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Show piece stadium for Euro 2012 opening match

This is Warsaw's showpiece stadium for the Euro 2012 football competition.

Instead of building a brand new stadium somewhere sensible, the authorities are attempting to reconstruct this decrepid relic bang in the centre of the city. Only twenty minutes by foot from the Palace of Culture, this stadium would have to accommodate around 50,000 fans - that is 1,000 buses arriving all at the same time. Yet it is hard enough to park a car at present on a Sunday morning when the market is at its peak. Whereas the point of having a national stadium must be disputed - surely people in Katowice, Szczecin, Lublin, Gdansk and Wroclaw deserve the chance to see their national team and a better solution would be to revolve it. However for reasons of prestige the opening ceremony has to be held in the capital - so why not upgrade an existing stadium? It makes far more sense. And if a new stadium must be built, then why not outside of Warsaw, somewhere where people can get to easily by public transport and by road and not in the centre of the capital. To put this into realistic comparison, it is like building the national stadium at Marble Arch in London or just off Etoile in Paris. A huge amount of prime development land is being lost for no reason at all and so far I have not heard one word in protest. Or is there something I am missing? And for the moment, instead of football matches it is hosting copies of branded goods at knock down prices!

Tagi: stadium, football, euro, 2012

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