Ghelamco Arena

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Ghelamco Arena
The stadium in late July 2013
The stadium in late July 2013
Earlier names

Arteveldestadion (until 2013)

Data
place Ottergemsesteenweg Zuid 808 9000 Gent , Belgium
BelgiumBelgium
Coordinates 51 ° 0 '57.9 "  N , 3 ° 44' 1.8"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 0 '57.9 "  N , 3 ° 44' 1.8"  E
owner KAA Gent
City of Gent
start of building 2011
opening 17th July 2013
First game July 17, 2013
KAA Gent - VfB Stuttgart 2-0
surface Natural grass
costs 80 million euros
architect Bontinck Architecture and Engineering
capacity 20,000 seats
playing area 105 × 68 m
Societies)

The Ghelamco Arena is a football stadium in the Belgian city ​​of Ghent , East Flanders Province . The building in the sub-municipality Gentbrugge is the home of the football club KAA Gent . Initially, the stadium construction was named Arteveldestadion after Jacob van Artevelde, who was born in Ghent .

history

The beginnings of the new stadium go back to 2003. On May 12th, the city of Ghent announced in a press conference that a new football stadium was being built. The city's old wholesale market hall was selected as the location. The R 4 ring motorway runs conveniently past the site and connects to the A 10 and A 14 motorway junction nearby . Completion was planned for the 2006/07 season. For the KAA Gent, the new building offers better income and marketing opportunities than in the Jules Ottenstadion built in 1920 . In addition, there is no longer a problem for residents because the old stadium is surrounded by residential buildings.

However, the schedule was seriously delayed. Reasons for this were, among other things, a negative environmental impact assessment and a dispute with the nearby University Clinic UZ Gent over fear of noise pollution from the construction and operation of the arena. In 2009 the KAA Gent was plagued by financial problems. The association and the city were only able to agree on financing the construction costs of 50 million euros in mid-2010. A new date with the end of construction in 2012 was planned, but construction could not start until 2011.

The Ghelamco Arena offers visitors 20,000 covered seats. They include 1,200 business seats and 20 boxes , called skyboxes, each with 12 seats. For wheelchair users, 22 to 66 seats are available for the home team and 10 to 30 seats for external visitors, depending on demand. There are also special seats for the hearing impaired and blind visitors. There are kiosks and stalls selling food and drink throughout the stadium. The KAA Gent's fan shop can be found at the main entrance .

The outer facade consists largely of glazed window areas. A total of 2,200 car parking spaces (including 400 above ground and 1,100 underground as well as 78 disabled spaces) are available in the direct stadium area. There are also 800 parking spaces for bicycles. Furthermore are shuttle buses and car pools available.

At the end of May 2013 it was announced that the naming rights to the arena were sold to the real estate company Ghelamco Group . This means that the sports facility is called Ghelamco Arena .

The Buffalos' venue, which cost 80 million euros , was officially inaugurated on July 17, 2013 with a friendly against VfB Stuttgart . The home side defeated a weak VfB with 2-0 goals.

Arteveldepark

In addition to the stadium, the Arteveldepark complex also includes two ten-story high-rise office buildings called Blue Towers with around 13,000 and 15,000 square meters of usable space, a hotel and a hardware store with more than 14,000 square meters of retail space. At the end of March 2014, the first companies moved into the offices of the Blue Towers . The construction of the four-star hotel with 260 rooms has now started and should be completed by mid-2015.

gallery

  • The construction site in March 2012

  • The stadium behind the bridge over the Ringvaart of Ghent in June 2013

  • The construction site on June 4, 2013

  • The main entrance to the arena

  • The stadium interior

panorama

and display information about the image
Panoramic view of the stadium

Web links

Commons : Ghelamco Arena  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ stadiumdb.com: Ghelamco Arena (Arteveldestadion) (English)
  2. ↑ Persvoorstelling 2003 ( Memento from July 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Dutch)
  3. ^ New building and renovation international ( Memento from January 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Een nieuwe mobiliteit voor een nieuw stadion ( Memento from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Dutch)
  5. ↑ grenzecho.net: Gents new stadium is called Ghelamco Arena Article from June 1, 2013
  6. ↑ stadionwelt.de: Stadium opening in Ghent, article from July 19, 2013
  7. ↑ stuttgarter-nachrichten.de: VfB Stuttgart loses test match in Gent with 0: 2 Article from July 18, 2013
  8. ^ Ghent - Urban development Project Artevelde ( Memento of October 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  9. ↑ The Blue Towers ( Memento from July 1, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
  10. ↑ hln.be: Eerste volksverhuis naar 'Blue Towers' article from April 1, 2014 (Dutch)