New Football Stadium opens in Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban opened a new football stadium which is the new home for Hungary's champions Ferencvaros.

The first match was held in Ferencvaros new arena between Chelsea and Ferencvaros. The grand opening for the Groupama Arena, conducted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was held on the 10th August, 2014. After Orban greeted the English Chelsea team, a friendly match was played to mark the inauguration of the arena. The first goal scored in the new stadium went to Zoltan Gera, a legened on the Ferencvaros team.

The opening ceremony was televised and Orban gave his thanks to everyone who was involved with the building of the new stadium. The Prime Minister thanked the members of the champion Ferencvaros team who he credited with preserving “the freedom and independence of the Hungarian nation even during the worst Communist times and to have kept the spirit of Hungarians going for decades.”

The construction company Market építő Zrt won the bid for the arena in 2013. The new stadium can seat up to 23,700 and is the second biggest stadium in Hungary. Construction for the new stadium started in March 2013, shortly after the old stadium was torn down. The construction cost 14.735 billion Forints (EUR 46.74m). The arena will be known as the Groupama Arena until 2021 when the sponsorship contract runs out.

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