By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 20 – Leopold Windtner, the president of Austria’s football federation ÖFB, has unveiled plans to build a new national football stadium following high attendance figures for country’s Euro 2016 qualifiers.
“Let us have a look at our neighbour, Hungary, where a new stadium is currently under construction on the site of its Ferenc Puskas national stadium, with 70,000 seats,” said Windtner, using the country as an example of where football stadium development has become a key part of national sports policy.
A new stadium in Austria would cost at least €150 million, according to daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung.
Windtner said that Austria’s recent home match against Lichtenstein could easily have attracted as many as 70,000 spectators but, due to the limited capacity of the recently revamped Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, where the match was played, many fans were disappointed.
The stadium was opened in May 1977 and has undergone a series of major upgrades from 2001 to 2013. It’s current capacity is about 49,500. It is also the home ground of local club Rapid Vienna.
Windtner said that with a new national stadium, Austria could seek to host large football events on its own.
The new stadium in Budapest is expected to be completed in 2019 at latest.
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