Antwerp Stadium Impasse: No Solution in Sight for Rebuilding

Antwerp, Belgian champion and holder of the Cup, sent an email to its supporters indicating that the stadium file is at an impasse, and that no solution is in sight.

The conditions set by Tania Mintjens, the owner of the land where Grandstand 2 is located, currently unusable, and therefore to be rebuilt, were indeed deemed “unreasonable, and therefore unacceptable”.

“Growth is stunted,” writes the club. “The RAFC lacks income and faces a ceiling: the expansion of Bosuil is impossible in the current circumstances.”

“The current situation places a heavy mortgage on the future of RAFC. Today, only one in four requests for tickets for international matches can be met. A rotation is difficult to organize. There is no solution . It would be nice to be able to welcome all the supporters,” the email concludes.

It didn’t take long for the reaction of Tania Mintjens, whose family is the 123rd richest in Belgium.

“Antwerp has closed the door to a negotiation,” said Francis Vanderhoydonck, the owner’s businessman.

An inevitable move

President Paul Gheysens does not hide that a move will be inevitable, if the lady remains on her positions, and if the City does not intervene to unblock the situation.

But the hoped-for expropriation is not on the agenda at City Hall. Not today, in any case, nor within six months, as Gheysens wished.

Neither the mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA), nor a single alderman of the College, indeed wanted to react after the exchange of courtesies between Antwerp and Tania Mintjens reported by the Gazette of Antwerp (https://tinyurl.com/5ey3dybe).

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