Renovation works to make the King Baudouin Stadium, home of the Red Devils, UEFA-compliant

The City of Brussels plans to invest 6 million euro in renovation works on the King Baudouin Stadium in 2023. This is what La Capitale writes and is confirmed by Brussels alderman Benoit Hellings to Belga news agency.

With the renovation works, the Belgian Football Federation hopes, among other things, to be eligible for the organisation of the finals of the Nations League, should the Red Devils qualify. To this end, the 50,000 seats must be adapted to UEFA standards. The costs are estimated at 3 million euro, for which a large European public tender was launched. ​

In addition to the plans of the Belgian Football Federation, the City of Brussels, where the King Baudouin Stadium is located, also wants to carry out various renovation works. The renovation of grandstand 1, which includes the press room and changing rooms, is on the programme. The works will take place in the first half of 2023 and will cost 1 million euro.

Memorial Van Damme

The athletics track of the King Baudouin Stadium will also be completely replaced so that the Memorial Van Damme can start on the brand new track in 2023. It has been twelve years since the athletics track was renovated. The total cost is estimated at 6 million euro.

"It is an important cost, but it is not a major total renovation. For that we need more resources and the city of Brussels cannot do it alone," Brussels alderman for sport Benoit Hellings (Ecolo) said. "The renovation works were already in the pipeline and are now really becoming concrete," he clarified.

The King Baudouin Stadium is not only home to the Red Devils and the Memorial Van Damme, an annual athletics competition that has been part of the Diamond League since 2010. This year, the stadium was also the setting for concerts by The Rolling Stones, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. For such events, the capacity can rise to 65,000 seats. According to alderman Hellings, the concert requests for next year are already pouring in.

(AHU)

© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM