Stade Bollaert-Delelis

Stade Bollaert-Delelis
	The Stade Bollaert-Delelis before the first game of the 2015/16 season on August 8, 2015 against Red Star Paris .
Earlier names
	Stade Félix-Bollaert (until 2012)
Data
place	Lens , France
Coordinates	50 ° 25 '58.3 " N , 2 ° 48' 53.5" E Coordinates: 50 ° 25 '58.3 " N , 2 ° 48' 53.5" E
owner	City of Lens
start of building	1932
opening	June 18, 1933
Renovations	1954, 1976, 1977, 1983, 1995–1997, 2014–2015
surface	Natural grass
costs	€ 78 million (renovation 2014-2015)
capacity	41,233 seats ; 38,223 seats (after renovation)
playing area	105 m × 68 m
Societies)
	RC Lens;
Events
	European Football Championship 1984; Football World Cup 1998; Rugby Union World Cup 1999; Rugby Union World Cup 2007; European Football Championship 2016;

The Stade Bollaert-Delelis is a football stadium in Lens, France . In the stadium, the venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup was wearing RC Lens from its home games. In addition, Lille OSC played its home games in the 2006/07 Champions League there .

history

Aerial photo 2016

The stadium owes its name to Félix Bollaert, who, as chairman of the local mining company, commissioned the construction of the stadium in 1931. Construction of the stadium began in 1932 and opened on June 18, 1933. It is one of the few stadiums where the “fan curve” is along the sideline and not, as usual, behind one of the goals. On September 28, 2012, the city of Lens decided to add the name of the stadium in memory of the former minister and former mayor (1966–1998) of the city, André Delelis , who died on September 4, 2012. In future, the RC Lens venue will be called Stade Bollaert-Delelis .

The four individual stands of the stadium are dedicated to different personalities from RC Lens and from the region:

Henri Trannin, former goalkeeper and sports director of the club

"Tony" Marek , RC Lens player and coach, and Xercès Louis , French international in the 1950s

Élie Delacourt, former RC Lens fan club chairman

Max Lepagnot, former president of the Artois district

The stadium was completely renovated for the 1998 Football World Cup and the 1999 Rugby World Cup , with the capacity being reduced from almost 50,000 seats to 41,800. Since then, the stadium has only had seats. In the meantime, the number of seats has been limited to 41,233 through the construction of exclusive boxes and improved security standards. It is noteworthy that the city of Lens itself only has about 37,000 inhabitants.

In 2002 the city of Lens and RC Lens signed a 50-year contract, after which only the club pays for maintenance work in the stadium. Exceptions are serious defects and damage, for which the city pays for the repair.

The stadium hosted several group matches of the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup .

European Football Championship 2016

The renovated stadium.

The Bollaert-Delelis is the venue for the 2016 European Football Championship , but the financing of the renovation work was uncertain for a long time. A solution was supposed to be found in March 2012, but the deadline passed without result. At the end of August 2012, Guy Delcourt, Mayor of Lens, signed a financing plan. According to this, the planned costs of 78 million euros between the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (25 million euros), the Communauté d'agglomération de Lens-Liévin (20 million euros) and the French state (12 million euros) ) divided up. In addition, there is a 31-year loan for 30 million euros that goes to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. Construction work should start in March 2013. In fact, work on the modernization of the stadium did not begin until 2014, which is why the home club RC Lens had to play its games in the 2014/15 season at the Stade de la Licorne in Amiens and the Stade de France . RC Lens returned to its home ground for the 2015/16 Ligue 2 season. All work on the stadium should be completed by the end of 2015.

During the 2016 European Championship, the Stade Bollaert-Delelis played three group stage games and one round of 16.

date	round	home	guest	Result
78034858475 ♠June 11, 2016	Preliminary round	Albania Albania	Switzerland Switzerland	0: 1 (0: 1)
78035323600 ♠June 16, 2016	Preliminary round	England England	Wales Wales	2: 1 (0: 1)
78035788725 ♠June 21, 2016	Preliminary round	Czech Republic Czech Republic	Turkey Turkey	0: 2 (0: 1)
78036160825 ♠June 25, 2016	Round of 16	Croatia Croatia	Portugal Portugal	0: 1 a.d. (0: 0)