Stadion Miejski in Kraków

About

Stadion Miejski im. Henryka Reymana (English: Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium), known for sponsorship reasons as Synerise Arena - Stadion Miejski im. Henryka Reymana or Synerise Arena Kraków for short, is a football-specific stadium in Kraków, Poland. It is the home ground of Wisła Kraków. The stadium has a capacity of 33,326 spectators, all seated, and is fully roofed. The stadium was originally built in 1953. From 2003 to 2011, the stadium was completely reconstructed with four new stands and a media pavilion. Reconstruction was finally completed in October 2011. Thanks to resolution passed by Kraków City council on 23 January 2008, the stadium is named after Wisła's legendary player Henryk Tomasz Reyman. Municipal Stadium in Kraków meets the criteria for UEFA Category 4.

The current stadium is the third home of the Wisła Kraków. The first stadium was located about 500m away from the current location in the Oleandry area. It was built in 1914 and inaugurated on 16 April same year, with a 3–2 win over Czarni Lwów, but only one year later it burned down. That stadium was never finished and World War I left only rubble of the ground. In 1922 Wisła moved to a new stadium in the same area. This one survived World War II, but couldn't cope with the post-war popularity of football. Moreover, in 1946 Kraków was afflicted by a huge storm and stadium has been seriously damaged.

In May 1953 the new stadium – third one in Wisła history – was opened next to the old stadium. This is a place where Wisła Kraków plays their home matches today. Stadium featured an oval running track surrounding football field. A characteristic feature of this building was called 'Brandenburg Gates' located on the stands behind the goals.

Floodlights masts was installed on the stadium in 1972. Their officially inauguration took place on 11 June 1972 during league match between Wisla Kraków and Legia Warsaw, which ended in a draw 1:1. In 1976 Wisła Kraków was playing Celtic Glasgow in UEFA Cup. After the team having drawn the first game away 2:2, crowds were flocking to see Wisła fight with the Bhoys on 29 September. The media and fans present at the game say of approximately 45 000 spectators, however the precise number is unknown. This game (won 2:0) holds the stadium's record of attendance. In 1985 plans to build new main stand was announced. Therefore, sectors I, II, III, IV and V (whole main stand) had been demolished. However, lack of funds for continuation of construction resulted in situation in which stadium remained without a main stand for more than 10 next years.

Renovation of south stand and floodlights masts dismantling took place in 1995 year. Construction of the new main stand started in 1996. It was financed by the joint office of the City of Kraków and Totalizator Sportowy. Opening of the new grandstand (sectors A and B, as well as VIP sector) took place in March 1998 during the league match between Wisła and GKS Katowice. In 1998, the east stand underwent yet another renovation. Around 4800 plastic seats were installed. Also, oval running track surrounding football pitch was completely removed.

Artificial hills behind the goals was demolished in January 1999. In July 2000, on the side of 3 Maja street, temporary south stand for the visiting team's supporters was constructed, with capacity about 250 people. Over time it has been expanded to holds 500 people. In April 2002, new floodlights masts was installed to meet requirements imposed by the Polish Football Association. In June 2003, turf heating system was installed. In June 2004 the licensing requirements imposed by the Polish Football Association forced Wisła to build temporary all-seater and fully roofed north stand. Its capacity was about 1000 people. At the same time, it was also decided to reduce the height of the fence in front of the main stand to 1 m, in order to improve comfort of watching the matches.

The current stadium is the third home of the Wisła Kraków. The first stadium was located about 500m away from the current location in the Oleandry area. It was built in 1914 and inaugurated on 16 April same year, with a 3–2 win over Czarni Lwów, but only one year later it burned down. That stadium was never finished and World War I left only rubble of the ground. In 1922 Wisła moved to a new stadium in the same area. This one survived World War II, but couldn't cope with the post-war popularity of football. Moreover, in 1946 Kraków was afflicted by a huge storm and stadium has been seriously damaged.

In May 1953 the new stadium – third one in Wisła history – was opened next to the old stadium. This is a place where Wisła Kraków plays their home matches today. Stadium featured an oval running track surrounding football field. A characteristic feature of this building was called 'Brandenburg Gates' located on the stands behind the goals.

