PAOK granted land for new Toumba arena
On Tuesday, PAOK’s dream of constructing a new stadium became closer to a reality, as the Greek Government allocated a plot of land to begin building work.
A new stadium is on its way to Thessaloniki. Although their current home boasts a capacity of 29,000 and is kept in good condition, PAOK are eager to construct a new arena, with owner Ivan Savvidis making his desire public. Initially, there was an option to reconstruct the Toumba Stadium, but Savvidis wasn’t keen on that idea and was focused on gaining planning permission from the Greek Government to build a stadium from scratch.
Yesterday, it became known that the Ministry of Defence officially sanctioned a law amendment in order to grant PAOK 29,284 square meters of its land in Thessaloniki for the construction of a new football stadium. The land will be given as a concession for a period of 100 years. Panagiotis Kammenos, the Greek Defence Minister, had previously stated that he supports PAOK’s proposal and feels the team deserve a large arena.
Further details concerning PAOK’s project for the stadium construction and timescale are due to be revealed in the coming days. Reports had suggested that Savvidis was hungry to have the new Toumba complete for the summer of 2020.