The federal government of Belgium, the government of Flanders, and the city of Brussels have come to an agreement which should lead to the construction of a new football stadium in Brussels, which is to replace the present King Baudouin Stadium.
King Baudouin Stadium, formerly known as Heysel Stadium, got extensively redeveloped in the 1990s, but lacks the modern facilities of the newly built stadiums of these days.
However, decisions on building new national stadiums are not taken quickly, and things get even more difficult in Belgium with multiple governments involved.
The present plans aim to built a complete new stadium with a capacity of 60,000 seats at the site of a car park close to King Baudouin Stadium, though just outside the Brussels city limits, which meant that the government of Flanders had to get involved. As the site directly borders the Brussels city limits and is dependent on the city in terms of mobility and safety, no stadium could get built without the city giving the go ahead either.
In the end, the debate got most intense on whether the new stadium should include an athletics track. King Baudouin Stadium is the proud host of the Memorial Van Damme athletics games, which count as one of the world’s most prestigious athletics events.
Different plans were considered involving a new stadium with either retractable stands over the track or with a retractable roof. Having both features would be too expensive. In the end was chosen for the retractable stands, which won over most opposition of the critics.
There is, however, one small problem, which is that nobody wants to pay for the new stadium. No governments, and not the national football federation, who do not deem it worth for the 6 matches a year they make use of the stadium.
The money will therefore have to come from private investors, and attracting a football club seems like a necessity. The only real candidate to move in seems Belgian champion Anderlecht, who have long sought to expand their Constant Vanden Stock Stadion, however with little success. While doubling their capacity may be a bit too ambitious, it may just be the best there is for them. Whether that means they think it is worth breaking the bank for, however still remains to be seen.
At the same time, the Belgian football federation also submitted the new stadium as a candidate for the 2020 European Championships, which will get played in venues all across Europe.
If the new arena gets built, this spells the end for King Baudouin Stadium. The iconic stadium is one of the European stadiums that has hosted most European Cup finals, but will most of all be remembered by the last of all: the one between Juventus and Liverpool that was the stage of the Heysel disaster that cost the lives of 39 fans.