Stadion Miejski w Krotoszynie – historical stadium description

The first stadium in Krotoszyn was built along Fabryczna street, north west from the historical centre. It served not only footballers of Astra but also the club’s runners, throwers and speedway racers. By 1968 it was demolished, however, as it was decided to relocate main sporting facilities to the eastern outskirts, where a new street (called Sportowa to mark its purpose) was created.

The site within Krotoszyn’s Błonie (common/meadow) area is picturesque and fit for leisure, especially with the new stadium being built just 70 metres away from lake Odrzykowskie. From the north the plot was limited by new Spartańska street, from the east and south by a forest buffer zone. The west side was left mostly open towards the city, from where most of the traffic was coming. Until the very end of the stadium’s lifespan there were no residential areas built in direct vicinity, which meant the venue wasn’t causing major issues within the community.

As was customary during communism, the stadium received landfill-based auditorium, with two modest grandstands in the west and east, the former also equipped with a speaker’s tower. Changing rooms were built in a remote pavilion, east of the stadium. The playing field also had a 400-metre running track. But, although the track was made of gravel until the very end, no more speedway racing took place here, as the speedway section of Astra was disbanded in 1954.

Aside from the main stadium, the complex also included a full-sized training field and two smaller indoor halls, one for table tennis and one for martial arts.

With the stadium’s very limited functionality and outdated structure, the town hall of Krotoszyn decided to demolish it entirely and build a brand new building in the same area. Demolition took place in the 3rd quarter of 2019.