Time is short today, so the weekly stadium spotlight series takes a brief look at a stadium
that has a considerable transformation planned for it.
In May, the twelve host cities for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil were announced. One of
the winning bids was Fortaleza, the state capital of Ceará in Northeastern Brazil.
For almost 60 years, Lyon have been playing in the Stade de Gerland, a venerable old stadium
built in 1914 and a World Cup finals venue in 1998. But their recent run of success of eight
consecutive championships from 2002 to 2008 has Lyon planning a rich new future at the Grand Stade
in eastern Lyon.
Donbass Arena opened on August 29th, 2009, and this week will host its first international and
one of the biggest game's in Ukraine's history: the second-leg of their World Cup 2010 qualifier
playoff against Greece. Ukraine are in great shape to qualify after a 0-0 draw in Athens this
weekend.
The game could be taking place in no more beautiful setting.
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 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.
