Since 2015 the main thing growing on the site of Hristo Botev Stadium was vegetation. Now, finally, heavy machinery is back and works should restart soon. For now trees and shrubs are being removed.

On Friday the long-awaited return of machines to the construction site in Plovdiv took place. At the moment it's only with the goal of clearing the site of Stadion Hristo Botev and preparing it for consturction. Actual work should follow within a month.

The change comes as Botev Plovdiv (with the support of the municipality) secured funding from the Regional Development Fund in order to finalise the abandoned stadium. In February the club signed a new contract with stadium designers Vamos and we should expect for the revised stadium to be complete in 2020, since it's being financed from the EU 2014-2020 pool.

© Стадион "Христо Ботев"

In case you don't recall, work on the 19,000-seater in Plovdiv was launched in 2012, with the demolition of the old ground's east stand. However, it was halted with two grandstands in place by 2014, because club owner and investor was arrested.

The city then promised to step in but didn't finance work upwards of a few months. Effectively, since early 2015 the construction iste has been abandoned with more than half of the structure still to be delivered.

©  Ботев Пловдив

©  Ботев Пловдив