At its meeting on Thursday, the Croatian government declared Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium and Split's Poljud Stadium sports facilities of national interest, as provided for under the new Sports Act.
"The number of spectators at matches and the importance of football in Croatia compared to the poor state of repair of major football infrastructure, which is essential for the further development of this sport in Croatia, are the reason why the two football stadiums are the first to be declared sports facilities of national interest," Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac said.
Over 100,000 female and male footballers of all ages and from all levels of competition practice football in Croatia, which is roughly half of all athletes in the country. The successes achieved by the Croatian national football team have made an immeasurable contribution to the promotion of Croatia worldwide, and their medals have confirmed Croatia as a football superpower, the minister said.
The stadiums in Zagreb and Split are the only stadiums in Croatia with a capacity of 20,000 and 30,000 seats respectively, and are classified as UEFA category four stadiums. They are also symbols of football in Croatia, Brnjac said.
Declaring the two stadiums sports vnues of national interest will facilitate co-funding of their construction or reconstruction, for which funding has been allocated in the state budget. The government will continue investing in sports infrastructure and will declare other sports complexes sports facilities of national interest, as necessary.
Brnjac said that both national and EU funding would be available for investment. Since 2019, the Ministry has co-funded with €2.7 million the construction, renovation or equipping of 47 football grounds across Croatia, while total investment in 166 sports facilities since 2018 has reached nearly €10 million.
(Hina)
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