Floodlights masts was installed on the stadium in 1972. Their officially inauguration took place on 11 June 1972 during league match between Wisla Kraków and Legia Warsaw, which ended in a draw 1:1. In 1976 Wisła Kraków was playing Celtic Glasgow in UEFA Cup. After the team having drawn the first game away 2:2, crowds were flocking to see Wisła fight with the Bhoys on 29 September. The media and fans present at the game say of approximately 45 000 spectators, however the precise number is unknown. This game (won 2:0) holds the stadium's record of attendance. In 1985 plans to build new main stand was announced. Therefore, sectors I, II, III, IV and V (whole main stand) had been demolished. However, lack of funds for continuation of construction resulted in situation in which stadium remained without a main stand for more than 10 next years.

Renovation of south stand and floodlights masts dismantling took place in 1995 year. Construction of the new main stand started in 1996. It was financed by the joint office of the City of Kraków and Totalizator Sportowy. Opening of the new grandstand (sectors A and B, as well as VIP sector) took place in March 1998 during the league match between Wisła and GKS Katowice. In 1998, the east stand underwent yet another renovation. Around 4800 plastic seats were installed. Also, oval running track surrounding football pitch was completely removed.

Artificial hills behind the goals was demolished in January 1999. In July 2000, on the side of 3 Maja street, temporary south stand for the visiting team's supporters was constructed, with capacity about 250 people. Over time it has been expanded to holds 500 people. In April 2002, new floodlights masts was installed to meet requirements imposed by the Polish Football Association. In June 2003, turf heating system was installed. In June 2004 the licensing requirements imposed by the Polish Football Association forced Wisła to build temporary all-seater and fully roofed north stand. Its capacity was about 1000 people. At the same time, it was also decided to reduce the height of the fence in front of the main stand to 1 m, in order to improve comfort of watching the matches.

The construction project developed by architecture and design studio owned by Wojciech Obtułowicz has been changed four times with key features remaining the same. The first conception assumed the construction of the stadium for more than 20 000 seats with leaving of the main stand which was built in the mid nineties. According to this project in November 2004, the construction of a new south stand has begun with striker Maciej Żurawski digging the first shovel. It was completed in June 2006, costing nearly 35 mln zł. The main contractor was Budimex Dromex. In the meantime, in January 2006, construction of the twin northern stand has begun. Its construction lasted 12 months with both the contractor and the cost were exactly the same as in the case of the southern stand.

In April 2007 it was announced that the UEFA European Football Championship in 2012 will be co-hosted by Poland. Kraków and Wisła Stadium, was chosen to be a reserve host for upcoming event. Therefore, the stadium project was changed to meets the requirements for elite class stadium.

In September 2007, Budimex Dromex started the construction of media pavilion – a building that was part of the previous concept of the stadium. In October the architectural studio of Wojciech Obtułowicz has been commissioned to carry out the new stadium project. It cost about 3.5 million zł. In January 2008 the construction of media pavilion was completed. The total cost of this investment exceeded 11 million zł.

The demolition of the old east stand begun in May 2008. In February 2009 Polimex-Mostostal started the construction of the new East stand, whose cost was approximately 144 million zł. After the end of 2008/09 Ekstraklasa season in June 2009, Polimex-Mostostal began demolition of the main stand (west) and the construction of the new one. The cost was over 153 million zł.

Wisła Kraków played its 2009/2010 season matches at Stadion Ludowy in Sosnowiec and Stadion Suche Stawy, due to more advanced construction works on the stadium.

In early October 2009, the contractor which built two stands Polimex-Mostostal, applied to the investor for financing the project by an additional 28.9 million zł. The grant would cover the cost of rebuilding the installations network under the stadium.

On 1 November 2009 the architectural studio of Wojciech Obtułowicz was released from its contract for construction project of the stadium. The reason for exclusion of the architect was that it could not keep up with making of amendments to its draft, which contained some incorrect data. For that reason, it was impossible to continue construction at the right pace and resulted in some major delays in work. Redesign took the lead contractor – Polimex-Mostostal.

On 4 November 2009 the Kraków city councilors voted to transfer additional funds amounted to 29.9 million zł for the stadium construction. In case donation has not been awarded then the contractor building of both stands (east and west) could stop the construction and request compensation from the city. The mayor of the City of Kraków Jacek Majchrowski presented the estimated cost of building the entire stadium, which in total amounted to 445 million zł.

Finally stadium construction ended in mid-2011. This included construction of whole Main stand and additional works made by Mostostal Warszawa SA in the interior of the north stand. First match with all four stands opened took place at 15 October 2011. The opponent was Jagiellonia Białystok and Wisla won 3–1.