The financing of the turf renovation in St. Jakob-Park has been clarified. FC Basel will not have to bear any additional costs. Thanks to the Eurovision Song Contest.
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- Thanks to the ESC, which is holding a public viewing in St. Jakob-Park in May 2025, the damaged pitch will be replaced afterwards and the costs covered by the ESC budget.
- Neither FC Basel nor the canton wanted to pay for the perfect European Championship turf required by UEFA. The ESC is now taking over the financing of the necessary renovation.
- St. Jakob-Park is one of the stadiums that will host the Women's European Championship matches in the summer of 2025.
Thanks to the Eurovision Song Contest, the turf problem at St. Jakob-Park has been solved. As Sabine Horvath, project manager of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 in Basel, explains to "BZ Basel", it was the ESC that provided the decisive impetus. The music competition will take place on May 17 in the St. Jakobshalle, and the associated public viewing in the football stadium opposite contributed to the solution.
Neither FC Basel, which rents the stadium, nor the canton of Basel-Stadt originally wanted to cover the costs of the perfect pitch required by UEFA for the Women's European Championship. FCB had hoped that UEFA, the SFA or the canton would finance the construction of a hybrid pitch, which would have to be equipped with a new substructure. The estimated cost: around 4.5 million francs.
However, this plan was rejected, meaning that a fundamental renovation of the natural turf was carried out in the summer at a cost of around CHF 1.5 million. The stadium, whose pitch is located above an underground garage with poor drainage, will therefore continue to have natural grass.
Six weeks between the ESC and the European Championships
The ESC will now replace the turf. Due to the public viewing in the stadium, the turf will be in such a poor condition after the event in May that it will have to be replaced. According to Horvath, the costs for this will be covered by the ESC budget. The Grand Council has approved a total of CHF 38.5 million for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The contracts between FC Basel and UEFA have not yet been signed. However, only the details are still to be finalized - especially now that the issue of financing the pitch has been resolved. The signatures are to be put in place at the beginning of 2025, according to reports.
The European Women's Championship kicks off on July 2, 2025 with Switzerland's opening match. After the ESC on May 17, the new pitch in the Joggeli will therefore have six weeks to get into perfect condition.