CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
SCENARIOS
BUCHAREST AND LODZ
Steaua Bucuresti claim to have "one of
the finest compact stadia in Eastern
Europe" and visitors to the Steaua stadi-
such as Anderlecht's stadium at the Pare
Astrid in Brussels or the Philips Stadion in
Eindhoven. The Steaua stadium now has
a fully-equipped 150-seater press stand,
VIP boxes, sky boxes, hospitality areas
and a Tribune of Honour' with 734 top-
class seats.
Where as Steaua have waved the
Romanian flag for the last three seasons,
Widzew Lodz - founded in 1910, fully 37
years before Steaua was born - are new
comers to the UEFA Champions League.
The RTS Stadium, barely 3km from the
urn in the army sports complex some
8km from the centre of the Romanian
capital admit that the club can justify its
claim. The ground also known as the
Ghencea stadium (after the boulevard
which runs alongside it) was inaugurated
on 9 April 1974 with a friendly against
OFK Belgrade, but has been transformed
in the last five years. Firstly, the floodlights
were installed in 1992 and then one of the
current UEFA Champions League spon
sors helped the club to design and build
the new stand which was completed in
1994 as the first step towards a the cre
ation of a modern stadium modelled on
venues with a similar capacity (28,000)
city centre, was built between 1937 and
1939 and since then has undergone an
almost continual process of modernisa
tion. The lower sectors of the current
stands were built in 1957 and additional
tiers were added in 1978. The current
capacity for UEFA Champions League
matches is 18,000.
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