STRASBOURG are flying – thanks to their new stand made out of old aeroplanes.
The club find themselves fifth in Ligue 1 and on track for a top-eight finish in the Conference League league phase – 14 years after going bankrupt.
A large part of their success is down to the divisive takeover by BlueCo, Chelsea’s owners, in 2023.
And the Todd Boehly-led regime, with former owner and ex-West Ham midfielder Marc Keller as president, is committed to the project of developing Strasbourg on and off the pitch.
They want to be a regular in European football.
Qualification for next season’s Champions League would be their first time back at the top table since a European Cup quarter-final run in 1979-80, when Nottingham Forest lifted the famous trophy.
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And Strasbourg will have a stadium fit for it thanks to a stunning £160million renovation project.
The construction work outside the ground will be finished next summer – but the 32,000-capacity arena is now fully open.
Three of the stands have been given a major renovation and is now fully connected to the brand-new structure of the main stand which only opened in September.
But being inside the Stade de la Meinau, the whole venue feels like a new stadium.
The 11,712-seater South Stand is no ordinary new stand, though.
Alongside local architect Rey-de-Crecy, Populous – the team behind the new Tottenham stadium – have produced a piece of never-seen-before, world-first architectural genius.
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The designers’ showstopping feature of the stand is the incorporation of 30 decommissioned Airbus A340 aircraft – split into 196 aluminium segments – which act as the exterior facade.
As well as being a genius eco-conscious recycling method, the fuselage panels act as an effective sun shield when, in the height of summer, the sun beats down on to the south-facing glass behind.
During SunSport’s visit in November, only some of the panels are in place but the idea is that, by the end of the season and the completion of the overall redevelopment, the entire stand will be covered in 4,050m² of reused aeroplane parts.
The outside of the fuselages are white to reflect the sun and create a shimmering effect – with the inside blue to match the proud club’s colours.
Francois Clement, President of Populous France explained: “The idea for the facade sunshade was originally conceived during the Covid-19 pandemic, when planes were almost entirely grounded and airlines resized their fleet and flight operations.
“Our design concept sought to make use of decommissioned aircraft, using upcycled architecture to deliver the innovative concept at the heart of an environmentally sustainable design for the revamped stadium.”
The South Stand also features a kids’ area, new changing rooms, press area, squeaky-clean corridors (for now!) and an impressive glass-fronted five-storey atrium with new bars, hospitality suites and two ‘party decks’ overlooking the pitch.
Out of the back of the fifth-level concourse, fans can enjoy views all the way to the Black Forest in Germany.
And then in their seats, over the top of the North Stand, is the Strasbourg skyline, complete with its famous 142m Gothic Notre-Dame Cathedral and the cylindrical European Parliament building.
Strasbourg have also created a fan zone, the first French football stadium to boast one, and megastore – with the museum honouring the club’s history close to opening.
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It is understood the financing of the £160m Stade de la Meinau renovation – which added 6,000 seats from the previous 26,000 capacity – came primarily from significant public funds as well as some investment from the football club, namely BlueCo.
Once the stadium project is done, RC Strasbourg hope to modernise, update and expand the training centre and youth and women’s teams’ facilities.
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