Puskás Ferenc Stadium, formerly known as the Népstadion (“People’s Stadium”), opened in 1953 and was completely demolished in March 2016, when reconstruction works started. For a while, it seemed that nothing happens, but some of the elements of the new stadium are now appeared on the site.

According to plans, the new, 67,000-seat Puskás Stadium will be built at a cost of 190 (net 142.85) billion forints (EUR 459 million). If everything goes well, it will re-open on 25 November 2019, on the Day of the Hungarian Football.

As we have previously reported, costs for the new stadium have progressively gone up over time. In 2011 the construction was budgeted for 35 billion forints (around $200 million USD); that rose to 60-80 billion (roughly $400 million) in 2013 and to 110 billion forint ($375 million) in 2015.

Balázs Fürjes, Government Commissioner for Major Budapest Developments, has recently said that the stadium will definitely be ready in time for the European Championships.

Each of the six matches in one group, an eighth final and quarter-finals, will be held in the same two partner cities. The hosts are expected to be distributed geographically before the draw. Munich, for example, is expecting to be paired up with Budapest or Copenhagen.

At the 2020 European Championships, besides Budapest, 12 cities from 12 countries will host the matches: Amsterdam, Baku, Bilbao, Brussels, Bucharest, Dublin, Glasgow, Copenhagen, London, Munich, Rome and St. Petersburg.

via 24.hu

Source: hungarytoday.hu

Republished with permission