Work begins on Serbia’s new national stadium

Construction work has commenced on a new national stadium for Serbia, with the venue set to be completed by the end of 2026.

The 52,000-seat stadium, which will be located in Surčin on the outskirts of Belgrade, is being built by the Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina).

The stadium has been designed by Spanish studio Fenwick Iribarren Architects (FIA), whose masterplan is envisioned to create the world’s first ‘garden stadium’. The façade of the stadium is intended to be unique in its nature with four tiers suspended by cables that will include garden areas.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium on Wednesday and proclaimed that the venue will be “one of the three most beautiful stadiums” in Europe.

“This is not just a question of the stadium, it is a question of the lives of our people, places where people will be able to take their children and grandchildren, where they will be able to enjoy themselves,” he said. “For me, this is life, a dream come true. This brings us growth, higher salaries and pensions.”

The stadium will be built alongside facilities that will be used for the Expo 2027 conference in Belgrade. The wider stadium site will include three theme parks and 10,000 car parking spaces, as well as two golf courses.

Vučić added: “We expect up to three million visitors only during the duration of Expo 2027 and more than 120 participating countries. The apartments that we are going to build will serve the participants of the exhibition, athletes, musicians, young people, and then we will see to whom we will sell them and under what conditions, because it is an exclusive location.”

FIA developed three stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar – Stadium 974, Al Thumama and Education City. The company has said its main objective for the Serbia stadium is to offer a “totally efficient design” from the point of view of energy usage, intelligent in its operation and respectful of the environment.

Serbian authorities presented plans for a new national football stadium back in October 2021, with optimism that the project could progress after years of inaction. At the time, the venture came with a projected price tag of €257m (£220m/$276m). A tender to develop a new national stadium was reportedly cancelled in June 2020 due to financial concerns amid COVID-19.