Swiss Super League football club Lausanne-Sport (LS) has played its first games in its new stadium, three years on from when construction work started on the project.
LS opened the Stade de la Tuilière with a 3-0 defeat to league leaders BSC Young Boys on Sunday, but bounced back with a 3-0 win of its own on Wednesday to go third in the table following promotion last season.
The new stadium has opened without fans in attendance due to COVID-19, but once spectators are allowed to return will offer a total capacity of 12,000 in fully seated mode, or 12,544 in matches that allow safe standing utilising rail seating.
Developed at a cost of CHF76.6m (£63.9m/€70.8m/$86.1m) and owned by the City of Lausanne, LS, which is owned by British petrochemicals company Ineos, holds a 15-year contract to operate it through a public-private partnership.
The Stade de la Tuilière replaces Stade Olympique de la Pontaise as the home of Lausanne-Sport. The latter stadium opened in 1904 and was redeveloped for Switzerland’s staging of the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
However, in recent years the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise proved unpopular with fans, and with an athletics track having been in place for Lausanne’s Diamond League event and other meets, the new stadium offers LS a football-specific home.
Image: Lausanne-Sport
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