - whilst on the opposite a 3-step covered terrace straddles the halfway line behind the dugouts. 

 The 'Rats', RRC Hernis Gent (Club Matricule No. 11) have gobbled up VV Standard Meulestede of the Oost Vlaanderen Prov Div 1 and from this season will be re-named RRC Gent-Zeehaven.  Hernis's ground (Emile Heilstraat) located not far from KAA Gent's (Matricule No. 7) ground in Gentbrugge is very smart, but I'm afraid that for me, the 'lost' ground of Standaard Meulestede (Club Matricule No. 432) at New Orleansstraat adjacent one of the many canals in the area will be a sad loss.  Although not large, it is quite superb in antiquity with its large terracing at the near end behind the damp clubhouse, which extends all around the far side before tapering off to nothing behind the far goal.  Granted, the main side is a wooden death trap, but has a wonderful atmosphere and also straddles almost the whole side.  The stadium is on a main corner by one of the canal bridges and even from the ageing entrance, you can tell this ground is from a bygone age - a must see, before, presumably it goes the way of many before it? 

 Ex-league side SCUP Jette from Brussels inaugurated their refurbished stand at the Stade Communal / Gemeentelijk Stadion, Avenue de L'Exposition, at their last home game of last season contre / tegen Rixensart and celebrated with a 2-1 victory.  SCUP were off the pace for promotion to the Brabant Provincial 1 this time round, but seem now to have the ambition to return to a higher level.

 A little further out of Brussels just north of Grimbergen , Wolvertem SC, not surprisingly nicknamed the Wolves and another ex-league side now playing in the Brabant Prov 1, moved into their brand new Frans Lathouwersstadion in time to welcome the Romanian national side in training for Euro 2000.    The rather rundown old Wolvertem ground at de Dries is to be demolished and replaced by a new old people's home.

 The now defunct KFC Roeselare will be forever remembered for their wonderful Rodenbach Stadion, named after that famous beer brewed in the town.   I can recall the ground being compact, hemmed in and homely but now sadly deserted on matchdays and only used for training and for youth games by the new merged KSV Roeselare club.   You may remember that only a year ago KFC and KSK merged to form KSV (got that !) playing at KSK's former home in Diksmuidsesteenweg, but now diehard fans have, for next season, formed Club Roeselare.   As always in these cases, the new club must start at the bottom of the West Vlaanderen Provincial divisions, Prov 4C, and work their way up and their first tackles on the long road back will be fought out at Blommestraat in the Rumbeke area of Roeselare.   Unfortunately they cannot play at the famous Rodenbach Stadion, well not yet anyway, but Belgian football is littered with born-again clubs, so I for one, would like to raise a glass of Rodenbach Cru to their fortunes.