Almelo pushes €8m stadium renovation

Football club Heracles has received the green light, and a loan of €8.2 million courtesy of the municipality, for the renovation of their stadium. The Overijssel municipal council agreed with the decision of the board of directors. Hereby, the biggest obstacle on the way to a shiny new Polman stadium has been passed. Heracles hopes to be able to christen the new stadium by playing the first games of the 2015/2016 there. The Polman Stadion is going to be able to hold 13,500 people. The old stadium was only big enough for 8,500 spectators. According to the plans, the build should start at the end of the current season. It will be built in phases. "We trust that this will be completed quickly. We are doing as much as we can in the periods with no football. Our supporters will be able to attend the games in the next season" general director Nico-Jan Hoogma said on the club's website.

Some judicial issues need to be solved before the work can go through. "An analysis must happen in the framework of European state support. Next to that, all other processes, such as licensing, are just going ahead." The original plan from Heracles was an entirely new stadium. This is more of a "renewbuild" like the club calls the plan. This was only financially attainable in combination with shops in the stadium. This seemed too big an obstacle. "Our choice was and is still a new build" Heracles director Jan Smit said in a January new years speech. "But because the retail store licenses can't be available, we looked to alternatives."