Design & Development

Pogoń Szczecin makes winning start at new-look Stadion Miejski

Featured image credit: Pogoń Szczecin

Polish Ekstraklasa football club Pogoń Szczecin played its first match at the revamped Stadion Miejski on Saturday.

The new-look stadium has a capacity of 20,500, up from 18,000. The renovation project began in 2019 and was completed in time for Saturday’s match, which saw Pogoń Szczecin defeat Lechia Gdańsk 2-1 to move to the top of the Ekstraklasa table after 11 matches.

Stadion Miejski now features new roofed stands, enhanced infrastructure and a new youth training centre, as well as a new sound system to improve the match-day experience.

Pogoń Szczecin did not need to play away from Stadion Miejski during the renovation work, which cost over PLN360m (£65m/€75m/$73m) to carry out. The government co-financed the project.

Saturday’s match was attended by Polish Football Association (PZPN) president Zbigniew Boniek, as well as the Mayor of Szczecin Piotr Krzystek. More than 20,000 fans attended the match.

Stadion Miejski, which was built in 1925, is officially named Florian Krygier Municipal Stadium, after a Polish football coach who was an instrumental figure in Pogoń Szczecin’s history.

From the 1950s to 1989, the stadium was owned by Pogoń Szczecin, but it now belongs to the City of Szczecin commune and is managed by the Municipal Sports, Recreation and Rehabilitation Center.

Modernisation was first discussed in 2015 after several new stadiums were built in Poland as it co-hosted Euro 2012. Designs were agreed in 2016 with a budget announced in 2019 and work beginning later that year as both the south and west stands were demolished. With much of the stadium removed, its capacity was little more than 4,000 during the 2019-20 season.