The PGE Narodowy stadium in Warsaw, Poland has reopened after being forced to shut last month due to a faulty roof.
The stadium’s operators said that “all elements… relieving and securing the defective element have been installed”.
They added that expert safety advisers had given the reopening their approval.
The stadium had been due to stage a friendly match between Chile and Poland ahead of the latter’s appearance at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. However, the match was ultimately moved to nearby Stadion Wojska Polskiego, the home of Legia Warsaw, after a standard inspection of its roof revealed a problem.
The inspection of the steel-rope connectors supporting the stadium’s spire revealed a structural defect on one of the connectors. The stadium operator closed its doors to the public and raised the issue with structural designer SBP and contractor Cimolai to determine the cause of the issue.
The venue reopened with its first business event on Friday before welcoming back the public through stadium tours the following day.
“Over the past month, intensive work has been carried out to restore the activity of this unique facility,” said Włodzimierz Dola, president of the Management Board of PL.2012+, the operator of PGE Narodowy.
“The fact is that all bypass elements have been installed and, according to the experts’ recommendation, we can resume our activities.
“We keep repeating that safety is our top priority. Therefore, we have taken a number of measures to ensure the safe functioning of the PGE Narodowy space.
“There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but we have taken the first, extremely important step – PGE Narodowy will be full of life again.”
PGE Narodowy has a capacity of 58,000 and opened in 2012 ahead of the UEFA European Championship, which Poland co-hosted alongside Ukraine. In October last year, the stadium was rebranded in honour of Polish football legend Kazimierz Górski, who managed the national team during the 1970s.
Górski was named an official patron of PGE Narodowy, which has been sponsored by Polska Grupa Energetyczna since 2015. The official name of the stadium is PGE Narodowy im. Kazimierza Górskiego.
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