That is unlikely to be the final name for the stadium, but "rectangular" is a fitting working
name as the 31,500 capacity stadium, which will host soccer and rugby, is being made in part to
replace the reliance on the oval stadia of Melbourne suitable for Australian Rules Football and
cricket.
Construction on the new stadium began last year, and here's the progress so far (live webcam
here), with a scheduled opening of May 2010.
In a week that saw UEFA finally confirm that the Euro 2012 final will take place in Kiev,
Ukraine, it seems only fitting to look at the stadium under construction that will host it.
The Olympic National Stadium in Kiev has a long history, first opening in 1923 as "Red Stadium"
(you can guess why), and then going through further name changes that reflected the political
situation in Ukraine: Stalin Respublikanskiy Stadium (1941-1953), Khrushchev Respublikanskiy
Stadium (1953-1966), Kiev Central Stadium (1963-1978), Respublikanskiy Stadium (1978-1996) and
finally NSC Olimpiysky (1996-).
In 1995, the final decision had to be made on the design for the Stade de France, to host the
1998 World Cup final and become the new national stadium. Choosing between the two finalist
designs, outgoing prime minister Edouard Balladur decided to go with Michel Macary's design: the
one we now know as the Stade de France, which is nice enough.
