The Largest Stadium in Hungary was Opened in Budapest

A new national stadium opened in Budapest after 66 years. The match, which started at seven o'clock in the evening, opened the largest and most modern facility in Central Europe. Hungary and Uruguay were playing on the football field at Puskás Aréna.

The Size

The total floor space of the new stadium is 208,010 square meters, of which the built-in floor space is 60,703 square meters. The highest point is 50.7 meters high, 261.3 meters wide and 316.5 meters long. The total area of ​​the arena is 11,150 square meters, with no runway built around it.

The grandstand were placed in three lobes around the field, with a floor area of ​​36,347 square meters and a roof of 57,142 square meters, which does not cover the lower lobes. Designed to accommodate 67-68,000 people, this space is huge, especially when everyone wants to go in and out after the game. Balázs Fürjes emphasized that this is a Hungarian project in all its elements, and it is remarkable that the Hungarian construction industry is professionally there so that they could solve it without any problems.

It Brings Back the Old Stadium

The main goal of the builders was to revive the image of the old stadium as much as possible. At first, the old stadium would appear embedded in the new one, but this idea was eventually abandoned. In 2013, György Skardelli explained that without the new problem, it would have been possible to build it within the old stadium, and that this solution would not only be cheaper on the site, but it would also provide better utilization. Although this vision has not been realized, many other elements resemble the old Népstadion (People’s Stadium).

For example, the starting circle remained on the same site, and the tower building, where the Puskás Museum will be located, is on the same side of the statue park, with 38 pylons built on its original pattern.

Environmental awareness have also played a role in the construction, as the concrete of the demolished Népstadion was not dumped but recycled on site and incorporated into the new facility.

Composition

During the three years, 15,000 people worked on this construction site and used the following materials:

• 19,000 tons of reinforcing steel (enough to build 75 ten-storey housing estates),
• 150 thousand tons of concrete,
• 12,000 tons of fabricated steel structure (double that would make the Elizabeth Bridge come out),
• 1,700 kilometers of cable (approximately this would cover the Budapest-Ankara distance).

The Biggest Challenge

The biggest challenge was the roof structure, which required a special crane. They built a 30-meter wide heavy-duty track for the 650 ton crawler crane.

What this Means at European Level

The new Puskás Arena is the 19th largest stadium in Europe with 67,155 seats. There are only smaller stadiums in the surrounding countries; Ernst Happel in Vienna has 53,000 and Stozice in Ljubljana has a capacity of 16,000.

According to Balázs Fürjes – the state secretary responsible for the development of Budapest and the metropolitan area, overseeing the construction of the stadium – the new Puskás Arena is mid-priced, the investment came to a net total of 150 billion HUF.

"The most expensive level would have been superfluous and Hungary would not have been able to afford it" – he told to M4 Sport. Of this, 142.85 billion went to the arena, 7.15 billion to the five percent reserve, and 40.5 billion to the VAT, according to the Central Government Investment Center.

The Experience

Portfolio article writers visited the site and described the new stadium as a spacious, minimalist building. The rumble of the fans made the event quite special. There was a smaller queue for buffets and washbasins, but they said it was no different from a queue that had been created as a result of a store discount.

The exit was very disciplined and well organized, with the subway police taking over the inspectors' place so that the crowd of people could pass through without a problem, so the ticket-holders had a lucky day.

The Hungary-Uruguay match ended 1-2, the first goal of the new stadium was scored by Edinson Cavani and the first Hungarian goal was scored by Ádám Szalai.

Sources:

Portfolio.hu

Hvg.hu