This month we start in sunny Spain, where the astonishing Estadio Mestalla continues to grow in Valencia. Recent seasons have seen a massive, sharply-angled third tier built above the open sides of the stadium, and now the ‘horseshoe’ shape is being completed at the North end, after which the West Stand will get a new high-tech roof. Final capacity will be 55,000 seats and our photo (courtesy of www.valenciacf.es) shows the landlocked stadium rising above its neighbours.

Meanwhile, from the frozen lands of Russia, a plan has emerged of the proposed new 30,000-seat stadium for Lokomotiv Moscow (pictured left). A British Firm, Bridon Ltd of Doncaster, has been selected to supply cabling for the stadium, which features Bolton-esque style suspension features. Work could begin later this Spring.

Back in Central Europe, the rebuilt St Jakob Stadion in Basel, Switzerland, is almost complete and the first game is scheduled for 15 March against Lausanne. The old St Jakob, known locally as the ‘Joggeli’, had barely altered since being rebuilt for the 1954 World Cup and this time it was completely flattened as part of a massive office, retail, residential and stadium project. The new stadium has 30,200 seats on two continuous tiers, and an all-round blue cantilevered roof. During the reconstruction, FC Basel have been playing at the Old Boys Basel ground at Schutzenmatte, and the new St Jakob (pictured right, courtesy of www.fcb.ch) will host an international fixture later this year.

In Germany, the winners of an architectural competition have been announced for the development of the Stadion der Freundschaft, home of Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus. Hamburg-based Gerkan Marg Partners have designed three new stands that will take capacity to 25,000 with 12,640 seats. Work on the £10m project is likely to start at the end of the current season, regardless of whether or not Energie stay in the top flight. Controversy reigns, meanwhile, over the Olympiastadion in Munich, which needs redevelopment to fulfil its destiny as a main venue for the 2006 World Cup. In December, the original architect of the 1972 stadium, Guenther Benisch, asserted his right to design the new works required to meet FIFA’s requirements, only for the professional body of German architecture to protest that the stadium should not be altered because of its listed status. Benisch sided with his colleagues, effectively blocking any changes to the stadium and making the unthinkable – a World Cup without Munich – a distinct possibility. There are rumours that co-tenants FC Bayern and TSV 1860 will go it alone and build a new stadium, but there’s nothing concrete, so to speak. The rebuild of Berlin’s Olympiastadion continues, however, as our recent photo shows. The entire lower tier of the historic stadium will be replaced in a phased operation lasting until 2004. Another potential 2006 venue, the Zentralstadion in Leipzig, is also currently the scene of demolition. Our picture shows the planned 42,000-seat stadium that will be plonked directly on the site of the present crumbling stadium by 2003, if all goes to plan.

The only thing agreed in Frankfurt, meanwhile, is that the Waldstadion is in dire need of an upgrade despite only being built for the 1974 World Cup. A design has been selected for a stadium looking like a cross between Stuttgart and the new Hamburg stadium. Capacity will be 52,000 all-seat (convertible to 59,200 for domestic matches) with a projected cost of £80m. Frankfurt’s municipal authorities will take the final decision in March, but it could be 2005 before the stadium is ready. Hansa Rostock have completed three sides of the rebuilt Ostseestadion, and in Gelsenkirchen, a date in August has been set for the unveiling of the spectacular new Arena-Auf-Schalke, home of Bundesliga high-flyers Schalke 04. This 52,000-seat stadium really is state of the art, featuring both a retractable roof and retractable pitch, as well as 22,000 more seats than the comparable Gelredome at Arnhem. We once again recommend a visit to www.arena-auf-schalke.de for the best display of stadium construction pictures we have yet seen on the Internet.

VfL Wolfsburg, the Bundesliga club from the town where they make VW cars, have outlined plans for a new 30,000 capacity stadium to be built during next season. The current Vfl-Stadion is a curious mix of old, new and temporary stands so a fresh start is probably a good thing. In Nuremberg, plans are afoot to spend over £20m on an upgrade to the Frankenstadion with a view to hosting matches in the 2006 World Cup Finals. 4,000 additional seats will be provided, along with enhanced facilities for media and officials. Away from the main stadium, 1.FC Nurnberg have also announced plans to develop a 6,000-capacity stadium at their training ground, known as the “Valznerweiher”, for the use of the club’s reserve, youth and women’s teams. The stadium is likely to be called the “Immobilien-Sperl-Stadion” after the company sponsoring much of the cost.

