Votanikos Arena – design description

Plans for a new stadium of Panathinaikos date back to late years of the 20th century, however a solid vision for a ground in the western Votanikos district was presented in 2006. The stadium was to be inspired by that in Portuguese Porto, albeit smaller. Its capacity of 42,000 people would still, however, make it Greece's largest club stadium.

The undulating roof rests on four primary trusses based in each corner of the ground. The auditorium is divided into two tiers around the field and three along the sides. Initial concept was drawn with the cooperation of Portugal's Manuel Salgado, however the final iteration was created by A&S Architects of Greece.

The stadium is to receive up to 8 levels of floor space, of which 3 (depending on topography) are to be under ground and largely devoted to parking spaces.

The concept has reached the phase of enabling works on site but with some difficulty. It was supposed to be built between May, 2009 and December, 2010. However, the economic crisis of 2008 came and was followed by Greek economy's collapse of 2009, leading to the entire scheme worth €80 million being shelved.

The idea was abandoned in 2012 and by 2014 Panathinaikos had a more feasible alternative – partial reconstruction of the aging and severely constrained Leoforos, to reach 20,000. In the end however, in an extremely rare turn of events, 2020 brought a return to the Votanikos concept, with Panathinaikos being granted 99-year lease of the land and various authorities securing the funding.