"A good idea"

Location & capacity: the status of the new stadium

Goodbye Prater Stadium? Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) initiated the discussion about a new national stadium.(Bild: GEPA pictures ROLAND SCHLAGER Krone KREATIV,)

The presentation of Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer's Austria plan was to a certain extent the impetus for the planning of a new national stadium. Shortly before a meeting between the Federal Chancellor and ÖFB team manager Ralf Rangnick, the "Krone" learned the first details about possible requirements. What's new in terms of capacity and construction and what the Chancellor thinks of the possible location in Styria.

Austria 1, Bavaria 0: The retention of ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick further fueled the European Championship euphoria throughout the country. While our neighbors in Germany are announcing parts of the European Championship squad, our team manager will meet with Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Wednesday.

The meeting will also discuss plans for the construction of a new stadium for the national team. As is well known, the Styrian ÖVP state governor Christopher Drexler recently demanded that this should be located in Styria.

Drexler: "Graz is the soccer capital"
"Graz is the soccer capital of Austria, Styria is the soccer state of Austria. It is therefore a shame that we are not able to host Champions League matches in Graz and are also left out of international soccer matches. However, the outstanding success of Styrian soccer clubs in recent years underlines the fact that Styria is second to none when it comes to soccer. I would therefore like to suggest that the planned new national stadium should come to Styria," Drexler said.

As one example of several variants on which the national oval could be built, Drexler mentioned the large area in the south of Graz around the Schwarzl leisure center in the 7,000-soul community of Premstätten.

What Nehammer says 
"A good idea", ÖVP Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer now passes the ball back to his party colleague. Where exactly the new stadium will be located should be decided in the next government term.

"I will be pleased if there are several interested parties. A modern national stadium for our soccer team is also part of our self-image as a sporting nation. It is good that this idea from my Austria plan has met with such great approval and interest. We will vigorously press ahead with this project - in close coordination with the ÖFB - in the coming government term. Our national team deserves a worthy home ground," said the Chancellor.

In addition to a new, modern home ground for our first eleven, the overriding goal is to be able to host international finals in Austria again in the foreseeable future. The last Champions League final in Vienna was held in 1995.

Capacity and construction
From 2030 - at least according to Nehammer's Austrian plan - the Happel Stadium could be replaced as the red-white-red home ground by a new arena, and the current capacity of the Happel Stadium of 50,000 people could at least be reached again in the new "National Oval". However, spectators will be closer to the action and there will no longer be a running track between the crowd and the pitch.

In the next government period, the plans are to be fleshed out with these specifications and possibly even a separate architectural competition will be announced in the near future. 

Two top candidates
For political scientist and soccer fan Peter Filzmaier, the strategy behind this is clear. "The ÖVP is using the opportunity of an announcement policy in this super election year," he explains. According to Filzmaier, both Nehammer, who will be the ÖVP's top candidate in the National Council elections at the end of September, and Drexler, who will be the ÖVP's top candidate in the Styrian elections, are making targeted use of this popular topic.

In Vienna, according to other political observers, the ÖFB team's plans to emigrate from the Prater around a year before the elections there could also be seen as a straddle.

Energy-neutral Happel Stadium
And what will happen to the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna? It is well known that more than 100 million euros are being invested in the venerable oval by Vienna City Hall. An analysis of the substance of the roof and the construction down to the foundations presented last year showed that the stadium would still be "fit for purpose" for the next four to five decades.

In November, the municipal council unanimously decided to make the stadium the first emission-neutral sports and event venue in Europe.