I feel that I owe some sort of an apology to Portugal for having written off their chances of winning the right to host the Euro2004 Finals in the Autumn 1999 issue. My rather poor judgement had been made without having visited the country, but now that this has been rectified, UEFA’s decision makes perfect sense to me and a few hotel bookings are imminent. The country’s infrastructure has seen some very heavy investment and it certainly showed up just how creaky and dangerous some of our own transport systems are. But Portugal still has a long way to go on the five new and five rebuilt stadiums that will host the action, with only Sporting Lisbon of the major venues actually having started site preparation.

Rather strangely, the former Estadio Nacional (featured in Groundtastic No.14) has recently seen massive changes despite the fact that it is not a 2004 venue. The stadium, which is owned and managed by the Portuguese Ministry of Sport, is a real curiosity, being set in the woods some 15km outside Lisbon and having no stands on the East side of the pitch. Now rechristened the Estadio do Honra, floodlighting has been installed on four huge corner towers, and brilliant white plastic seating has been bolted on to the stone benches. Capacity is now 48,000 all-seated, and the floodlights mean that internationals can once again be staged here along with the annual Cup Final.

It is certainly a trek to reach the place. You need to take the No.15 tram to its Western terminus and then transfer on to a No.76 bus, getting off at the River Jamor. From here, you can now see the white floodlighting towers sticking out of the forest, which is just as well because otherwise you wouldn’t have a clue where the ground was. It’s still a fair hike up to the ground, but it’s worth it to see such a traditional venue in such an obscure, but attractive setting.

The Euro2004 venues may be slow to be taking shape, but there is no lack of investment at smaller clubs with all-seater stadia now the norm in Divisions One and Two. Top flight club FC Alverca have added banks of seating around the remaining two sides of their Estadio do FC Alverca to bring capacity up to around 8,000. The stadium has been developed bit-by-bit over the last ten years, with a two-tier West Stand the centrepiece.

Moving further North, the area around Porto is saturated with clubs and no less than 8 First Division clubs lie within a small area. Top of the pile, of course, is FC Porto, who are due to build a new stadium for Euro 2004, but their City rivals Boavista are taking a different route by redeveloping their Estadio do Bessa one stand at a time. This is no easy task as the site is an extremely confined one, so it is no surprise that the masterplan has been based on the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa, Italy. The East Stand was the first to be completed (see picture left), with two tiers being separated by a line of boxes. Underneath the stand the facilities are extremely basic, and steel rods protrude from the concrete at either end in readiness for more new stands. Work is in progress on the West Stand, and when it’s all finished, Boavista should have an atmospheric 30,000-seat home to be proud of. Paços de Ferreira, also in Division One, have added a bank of seats behind the East goal of their Estadio Mata Real (capacity 8,000) whilst in the small town of Barcelos, a plan for a major redevelopment of the Estadio Adelino Ribeiro (pictured right) has been ditched in favour of some rather less ambitious developments. A second tier of ‘business seats’ has been added to the West Stand, massive new floodlights have sprung up and the whole stadium has been fitted out with red and blue seats. A better place to watch a First Division game of the home club Gil Vicente I couldn’t imagine. Having said that, the home of Maritimo on the island of Madeira must come pretty close. The Estadio dos Barreiros has been considerably brightened by the installation of yellow and blue seats and the setting is pretty spectacular (picture left by Alan Woods). Further down the ladder, Division Three club Leixoes SC have completed the bowl of seating in the 15,000-seat Estadio do Mar at Matosinhos, just North of Porto. Still no floodlights, though.

In France, Sedan have delayed work on the fourth stand at their new Stade Louis Dugauguez until the close season, but work is almost complete on the new double-decker Canal End stand at Metz’s Stade St Symphorien, which will make the ground all-seated and all-covered for the first time. Division Two side AS Cannes are building a new permanent stand opposite the main stand at their Stade Coubertin, and at Nancy, the first phase of the rebuild of the Stade Picot has finished, as our picture shows (right). Paris St Germain have emphasised their desire to stay at the Parc des Princes instead of occupying the Stade de France by making further improvements to the 1973 stadium. The first floor concourse is being enclosed with glass walls, private boxes are being added to the East Stand, and a building to house club offices and a shop is being erected at the West entrance.

The pace of change has increased slightly in Italy, with a few medium-sized projects reaching completion. At Serie B club Ancona, the Stadio Del Conero (right) has finally been finished after first opening back in 1992. The North End – for 3,600 away fans - has been slotted in to the bowl to bring capacity at the out-of-town stadium to around 23,000. Work at Serie B Crotone’s Stadio Enzo Scida was mentioned in our last issue, but we gave the wrong capacity – it should be 9,797, and we can reveal the rather basic nature of the ground in a photo from www.lega-calcio.it (below left). At Padova, the Stadio Euganeo has also been completed with the construction of the final end stand. However, our correspondent Fabrizio Pugi has described the 32,000-seat stadium, shared by Serie B Cittadella and Serie C2 Padova, as “one of the worst football grounds of the new generation built in Italy” on account of the distance of the stands from the pitch. Another Seri B club, Ternana, are making plans for an upgrade to the 20,920-capacity Stadio Libero Liberati if they get promotion this season.

