Polish Army Stadium - Construction Background

Construction Background

The necessity to build a new stadium for Legia Warszawa players increased in the mid-90s of the Twentieth century, when Legia had one of the most successful periods in its history. Polish championship (Ekstraklasa) (1993 - withdrawn, 1994, 1995), Polish Cup (1995, 1997), semi-final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1992) and the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League (1996) strengthened the demand to modernize or even replace the old facility. Ultimately, however, until 1997 virtually nothing on this subject has been done. The complicated legal status of the land, which belonged to the military, effectively discouraged potential investors. The new hope came together with the new owners - Daewoo company, which bought the majority stake in Legia in the late 1996. Korean club owners were strongly lobbying that the City of Warsaw takes over the property and invests in the new facility, however, the then owner - Military Property Agency - was not willing to waive property. The deadlock existed for the next 5 years, during which time the Koreans left the club. Eventually, the transaction went through on July 29, 2002, when the City of Warsaw acquired the title to the land. Although the market value was estimated at 60 million PLN, the purchase price was agreed at 16 million PLN. In October 2004, Warsaw's chief architect Michał Borowski gave permission to build a new stadium on the said land. The decision led to the announcement of tender for redevelopment of the Legia's facilities.

On September 25, 2006 the City of Warsaw dismissed the offer of the German consortium: HMB Stadien GmbH und Sportstattenbau with Wayss Schlusselfertingbau und Freytag AG and Krupp Stahlbau Hannover GmbH, which had won the tender. Their project involved the construction of the building with the audience capacity from 30,500 to 35,000 spectators, with underground parking, and - as the first sport facility in Poland - was supposed to have fully retractable roof. The City, however, did not accept the consortium's condition that all the funds for the construction be secured by the investor prior to the construction. The Polish side canceled the deal. On September 26, 2006 Legia's new owners - ITI Group - during a meeting with the acting President of Warsaw Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, in the club premises presented their own idea of rebuilding the stadium. Their idea provided for the construction of the stadium in stages (so that the club could still play games during the construction), with the capacity between 31,800 to 34,000 seats (depending whether the standing spaces were included). In November of that year, the club signed a 23-year lease with the City of Warsaw. In June 2007, the Warsaw City Council allocated 360 million PLN funds (which had later to be increased up to 460 million PLN) for the construction of the new stadium according to the club's proposed project. In April 2008 the then President of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz issued a permit for the construction of the stadium. On November 12, 2008 the investor - the City of Warsaw - signed an agreement with a consortium Polimex-Mostostal for the construction works.

On November 17, 2008 the first stage of the new stadium construction began. This stage provided for the demolition and construction of three stands: the southern, the eastern, and the northern one. Works began by the demolition of the club's old premises and of the eastern stand (the famous "Żyleta"). The first stage was completed and taken over by the investor on May 10, 2010. The stadium was officially opened (with only three stands completed) by the match against Arsenal F.C. on August 7, 2010. The second stage of construction, which provided for the demolition and construction of the eastern stand (the main stand - so called "Kryta") was completed and taken over by the investor on May 10, 2011.