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Feyenoord outlines demands for new stadium

Feyenoord’s new general director, Mark Koevermans, has laid out three conditions that the Dutch Eredivisie football club needs answers to in order to commit to its proposed new stadium, including having a stake in the project.

Feyenoord yesterday (Tuesday) unveiled a new management team, led by Koevermans, with the subject of the proposed stadium at the forefront of the club’s planning for the future. Speaking at a press conference, Koevermans said the Rotterdam giant is expected to make a final decision on whether to fully commit to the project by mid-2020.

He said: “The starting points have not changed. This means that we will only do it if Feyenoord really benefits from it. So, if the new stadium can be financed, if there is a builder who wants to build it at the guaranteed construction figure and if the business case shows that there is substantially more left over for Feyenoord.”

Officials behind Feyenoord City, the major development project for Rotterdam that will include the new stadium, last month submitted the masterplan for the scheme to the city council. The masterplan contained the complete vision for the radical overhaul of land in the southern part of the Dutch city, which received the green light from the municipal council in May 2017 with certain conditions attached.

The presentation of the masterplan came after the final design for the new stadium was presented in September, complete with a few alterations. Most noticeably, the changes included bringing the stadium’s stands closer to the pitch.

The 63,000-seat project has been costed at around €440m (£376.2m/$484.1m). Regarding the club’s three conditions, Koevermans said: “It must be able to be built for the budgeted sum of €440m. There is now a definitive design, we are busy re-calculating if it can be done for that price. The second condition is that we become an owner of the stadium ourselves. We need to look for financing to get the €440m together.”

Koevermans also said the club expects to generate €25m per season from a new stadium. “As management we will make a decision quickly,” he stated. “It will be a new stadium, or we will continue to play in (current home) De Kuip. In both cases we want to become the owner of the stadium.”

Koevermans disclosed that the club is also seeking fresh investment. He added: “We are exploring the options. There may be a foreign investor. We are currently working hard on that. We have no intention of selling the club. Feyenoord will remain Feyenoord.”

Image: OMA