The Stadion Wojska Polskiego (, en,
Polish Army
The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...
Stadium), officially named Stadion Miejski Legii Warszawa im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego ( eng, The Marshall
Józef Piłsudski
), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania)
, death_date =
, death_place = Warsaw, Poland
, constituency =
, party = None (formerly PPS)
, spouse =
, children = Wan ...
's Municipal Stadium of Legia Warsaw) in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, is an
all-seater
An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most association football and Ame ...
,
highest fourth category football-specific stadium
Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-p ...
. The venue is located at the 3
Łazienkowska Street in
Śródmieście district. It is the home ground of
Legia Warsaw football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
, who have been playing there since 9 August 1930.
The stadium underwent a two-stage, complete
reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
in the years 2008–2011. Only a small part of the main building facade was preserved from the old construction (with another part being precisely reconstructed).
With space for 31,800 spectators it is the 5th biggest football stadium in
Ekstraklasa
Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams.
Contested by 18 cl ...
and the 7th biggest in the country.
The stadium is equipped with a heated pitch, training pitch, underground parking, sport bar, club museum and other facilities.
The stadium, which for decades belonged to the
Polish Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...
, is currently owned by the
City of Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
.
Construction Background
The necessity to build a new stadium for Legia Warszawa players increased in the mid-1990s, when Legia had one of the most successful periods in its history.
Championship of Poland (1994, 1995),
Polish Cup
The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...
(1995, 1997), semi-final of the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
(1991) and the quarter-final of the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
(1996) strengthened the demand to modernize or even replace the old facility. Ultimately, however, until 1997 virtually nothing on this subject has been done.
The complicated legal status of the land, which belonged to the military, effectively discouraged potential investors. The new hope came together with the new owners –
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...
company, which bought the majority stake in Legia in the late 1996. The Korean club owners strongly lobbied the City of Warsaw to take over the property and invest in the new facility, however, the then owners of the site – the Military Property Agency – was not willing to sell the property. The deadlock existed for the next 5 years, during which time the Koreans sold the club. Eventually, the sale went through on 29 July 2002, when the City of Warsaw acquired the title to the land. Although the market value was estimated at 60 million PLN, the purchase price was agreed at 16 million PLN. In October 2004, Warsaw's chief architect Michał Borowski gave permission to build a new stadium on the said land. The decision led to the announcement of tender for redevelopment of the Legia's facilities.
On 25 September 2006, the City of Warsaw dismissed the offer of the German consortium: HMB Stadien GmbH und Sportstättenbau with Wayss Schlüsselfertigbau und Freytag AG and Krupp Stahlbau Hannover GmbH, which had won the tender. Their project planned the construction of a building with a capacity of 30,500 to 35,000 spectators, with underground parking, and – a first at a Polish sports facility – was supposed to have a fully retractable roof. The City, however, did not accept the consortium's condition that all the funds for the construction be secured by the investor prior to the construction. The Polish side cancelled the deal.
On 26 September 2006, Legia's new owners –
ITI Group
ITI Group (International Trading and Investments Holdings SA Luxembourg), known as Grupa ITI in Poland, was a large media conglomerate headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. On 2 July 2015, ITI Group and Canal+ Group complete the sale of their controll ...
– during a meeting with the acting
President of Warsaw
The city mayor of Warsaw, or more literally the ''city president of Warsaw'' (the official title in Polish is ''"prezydent miasta stołecznego Warszawy"'', literal translation ''"president of the capital city of Warsaw"'') is the head of the exec ...
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (; born 20 December 1959) is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 31 October 2005 to 14 July 2006. He was a member of the Law and Justice party (''Prawo i Sprawiedliwość'', PiS).
...
, in the club premises presented their own idea of rebuilding the stadium. Their idea provided for the construction of the stadium in stages (so that the club could still play games during the construction), with the capacity between 31,800 and 34,000 seats (depending whether standing spaces were included). In November of that year, the club signed a 23-year lease with the City of Warsaw. In June 2007, the
Warsaw City Council
Warsaw City Council, officially the Council of the Capital City of Warsaw ( pl, Rada Miasta Stołecznego Warszawy) is a unicameral governing body of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland.
The council was first created following the location of ...
allocated 360 million PLN in funding (which later had to be increased to 460 million PLN) for the construction of the new stadium according to the club's proposed design. In April 2008 the then President of Warsaw
Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz
Hanna Beata Gronkiewicz-Waltz (, born 4 November 1952) is a Polish politician and lawyer, Professor of Jurisprudence and politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw between 2006 and 2018. She is the first woman to hold this position.
Life ...
issued a permit for the construction of the stadium. On 12 November 2008 the investor – the City of Warsaw – signed an agreement with a consortium
Polimex-
Mostostal for the construction works.
On 17 November 2008 the first stage of the new stadium construction began. This stage provided for the demolition and construction of three stands: the southern, the eastern, and the northern one. Works began by the demolition of the club's old premises and of the eastern stand (the famous "
Żyleta
Żyleta (, en, the Razor) is a common name of a northern stand at the Stadion Wojska Polskiego in Warsaw, Poland, traditionally occupied by the most spontaneous and fanatical fans of Legia Warsaw football club. Before the stadium renovation (200 ...
"). The first stage was completed and taken over by the investor on 10 May 2010. The stadium was officially opened (with only three stands completed) by a match against
Arsenal F.C. on 7 August 2010. The second stage of construction, which provided for the demolition and construction of the eastern stand (the main stand – so-called "Kryta") was completed and taken over by the investor on 10 May 2011.
Stadium characteristics
Overall
The Stadion Wojska Polskiego at
Łazienkowska_Street_is_located_in_
Warsaw_
Warsaw__(_pl,_Warszawa,_),_officially_the_Capital_City_of_Warsaw,,_abbreviation:_''m.st._Warszawa''_is_the_capital_and__largest_city_of__Poland._The_metropolis_stands_on_the__River_Vistula_in_east-central_Poland,_and_its_population_is_officia_...