Zurich stages Euro 2008 comeback

Computer model of the new Letzigrund stadium Keystone

Six months after Zurich looked dead and buried as a venue for the Euro 2008 football championships, the city says it is confident it will host matches after all.

The news comes after voters rejected a further credit for Geneva’s football stadium, throwing its future into doubt.

Preparations for Euro 2008, which is being hosted jointly by Switzerland and Austria, have been dogged by a series of stadium setbacks.

Organisers received a welcome boost this week when officials in Zurich announced that plans to rebuild the Letzigrund stadium remained on track.

No appeals have been lodged against the project and a building permit is expected to be issued if voters approve a SFr121.3 million ($98.2 million) credit on June 5.

“We haven’t had any appeals and we are very happy about this,” said Urs Spinner, spokesman for Zurich’s planning department.

“The next big step is the vote in June and if it is positive then we should be through. It should be clear by the middle of June whether Zurich can be part of Euro 2008.”

If approval is granted, building is scheduled to start on December 1, with a completion date set for the summer of 2007.

“I think the worst is behind us but we still have to get permission for the project,” Spinner told swissinfo. “But we are confident that we really can do it now.”

Four tournament venues

As part of its winning bid for the championships, the Swiss Football Association (SFA) agreed to stage matches at four stadiums – in Bern, Basel, Geneva and Zurich.

But within months of being awarded the tournament, plans to rebuild the Hardturm stadium in Zurich started unravelling in the face of opposition from local residents.

City officials announced in September last year that the project would not be completed in time for Euro 2008 because of the ongoing legal battle.

Uefa, European football’s governing body, then turned up the heat on the Swiss and Austrian football associations, warning them that they could lose the tournament if they could not provide four venues each.

This left a revamp of the old Letzigrund stadium as the city’s last hope for hosting matches. But many people, including Spinner, said at the time that there was no chance of completing it in time.

Christian Mutschler, Switzerland’s tournament director for Euro 2008, described developments in Zurich as “great news” after the disappointment over the Hardturm project.

“I’m sure the Letzigrund project will pass the vote in June and that we can play in 2008 in this stadium,” he said.

Potential headache

However, progress in Zurich has been tempered by a potential headache at the other end of the country.

Last month voters in Geneva rejected plans to inject a further SFr2.5 million of public money into the city’s football stadium.

The Stade de Genève’s operating company – which is managed with help from the canton – still owes SFr10 million to the company that built the stadium.

The remaining SFr7.5 million was to have come from three private investors – Credit Suisse, Jelmoli and the Hippomène Foundation – but this was conditional on voters giving the green light.

Marc Schipperijn, a member of the operating company’s board, said talks had begun with the investors to see if they would make up the shortfall. But he admitted that the chances of success were very slim.

“If we have positive signs on this front then we will carry on until such time as we have a deal; if the signs are too negative then we will have no other option but to file for bankruptcy,” he said.

Facing bankruptcy

If the operating company does go bankrupt, ownership of the stadium will pass to the Zschokke construction company, which would then be entitled to sell it to recoup its money.

But Schipperijn stressed that the financial wrangles over the stadium were unlikely to have serious repercussions for Euro 2008. He said the legal issues would be solved “one way or another” well before the championships in three years’ time.

“One thing is absolutely sure and that is that the stadium will not be demolished, because canton Geneva will never ever allow this,” said Schipperijn, who is also the finance director of the canton’s urban planning department.

One problem facing any new owner is what to do with the SFr114-million stadium. The ground’s main tenants, Servette Geneva football club, were declared bankrupt in February and booted out of the Super League.

The stadium has also been overlooked by the SFA for the country’s next two World Cup qualifiers, which are going to Basel and the new Stade de Suisse in Bern.

Euro 2008

Christian Mutschler admits that he is not happy with the situation but says he is confident the Euro 2008 matches will go ahead as planned in Geneva.

“At the moment we have a contract with the [operating company]. If something were to change, we would have to review the situation, but the stadium will not just disappear in the next two weeks or two years,” he said.

“Of course, the situation in Geneva is not ideal but I’m sure the canton and city will do everything to ensure that we can run the tournament as we want to,” added Mutschler.

“This tournament is a unique chance for Switzerland to show the rest of the world that we are not just this small island in Europe but that we really are able to host an event like this.”

swissinfo, Adam Beaumont

In brief

Officials in Zurich say they believe the Letzigrund stadium will be ready in time to host matches during Euro 2008.

The city’s future as a tournament venue had been in doubt after plans to rebuild the Hardturm stadium fell through last year.

The spotlight has now fallen on the Stade de Genève, which is saddled with a debt of SFr10 million, after voters refused to pump more money into the stadium.