In Serie C2, Catanzaro are setting out on a total rebuild of the 27,000 Stadio Nicola Ceravolo by demolishing the two end curves. They will be replaced with new stands on a rectangular pattern based on Reggina’s Stadio Granillo, after which the main stand will be redeveloped. In Turin, the project to rebuild the historic Filadelfia has moved a step nearer to reality with plans put before the City Council for a planning decision this Spring. The Fialdelfia was home to AC Torino from 1927 to 1960 and later became their training ground, but the remaining stands and terracing have been demolished in preparation for a new 30,000-seat venue. The plans include a retractable roof and pitch, and the new stadium could host the Ice Hockey tournament of the 2006 Winter Olympics that Turin will stage. If the City approves the scheme, work will start this Summer for three years. Finally, we can provide a picture (right) of the proposed new £30m stadium at Venice that we mentioned in our last issue. As you can see, the architect has added the sliding roof without which no stadium project is without these days. Work could begin this Summer.

Our Dutch correspondent Han Van Der Eijden has reported that Division One club FC Zwolle’s plans to redevelop their 6,500-seat Oosterenk Stadion (plans pictured left) are being hampered by the presence of a nearby listed windmill. The problem is that Zwolle need to finance the project with offices, with the size of the stadium dependent on the size of the offices they can build. Unfortunately for Zwolle, the height of the offices they want would take the wind out of the mill’s wings, so they may have to settle for smaller offices and a new capacity of 8,500. Meanwhile, top flight outfit FC Groningen will leave their 14,000-capacity Oosterpark Stadion in 2002. The Oosterpark, built in 1935 and one of the more interesting venues in Holland, will be forsaken for the 22,000-seat Euroborg Stadium. This is part of a large scale retail and office development on the edge of town, and the stadium element is costing £16m.

Crossing the border into Belgium, there is good news in that football can once again be watched at the brilliant Bureaufosse ground in the Tilleur district of Liege (pictured right). No sooner had Royal Tilleur FC Liege left the famous old ground than RR Montegnee, another of Liege’s venerable old clubs, has moved in whilst their own Stade Joseph Vanstraeten is refurbished. Montegnee will be fitting out their new stand with 500 seats but our correspondent Peter Abbott predicts that the crumbling terracing will remain in place for the time being. The ground (pictured below left) is very reminiscent of an old Scottish Junior ground. Peter also reports that Division 2 clubs Denderleeuw and Eendracht Hekelgem have agreed to merge at the end of the season if the respective boards can agree, playing at Denderleeuw’s Florent Beeckman Stadion. Hekelgem will leave their substantial, and largely new, Bellekouter Stadion, which is something of a landmark on the E40 Motorway.

Merger mania is also afflicting FC Beringen and V V Vigor Beringen, who are both struggling in Division 4 of the Belgian pyramid. The merged club would use FC’s Vatana Stadion, which holds around 17,500. In Brussels, another Div 4 club is in financial trouble. RCS Saint-Josse, whose Stade Petre features a very nice grandstand, may withdraw at the end of the season. Two other clubs from the Brabant Provincial League, SCUP Jette and Etoile Dieleghem, are also likely to merge at the end of the current season under the catchy title of Royal Etoile SCUP Dieleghem Jette and playing at SCUP’s well appointed ground at Avenue de l’Exposition. Still in North Brussels, the Mayor of Grimbergen has said that the area’s many clubs – Strombeek (D2), Grimbergen, Borgt and Humbeek (all Provincial level) should merge under one banner. Strombeek’s compact ground at De Singel is in need of an upgrade for Division 2 football, and Grimbergen’s Prinsenbos Stadion is a more likely home for the merged club.

Other merger talks are reported to be continuing between these clubs: Zultse VV (D3) and SV Waregem (D4); Oud Heverlee (D3) and Stade Leuven (D3); and KSV Ingelmunster (D2) and KV Kortrijk (D2).

Finally, the Mayor of St Niklaas, near Antwerp, has offered the use of the 12,000-capacity Puyenbeke Stadion to nearby Red Star Haasdonk of Division 4. Puyenbeke has been vacant since St Niklaas merged with Division One Lokeren last Summer, playing at Lokeren’s Daknamstadion.