Malmo to Build $87 Million Soccer Stadium
12/07/2007 |
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Peab AB, Sweden's third-largest construction company, won an order to build a 580 million kronor ($87 million) stadium for soccer club Malmoe FF, as more Swedish teams build their own stadiums in order to improve revenue.
The arena will be called Swedbank Stadium and is expected to be completed in April 2009, Peab said in a statement distributed by Cision today. The stadium will have 18,000 seats and a 6,000 standing-room section, Peab said. It can also be transformed into a 21,000 all-seat arena.
``We are very happy to have entered into a long-term partnership with Swedbank about the naming rights,'' Bengt Madsen, the club's chairman, said in a statement on its Web site. ``It feels safe to have as a base for the large financial outlay that the arena entails.''
The club-owned stadiums aim to replicate the success of Nordic rivals such as FC Copenhagen and Norway's Rosenborg. No Swedish team has qualified for the Champions League, Europe's most lucrative tournament, since Helsingborg in 2000.
Last year, Elfsborg won its first title since 1961 after moving into a new 117-million kronor stadium. Stockholm clubs Hammarby and Djurgaarden are also waiting for approval to build arenas, and the Swedish Football Association is setting up a new 50,000-seat national stadium on the outskirts of the capital. In Gothenburg, the city has started on a new stadium for its three elite teams, including former UEFA-cup winner IFK Gothenburg.
Malmoe FF has won 16 Swedish soccer titles, its last in 2004. The club is Sweden's richest and has fostered players such as Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Malmoe, located on Sweden's southern tip, is the country's third-largest city.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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