New Rapid Vienna stadium unveiled to standing ovation

Rapid Vienna have unveiled the designs for the football club’s new stadium in the Austrian capital to a standing ovation and an emotional presentation featuring players from past and present.

The new stadium, which managers say will be ready for use by 2016, will up the capacity for games to 28,000 and expect to bring in revenues of around 3.6 million EUR a year.

Two thousands fans were there to hear President Michael Krammer unveil the project in detail, and reportedly many had tears in their eyes as they stood to give the presentation a standing ovation. During the three hour show, players past and present as well as legends associated with Rapid Vienna came on stage to help fuel the excitement over the project.

The cost of the new stadium, which replaces the 37-year-old Hanappi stadium currently in use, is expected to amount to around 53 million EUR.

The project team behind the new stadium said that several improvements have been made to the designs to keep disruption for the surrounding residents to a minimum, including “Closed corners with integrated floodlight to reduce the noise and light pollution”.