Eurostadium
Cancelled stadium project just north of Brussels, Belgium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eurostadium was a proposed stadium in Grimbergen, Belgium, just north of Brussels. It would have had a capacity of 62,613.[1] In June 2015, the building deadline was set for 2019.[2] It would have hosted matches for UEFA Euro 2020,[3] and would have become the home ground of the Belgium national football team.[4]
| |
 Interactive map of Eurostadium | |
| Full name | Eurostadium |
|---|---|
| Location | Grimbergen, Belgium |
| Capacity | 62,613 |
| Construction | |
| Built | Cancelled in January 2018 |
| Tenants | |
| Belgium national football team | |
The initial plans intended for it to be the home ground of RSC Anderlecht as well, but they withdrew from the project in an early stage.[2] In contrast to the current stadium on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, the King Baudouin Stadium, it would no longer contain an athletics track.[5]
History
In March 2015, the City of Brussels council chose the Ghelamco/BAM Consortium as best candidate to finance, build and exploit the stadium.[6] During the years that followed, however, the project was plagued by numerous political delays.[7][8] Anderlecht eventually pulled out of the project in February 2017.[9]
Because of the delays, concerns rose that the stadium would not be built in time for Euro 2020, or even at all.[10] On 7 December 2017, the UEFA Executive Committee decided, due to these delays and the uncertainty that the stadium would be completed in time, to remove Brussels as a host city for Euro 2020. The games scheduled to be held there were instead awarded to Wembley Stadium in London, which meant that London would now host a total of seven matches (this increased to eight during the actual tournament, following the removal of Dublin as a host due to sanitary issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic).[11][12][13][14]
On 30 January 2018, Flemish Minister Joke Schauvliege rejected the application from Ghelamco for an environmental permit, and as a result, the project was cancelled.[15]