The big Euro Stadium news of recent months concerns the saga over the Olympiastadion in Munich, and the plans for a replacement. As you may recall, Germany’s most famous modern stadium had been earmarked to receive a new roof (see picture in magazine) to complement the existing tent-like structure, enabling Munich to stage the opening match of the 2006 World Cup Finals. Then, the designer of the 1972 stadium, Gunther Behnisch, threw a huge spanner in the works by asserting copyright over the original design and vetoing the proposals to roof the open areas. The stadium as it is now does not have sufficient cover to meet FIFA’s requirements, so it was clear that if Munich was to avoid the unthinkable – missing out on the 2006 jamboree – a new stadium would be required, and the city’s residents were asked to vote in a referendum held in October to approve the expenditure. Almost two-thirds of the votes were cast in favour of the project, so a new stadium costing 760m DM will be built in the northern suburb of Froetmanning. Out of that massive cost (about £250m), 200m DM each will come from the City of Munich and the two resident clubs (Bayern and 1860, who will surely struggle to raise the finance). The balance will come from state funds and the stadium is very likely to see the first ball kicked at the 2006 Finals after all.

Still in Germany, Division Two side Union Berlin has finally put up some cover at their semi-rural ground “Alte Forsterei”. Union, who played in the UEFA Cup this season following their German Cup exploits in 2001, have roofed the section of seats dividing the main pitch from the practice pitch, and there are plans to cover the terracing opposite in the near future.

In the Czech Republic, Slovan Liberec have continued to develop their picturesque “U Nisy” Stadium. Liberec put up floodlights just in time for their match with Liverpool in last season’s UEFA Cup, and this Autumn has seen the completion of a proper stand (pictured in magazine) opposite the Grandstand to take overall capacity to around 10,500. FC Stavo Artikel Brno (FC Brno to you and me) played their last match at the vast “Na Luzankami” Stadium in September. At its peak, Na Luzankami was the largest ground in the country and could hold 55,000 but Brno and the local authorities have spent several millions revamping the much smaller “Mestsky Fotbalovy Stadion” (literally, Municipal Stadium) into a relatively modern 12,500 capacity venue.

Poland is not an area we’ve ventured into too often in this part of the magazine, but our Central European expert Stephan Frank is putting that right for us. Stephan has reported that the Slask Stadium in the Silesian town of Chorzow has finally seen some improvements. England fans and players are well familiar with this huge bowl of a place, which has no resident club and functions as a home to the national team, which has seen some recent success at long last. The last time England played there, in May 1997, fans were confined to one half of the stadium and an odd temporary stand housed media and officials on the other side. This stand has been removed and a huge second tier built over the existing sweep of banking. This side has new floodlights, whilst the grim 1950s tower block still looms over the opposite side, which has blue seating. Very few seats have any cover, and there are (as yet) no permanent toilets.

Elsewhere in Poland, Division Two club Ryan Odra Opole (Opole being the town) appear to have run out of money in their bid to redevelop one side of their ground with a 5,000 seat stand. We gather that the halfway stage had been reached in the Summer and no further building has been done since. KSZO Ostrowiec marked their promotion to the top flight with a new Grandstand, a move that was mirrored by fellow promotees RKS Radomsko, except that RKS declined to add a roof for their fans. Finally, Amica Wronki, whose 6,000 capacity Amica-Stadion is one of the smallest in the First Division, has a new seated stand behind one goal.

Moving swiftly on to France, things have gone from bad to worse for Toulouse. Last season they were demoted from the top flight for playing reasons and then sent down to the third division for financial reasons. Then September’s catastrophic explosion at a chemical factory caused severe structural damage to the “Stadium”, forcing Toulouse FC to relocate to the Stade des 7 Deniers, which is home to the city’s egg-chasers. Repairs to the Stadium, where England met Romania in France ’98, are expected to last the remainder of the season.

Grenoble are back in Division Two and also back at the Stade Lesdiguieres, which is primarily a rugby venue. The municipality is looking at options to build a brand new stadium, or upgrade FC Grenoble’s rather outdated velodrome-format Stade Charles Berty. Three clubs also marked the new season by opening new stands – Laval (Stade Le Basser), Bastia (a new end stand at the Stade Furiani) and Sedan (the fourth and final side at the new Stade Louis Dugauguez).

In Italy, decreasing crowds (see the text box in magazine) are a possible reason for the lack of stadium-building activity. Indeed the only definite news we have concerns the Military Stadium in Florence, which will be the venue for the European Team Cup of Athletics in 2003. In September, the former British athlete Fiona May began the demolition of the existing stadium and a 7,900 seat arena will take its place.

A few issues ago we told you about the large scale changes being made to Rosenborg Trondheim’s Lerkendal Stadion. This season, which has seen Rosenborg collect their TENTH straight Norwegian Championship (a record amongst UEFA nations, apparently), the club opened not one but TWO new stands, one at each end of the ground. The designs match the “Adidas Stand” which is usually opposite the TV cameras, with a slightly angular stepped roof over two tiers of seats. Demolition of the old vaulted-roof main stand began recently and the completed stadium should be ready next Summer.

It wouldn’t be a proper EuroNews without some news from Belgium, where you will often find that clubs build decent spectator facilities on the outlying pitches that invariably surround the pristine main arena. One good example is to be found at the Fenix-Stadion in Genk, home of the 1999 Champions Racing Genk. The main stadium has been built up in stages and currently holds 21,400 spectators in an atmospheric horseshoe shape. Behind the East Stand, however, Racing have developed a rather nice “mini-stadium” in the shadow of a landscaped slag-heap. The roof, yet to be clad when this picture was taken in August, cantilevers out directly from the stand, and there is additional terracing opposite.

Finally, in Holland, there is set to be yet more work carried out at the Philips-Stadion, home of PSV Eindhoven. The club will add seats in the upper tier of each corner, raising capacity to 36,000 in time for the second half of the 2001/02 campaign.