AEK issues ground tender

Athens club seeks developer for 30,000-capacity stadium at traditional base

AEK soccer club, which seems to have fended off the deep financial crisis that threatened to plunge the historic club into amateur competition, yesterday took a further step toward full recovery by issuing a tender for bids by developers to finance, construct and then operate a new club stadium for a 50-year period.

Late last year, under the ambitious leadership of new boss Demis Nikolaidis, an ex-star player at the club and a devoted supporter of it in retirement, AEK, one of Greece’s three biggest in terms of popularity and success, was saved from bankruptcy and consequent relegation when an Athens appeals court decided to wipe out an overwhelming part of the club’s debt. At the time, AEK’s debt figure was reported to have stood at 140 million euros.

The club plans to develop the project at the location of its recently demolished old stadium. AEK has had to deal with resistance from the local municipality and concerned residents.

Mayor Nikos Adamopoulos of the Nea Philadelphia suburb, north of Athens, has argued that existing local road infrastructure is insufficient to absorb the work’s regional impact. Adamopoulos has also contended that local business activity could be harmed by the prospective stadium’s intended commercial wing. Residential fears of an adjacent park’s partial sacrifice for the project was also taken into consideration.

The municipal resistance, however, has waned since the country’s new political leadership has come to power.

In its tender, AEK sets July 2007 as its “preferable deadline” for the handover of the project, a 30,000-capacity stadium, not including press facilities, as well as an adjoining commercial wing. All tender bids, the tender noted, would need to be accompanied by a local banking institution’s letter of support, with financial and legal feasability plans included. The winning bidder would also be responsible for all official permits required by the project, the tender stated. Bidders face a May 10 deadline.

AEK currently plays its home matches at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Despite the new Nikolaidis-led administration’s modest claims that AEK was working toward its the future and not looking at gaining any titles for the time being, the Athens club lies third, just three points behind front runner Olympiakos, 20 rounds into the Greek first division’s 16-team competition.