Bernard Laporte was voted the next president of French rugby federation. He stood against building the 82,000-seat national stadium in Ris-Orangis and is expected to cancel the project.

Next year France’s second national stadium is set for construction. Or should we say was set for construction? After all, on Saturday election in French rugby federation (FFR) saw Bernard Laporte win with 52.6% of the vote. Laporte has been opposed to the 82,000-seat stadium and promised to cancel the project if he won.

As we’re 4 days after the election no decision has officially been announced regarding the immense €581-million project. It’s clear that FFR cannot back off that simply, especially after having selected contractors in June and commissioned the stadium’s documentation. After all, the project is all but ready to break ground in 2017 with over €11 million spent on preparations.

The new stadium in Ris-Orangis is (was?) expected to become France’s best venue for large events, especially with the retractable roof and sliding field included in the design to increase versatility.

Planned with numerous secondary uses across 133 hectares, it raised serious concerns about the viability of Stade de France, which would offer inferior standard and might generate loss that could fall onto taxpayers.

Meeting between Ibelys (running the project) and new management of FFR is scheduled later this week.