September date for Coimbra stadium

The inauguration of the Coimbra Municipal stadium, which will stage two UEFA EURO 2004™ matches, will take place on 28 September 2003 as part of the unveiling ceremony for the Eurostadium project.

'Bring dynamism'
The mayor of Coimbra, Carlos Encarnação, announced the news, adding: "The main aim of this project is to bring dynamism to an urban area that would be temporarily unbalanced with only the stadium construction. The Coimbra Municipal stadium alone represents an expenditure which is too great to the town hall and it was necessary to balance the finances with an architectural complex that could bring some entrepreneurial dynamism and that could create more jobs to the city."

Adequate parking
It is hoped that 2,000 new jobs will be created by the Eurostadium project, which will feature a 27,000 square metre shopping mall that will incorporate 90 shops, a ten-screen cinema and play centre. Moreover, the complex will have 3,000 parking spaces - an essential feature for EURO 2004™.

Olympic pool
In addition to the entertainment side, organisers of the Eurostadium project envisage the building of high-quality apartments, offices, galleries, an Olympic-standard swimming pool and two smaller pools, a multipurpose arena and a camping area. The residential and commercial facets of this will be ready in 2005, but everything else should be completed in time for next year's football championship.

September deadline
It was originally hoped that the stadium would be inaugurated on Coimbra's Municipal Day, 4 July 2003, but it was put back in order to finish access routes. The UEFA Stadium and Security Committee had set a deadline of the end of September 2003 for the ten EURO 2004™ venues to be completed.