Over 20,000 people visited the new Romanian football stadium National Arena in Bucharest last Sunday, on the premises of the old national stadium “Lia Manoliu”. For 8 hours, from 10,00 to 18,00 hours, the National Arena was crowded with people taking pictures and admiring the inside of the stadium. Among the people present at the open day was the mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, who organized this event. “I am happy that the people of Bucharest responded positively to my invitation. That means they care about this project”, said the mayor.

“Next time we'll meet it will be almost ready. On August 9 we will do the last checks and on August 10 we will watch Romania play against Argentina on this stadium,” he also said. The stadium is currently 90 percent completed. The workers still have to place the lawn and put the finishing touches for the retractable roof.

The new stadium, which will be inaugurated in August 2011 with a friendly match between Romania and Argentina, will have a capacity of 55,000 seats.

The construction works for the National Arena started in 2007. In mid 2008, the old stadium was demolished and work begans on the infrastructure, but were delayed due to technical problems related to the stadium's foundation soil.

Alex Camburu, alex.camburu@romania-insider.com