Hungary, the country of building stadiums

The national programme concerning stadium-building continues as the construction of the stadium in Szolnok became finished and another foundation stone for Haladás stadium was placed in April, reports metropol.hu. Until the end of 2017, 28 stadiums will have been built or renovated from billions of state money.

Regarding the 9 football teams of NB I, Debrecen, Ferencváros and the Puskás Ferenc Academy have already got new stadiums, while other 3 is currently under construction and the rest is waiting. The opening of the Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium (MTK) is expected in August this year, as its construction had begun in last year’s December. The capacity of the building is said to be of 5300 person, and building it cost 6.31 billion forints.

The demolition of the Sóstói Stadium (Videoton) in Székesfehérvár started in January, and after the 11 billion forints renovation is done – predictably next summer – it will be a UEFA IV arena, capable of having an audience of 14 thousand people. Its surroundings are also rehabilitated of further 3.85 billion forints.

The reconstruction of the stadium in Szombathely (Haladás) gained further financial support in February to the already received 9.6 billion forints. The new arena will be enlisted as a UEFA IV arena, with 9 thousand seats. The estimated full cost of the rebuilding is 15.2 billion forints, writes metropol.

In Paks, the renovation will begin at the end of the championships season and by the next season’s matches, 5 thousand people will be able to watch the events from the new, roofed grandstands. The project will cost about 1.4 billion forints, of which 800 million comes from the state while the remaining 600 million is ensured by the council.

The renovation of the Szusza Ferenc Stadium (Újpest) has been further delayed, therefore the team will continue to play at Megyeri Street in the spring season. The capacity of the grandstands will be expanded to 13,200 persons and the entrance system will also be changed by the end of the 800 million forints renovation process.

This year the renewal of the Békéscsaba stadium will also begin, including building and roofing grandstands. Furthermore, it was supposed to receive 800 million forints from the state but it got raised, so the development of the Kórház Street stadium will be carried out by 1.2 billion forints.

In February the state decided to provide 7.5 billion forints to the football club Vasas for the construction of the Illovszky Rudolf Stadium, which is hoped to be finished by the beginning of the 2017-18 season. The money will be divided, 4 billion forints would be used for the arena – whose holding capacity will be 5 thousand people – while the remaining sum would be spent on developing other sports’ building facilities.

In Diósgyőr, however, the work has not started yet, moreover, there is even no schedule yet concerning the construction of the new stadium of a holding capacity of 15 thousand people. What is known is that the earlier 8 billion forints state support was increased by further 2.915 billion forints.

So has the money provided for the reconstruction of the Bozsik stadium (Honvéd) been increased. The project of building the 8200 people capacity stadium gained another 510 million forints to the 5 million forints it was earlier decided to get. The starting time of the construction is unknown yet, even though the plans have been ready for a while.

It was decided, back in 2012 that the Puskás stadium needs a restoration, however, the process of demolishing the old one costs 4 billion forints and begun only in February this year and has still to be finished by October 5. The rebuilding – including the amelioration of the surrounding sports park – is foreseen to be carried out by 2019 from a state support of 100 billion forints.

In NB II 16 teams are competing, of whom 11 gained money from the state for stadium reconstructions. Gyirmót, for example, will begin the autumn season in its new stadium, which was built from a 600 million support. The first phase of development – worth of 500 million forints – recently ended in Sopron, but the second of 152 million forints will begin soon as well.

Mezőkövesd’s stadium received 400 million forints from the state and is expected to be opened in a couple of weeks. Kisvárda, the town of Miklós Seszták, Minister of National Development, also gained a nice amount of support, instead of 920 million forints it eventually got 1.61 billion forints for the renewal processes.

Yet, the money issued for Dunaújváros got decreased. Originally, they were said to get 3.2 billion forints but the sum became eventually 2 billion forints. The club already used 600 million, for the remaining 1.4 billion forints the investment will have to be finished by 2017. Similarly, Zalaegerszeg’s support also got reduced, from 1.25 billion to 1 billion forints, thus, the work began only after delays.

The construction in Balmazújsváros too got delayed. It was planned for 2014 but only started last year from a 400 million forints support. About the developments in Siófok and Szigetszentmiklós, it is only known that they would gain 600-600 million forints from the state. For the reconstructions in Szolnok and Ajka the state provided 400-400 million forints.

Of the teams in division three, Kozármisleny and Cegléd gained state support. The former 440 million forints while the latter 400 million forints. Nyíregyháza also receives money for stadium renewal, but the sum will be 500 million forints, half of what was first decided for them.

In the first division of counties 3 teams were promised state support. However, after the owner of the team was arrested, the money for Pápa got reduced from 800 million to 560 million forints, same as the support for Kecskemét. Kaposvár will also receive less money: instead of the original more than 1 billion forints, they will get 560 million forints. Pécs and Győr ended up worse, last year their support was also reduced but this year they got eliminated from the programme.

The stadiums whose construction are already finished are the Pancho Aréna in Felcsút, the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen and Budapest’s Groupama Aréna. Pancho – holds 3.5 thousand people – was built between April 2012 and 2014 of 3.8 billion forints which money is said to be of TAO (corporate tax allowance for sports facilities), down payment and offers of private companies. Nagyerdei – capacity of 20 thousand people – was constructed between February 2013 and May 2014 of 12.5 billion forints state support. The construction of Groupama cost 14.735 billion forints, and it was finished by May 2014, and is able to take in an audience of 23.7 thousand people.

Photo: Marcell Katona (wikimedia)

Copy editor: bm

Source: metropol.hu