(L-R): Minister Dan Kersch; Mayor Lydie Polfer; Paul Philipp, Luxembourg Football Federation; Steve Karier, Luxembourg Rugby Federation;
On Wednesday 3 April 2019, Luxembourg's new national football and rugby stadium hosted a number of dignataries and members of the press to review progress to date.
The current national stadium, the Stade Josy Barthel on Route d'Arlon, is being replaced; in 2014 the new stadium project started in earnest with the identification of a new greenfield site, the allocation of budget and the start of the design and tendering process. Now the project is well underway, with 95% of the major structural work now completed and the technical work and the fitting out of the stadium recently commenced.
On Wednesday, Lydie Polfer, Mayor of the Ville de Luxembourg, Dan Kersch, Minister of Sports, Paul Philipp, Luxembourg's Football Federation, and Steve Karier, President of the Luxembourg Rugby Federation, were all in attendance to review progress at the site located between the Cloche d'Or and Kockelscheuer.
The new stadium will have a capacity of 9,385 covered seats for spectators, as well as VIP spaces, food kiosks, a business club with kitchen, rooms and premises for the press, cloakrooms and all its auxiliary functions, and more. Most of these functional facilities are grouped together in a three-storey building on the stadium grounds next to Bld Kockelscheuer.
The stadium is built in accordance with current standards, especially FIFA / UEFA (Category 4 - which requires 8,000+ seats) and World Rugby standards, which includes 200 parking spaces on-site. Another part of the development is a multi-modal transport hub right next to the stadium.
Finances
Following an initial indicative budget of €58,163,766.00 in July 2015, December 2016 saw this amount rise to €61,150,076.80, of which €791,826.75 was set aside for the development of the multi-functional parking area. The Luxembourg state has committed to underwrite 70% of the project's budget, up to a maximum of €40 million, with the rest being funded by the Ville de Luxembourg.
The work on the pitch, in laying a hybrid turf surface, is scheduled to start at the end of this month. The exterior landscaping work is to be done in parallel while respecting a specific phasing and in coordination with all other works.
Schedule
Due to 4 weeks of bad weather during the winter of 2017/2018 and 3 weeks of bad weather during the winter of 2018/2019, and taking into account various other unscheduled delays, such as some bids that had to be cancelled and reopened, the initial schedule is currently showing slight delays. Also certain works can only be done in very specific weather conditions (sealing works, laying of the lighting of the ground in top of beams, seeding of natural grass, etc ...).
The first football match at the new stadium is scheduled for late spring 2020. Steve Karier, President of the Luxembourg Rugby Federation, talked with Chronicle.lu and explained that, while it is possible that the federation may issue an invite to another federation for a friendly international, it is probable that the first rugby international at the new stadium will be a competitive match and will take place in autumn 2020.
