Extensive renovation work at Leipzig's European Championship stadium nearing completion

The extensive renovation work in Leipzig's European Championship stadium will only be completed shortly before the first match. According to dpa information, construction work will continue in the arena until the end of the week, but everything is on schedule. The first match in Leipzig will be the match between Portugal and the Czech Republic next Tuesday (June 18).

Instead of the 47,069 seats used for matches involving Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, the stadium will only be able to accommodate 42,000 spectators for the European Championships. The reason for this is the conversion of standing room into seats and the installation of a new media stand with 300 seats. This makes Leipzig the smallest European Championship stadium. On June 21, the Netherlands and France will meet, followed three days later by Croatia and Italy. A round of 16 match will take place on July 2.

Until the end of the European Championship on July 14, the European association UEFA is the host of the stadium. According to dpa information, UEFA will pay a rent of 1.4 million euros to the owner RB Leipzig for this period. The club had previously made the arena suitable for the European Championships for around two million euros.

Six kilometers of new cables were laid

A new 1.1-kilometer fence was installed around the stadium to create a security zone. In addition, six kilometers of fiber optic cable were laid and 87 routers installed. Important areas of the stadium have been equipped with generators in the event of a power failure.

At UEFA's request, the media stand is now located on the back straight and is no longer part of the main stand. During the European Championships, the Bundesliga guest stand will accommodate Team A, i.e. the home team on paper. An additional bench with 30 seats has been set up on the pitch for each team.

Of the 1,600 volunteers who will be working throughout Leipzig during the European Championships, around 1,000 will be deployed in and around the stadium. During the European Championships, 70 people will also be permanently employed in the stadium. Their work ranges from ticketing to security.