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The traditional Greek football club Panathinaikos has been waiting for a new stadium for almost 20 years. The new Votanikos Arena should have a total capacity of 40,000 seats and should cost 160 million euros. The only problem is that construction is constantly being postponed.
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The current home of Panathinaikos is the ancient stadium of Apostolos Nikolaidis dating back to 1922. It is the oldest active football stadium in all of Greece. It is considered one of the iconic stalls in the country, as it has been used for domestic matches by the Greek national team for many years (most recently during the EURO 2004 qualifiers) and the largest rivals of Panathinaikos – AEK Athens and Olympiakos – played on various occasions.
Panathinaikos first left him in 1984, when he moved to the newly built Olympic Stadium in Athens. In 2000, however, the club announced a return to Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium after a reconstruction for 7 million euros. Capacity has been reduced from 25,000 to 16,620 seats, new changing rooms have been built and the grandstand roofing has been added in line with UEFA requirements.
However, stricter standards were introduced in 2004 and Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium needed further investment to continue to host UEFA matches. However, local regulations did not allow this and the team had to return to the Olympic Stadium until a new one – the proposed Votanikos Arena – was built. Apostolos Nikolaidis was to be demolished.
However, in early 2007, the board of Panathinaikos decided to re-use the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium for home matches of the Greek League and the UEFA Cup. In addition, club officials decided to install a new lawn, seats and upgrade the press conference room and toilets.
Since the autumn of 2013, due to financial problems of the club and basically the whole country, the construction of the Votanikos Arena has stopped and subsequently the plans for the demolition of the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium were suspended. After another five years at the Olympic Stadium, the team returned to their traditional home field.
The Greek government confirmed in 2020 that the construction of a new stadium in the Votanikos area should be completed by 2024. Although the original concept was born in 2006, it remains modern thanks to updates over the years. The latest improvement is purely aesthetic in nature. Earlier this year, architects added a lightweight membrane sling to the concrete structure. The new illuminated packaging at night is more in line with current trends in stadium design.
In principle, this has not changed much since 2006. The capacity is still set at 40,000 seats, which in the short to medium term is sufficient for the needs of Panathinaikos and leaves room for growth.
If construction begins in the first half of 2022, the grand opening should take place in 2024.
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