Government slams funding for new national football stadium

Today the government repealed the resolution of the former government of Robert Fico to earmark EUR 69.12 million for the construction of the new 22,000 capacity national football stadium. The government had already announced that it would not support the construction, and the latest move has put the final nail in the coffin.

The national football ground was supposed to be built by the City of Bratislava, which was to receive a subsidy from the state to this end, but the contract between the two parties was never signed because City Hall was denied the right to demolish the old Bratislava Slovan stadium at Tehelne Pole. The ground is devoid of life at the moment with the “Belasi” (Slovan’s nickname) now playing in the Pasienky stadium a few hundred metres away.

The City of Bratislava became a partner in the company Národný futbalový štadión for the purpose of building the new stadium, but now it could well pull out of the company. Milan Vajda from City Hall said that it would now probably be up to whoever gets into City Hall after the municipal elections in November.

Owner of Slovan Bratislava football club, Ivan Kmotrik, recently declared that he would be willing to invest in the new stadium, but some feel this is just speculation.

At present the country has no national football ground that satisfies FIFA requirements, and so games of the national squad are being played out either in the Pasienky ground or in Zilina, where the Slovak team drew 1-1 last night with Ireland in their EURO 2012 qualifier.

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