August 7th, 2003

The Vice-President of FIFA, Mr Issa Hayatou, visited yesterday the construction site of the new KARAISKAKI STADIUM. "Our visit allows us to be confident about both the progress of works and the completion of the stadium within schedule", Mr Hayatou stated. Motivated by this, Stadia.gr presents to you today all the true facts (not rumours and hearsay) regarding the Piraeus stadium's reconstruction:

  • Works are indeed progressing very quickly. It was announced yesterday that construction is 23 days ahead of schedule. The most obvious parts are the foundations at the east section of the stadium. Click on the photo to see it in full size. It was shot yesterday from the east of the construction site.
    Works at Karaiskaki Stadium (August 2003)
  • The company responsible for the project (IntraDevelopment SA) reassures that the stadium will be 100% ready before the 2004 Olympic Games. There were rumours that the roof would not be ready on time, but it now seems that everything is going well regarding this subject.
  • There has been "much-talk-no-see" over the stadium's 3d model during the last 5 months. It has been dubbed "The Phantom Plan"! The plan has been ready for quite some time now. We have seen it, but it will not be presented to the public before mid-September.
  • Finally, there was speculation regarding the pillars with the floodlights of the old demolished stadium. They are still in place and it has been said that they are a back-up plan, in case the roof of the new stadium is not ready on time (as this is where the lights will be supported from). This is absolute nonsense, as the pillars will be torn down in the next few weeks.

Related articles:

Demolition of historic Karaiskaki Stadium completed (31/5/03)
Karaiskaki Stadium to Olympiakos for 49 years, Parliament votes (6/3/03)
FIFA say Karaiskaki is only suitable venue for Olympics (10/12/02)
Government intervention puts Karaiskaki case back on track (16/11/02)
Olympiakos FC say they give up trying for Karaiskaki Stadium (13/11/02)
Cabinet meeting over new stadia of the Athens "big 3" (22/9/02)
Olympiakos return home in football and basketball (24/2/02)
Karaiskaki Stadium will host the football final in 2004 Olympics (23/01/02)
Olympiakos look set to return once again to Karaiskaki (2/10/01)
Olympiakos abandon Karaiskaki and will build new stadium (31/8/01)