By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – Poland’s showpiece venue for this summer’s European Championship finals was opened on Sunday – eight months late.
The 58,000-capacity National Stadium in Warsaw, on a site previously occupied by a disused Communist-era venue which staged its last match in 1983, was built from scratch at a cost of €473 million (£397 million/$625 million).
Originally the stadium should have been unveiled last June but was repeatedly delayed because of improvement needs, especially evacuation access.
The stadium was the last in Poland, which shares the tournament with Ukraine, to be completed.
The opening ceremony will take place there on June 8 followed by the first match between Poland and Greece and another five games.
Poland’s other stadia are in Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw while Ukraine has Kiev, Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv.
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