New stadium under construction in Madrid

Madrid - Estadio la Peineta 09.04.2014: The stadium, which is being built in Madrid, on the site of the original athletics Estadio la Peineta, was supposed to be the main venue for the 2016 summer Olympics, or the 2020 summer Olympics. However, in neither year Spain was awarded the Olympics. The 2016 Olympics will take place in Brazil and the 2020 Olympics were awarded to Japan. Nevertheless, the new stadium has been under construction since 2011 and should be completed in 2015.

The construction of the stadium, with a capacity of nearly 74,000, is supposed to cost about 240 million EUR. The new stadium will be home to Atlético Madrid. However, if we consider the situation from the point of view of fans, they would probably prefer renovation of the current Estadio Vicente Calderón, which has an ideal capacity of 54,851, to construction of a new stadium, which should hold up to 73,729 spectators, meaning that only matches with Real Madrid or Barcelona might be sold out.

CONSTRUCTION OF ESTADIO LA PEINETA:

Photo: OlimpiaYGF (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The original plan to build an athletics stadium for the Olympics was updated in 2011, so it will now be a football-only stadium. However, the fans will have to get used to a new location of the Atletico stadium. The current Vicente Calderón stadium is situated in the North-West of Madrid, which is eleven kilometres away from the new Estadio la Peineta, which is being built in the eastern part of the city.

The original athletics stadium had one large stand, which could hold 25,000 spectators. It can be compared to the Juliska stadium in Prague. The demolition of the bottom stands began in November 2011 and following this, the construction of the underground car park, situated below the new stand, began. The project also includes construction of a commercial area, which is a “must” in all new arenas, as it helps increase the profit.

VISUALIZATION - ESTADIO LA PEINETA AFTER CONSTRUTCION (2017):