Stade de la Meinau – construction description

The need to expand the Stade de la Meinau began to be seriously discussed after RC Strasbourg's return to Ligue 1 in 2017. In 2019, various public authorities reached an agreement on financing (a small part of the cost will also be borne by the club), and in early 2021 the winner of an architectural concept competition was selected.

The work is to focus primarily on the expansion of the main (south) stand, which will grow by a second tier, but the modernization will also affect the other stands to a lesser extent.

A unique solution will be sun screens to protect the main stand from excessive heat. The screens will be created from cut pieces of Airbus A340 fuselages and will form the facade of the expanded stand.

The capacity of the stadium after the expansion will increase from about 26,000 to 32,000 spectators. This is the first such major investment at the Stade de la Meinau since its complete reconstruction prior to the 1984 European Championships.

The modernization began in June 2023, with a symbolic cornerstone laying ceremony taking place on October 26, 2023. During the 2023/24 season, the stadium's stands were fully accessible to spectators, with construction work carried out primarily behind the main stand, where expansion was already underway.

After the end of the 2023/24 season, full-scale reconstruction of the main stand began. In the summer of 2024, the lower part of the western stand was also rebuilt. The reconstruction of the main stand is expected to continue throughout the 2024/25 season, during which time it will be inaccessible to spectators, and is expected to reopen at the start of the following season.

During the 2025/26 season, the north and east stands will undergo modernization, and they will be temporarily out of use. The entire project is expected to be completed by August 2026.

The design of the Stade de la Meinau expansion can be seen on a separate subpage