On Friday the city of Płock officially signed the design+build contract for new 15,000+ stadium for Ekstraklasa contenders Wisła Płock. The phased development is expected to conclude in late 2022.

Ahead of the Firday evening game between Wisła Płock and Lech Poznań a rare event took place on the field of Stadion im. Kazimierza Górskiego. The mayor and representatives of Mirbud SA officially signed the contract to design and build a brand new football stadium around that very field.

This event concludes an extremely long and arduous tender, launched back in September of 2018. The moment of signing marks the start of 36-month long countdown to delivery of the brand new stadium.

© Mirbud SA

Longer time frame was envisioned specifically to award time for design and phased reconstruction. The new stadium is to be built portion by portion around the field, allowing constant use for league football.

Mirbud will receive PLN 166.5 million (€38.5m) for the job, which is likely going to come solely from the city's own resources. Next year's budget already foresees spending PLN 37.5 million on the project, making it Płock's largest single spending.

And yet the city will have to provide even more in two following years in order to meet the price, likely forcing authorities to consider additional debt. The city's largest company and Poland's leading petrol refiner and retailer, PKN Orlen, has officially refused to participate in the project, despite several appeals from local authorities.

© Mirbud SA

The company argues that it's already indirectly taking part by paying over 150 million in taxes here. Also, since the stadium and club are owned by the city, Polish law makes it almost impossible to invest in such property for a governmental entity like Orlen. However, Orlen sees the chance for naming rights deal once the stadium is ready, which would allow the city to recoup a portion of the cost.

The new stadium will hold 15,004 people on a continuous, covered tier of seating. It's expected to meet UEFA Category III requirements.