Featured image credit: FC Andorra/Commune of Encamp
FC Andorra, the Segunda División football club owned by former Spain and Barcelona player Gerard Piqué, is exploring other sites for a new stadium after stepping back from plans to build a new venue in Encamp.
The club was last year granted permission to build a new 6,000-capacity stadium on the site of the Prada de Moles sports facilities in Encamp. The project had been expected to cost around €26m (£23.2m/$27.8m) but rising prices have reportedly led to a change in strategy.
The Commune of Encamp had agreed to contribute €6m during the first phase of the project. According to Andorran newspaper Altaveu, cost overruns of around €20m have prevented the plans from going ahead, with the club informing the local government that it has withdrawn from the project.
The rising costs are said to be a result of a construction boom in Andorra and the inflated price of materials. The total price of the project has reportedly risen to €40m, an amount FC Andorra is unwilling to pay.
Palco23 reports that Sílvia Riva, Andorra’s Minister of Sports, met with Justo Ruiz, the Secretary of State for Sports, and FC Andorra officials yesterday (Monday) to discuss the club’s plans going forward. It is hoped a resolution can be reached “as quickly as possible”.
The club is said to be keen to stay in Andorra, with attention now turning to finding a suitable site. FC Andorra currently plays its home matches at the Estadi Nacional, home of the Andorran national team, with its lease agreement expiring at the end of the 2023-24 season.
This season marks FC Andorra’s first-ever in the second tier of Spanish football. The club is currently 15th in the table after 26 games.
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