Features

Zaglebie Lubin buys former home, contract signed for new Odra Opole stadium

Polish Ekstraklasa football club Zagłębie Lubin has agreed a deal to acquire its former home, while terms have been finalised to deliver a new 11,600-seat stadium for second-tier I Liga team Odra Opole.

The Stadionu Górniczego was the site of some of Zagłębie’s early successes in its 75-year history, including promotion to the second-tier I Liga in 1982, and then again to the top-tier Ekstraklasa three years later.

After the construction of what was the then new Stadion Górniczego Ośrodka Sportu, Zagłębie’s home from 1985 to 2008, the Stadionu Górniczego became used as the first team’s training ground, as well as for youth team and women’s matches.

Polish broadcaster TVP said Zagłębie has spent €1.7m (£1.44m/$1.91m) to acquire its former home. The club now plays at the 16,000-capacity Stadion Miejski w Lubinie, which opened in 2009.

Michał Kielan (pictured), president of the management board of Zagłębie Lubin, said: “This is a very important investment for us, thanks to which the development of the KGHM Zagłębie Football Academy will continue.

“First of all, we want to create two football fields there. Next year, the facility celebrates its 50th anniversary, so we would like to modernise this stadium with dignity, so that it serves the Academy and the first team in the best possible way. From today, we can start the next stage, i.e. submitting applications.

“It was a very complicated process, but today the most important information is that it has finished and we can move on. We are glad that the facility belongs to us and we can start all activities aimed at restoring it to its former glory, thanks to which it will perform its functions in the best possible way.”

In other news, a contract has been signed between Zakładem Komunalnym and construction engineering company Mirbud to deliver Stadionu Opolskiego, the new home of Odra Opole.

The stadium, which is expected to be built in three years, will replace the 4,275-capacity Odra Stadion, which opened in 1930. A new stadium was first proposed in November 2017 by Mayor of the City of Opole, Arkadiusz Wiśniewski, with the contract signing now set to see the project moving forward.

Mirbud had been shortlisted for the contract alongside two other construction companies, tabling a final winning offer placing the cost of the project at PLN159m (£29.2m/€34.4m/$38.7m).

Image: Zagłębie Lubin