Tallinn could host 2018 UEFA Super Cup
Tallinn's A. Le Coq Arena could host the 2018 UEFA Super Cup final, but adding 5,000 seats is a precondition, a project which has already received a green light from the government.
The necessary five million euros has already been inserted into the 2016 state budget, Eesti Päevaleht reported, adding that reasoning behind the funding is that Estonia celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018, and the possibility to attract a top-level football spectacle.
The daily reports that the match usually takes place in stadiums with at least 30,000 capacity, but A. Le Coq Arena can currently hold only 10,340 people. The daily also said that Estonian Football Association President Aivar Pohlak would have to put all his contacts in UEFA to good use to get a positive decision.
Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas was in Tbilisi, Georgia in August to watch this year's Super Cup match between FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC, meeting UEFA head Michel Platini who told him Estonia can host the match, if the stadium problem is solved.
Rõivas said that an upgrade to the stadium would cost 5-6 million euros, adding that the meeting with Platini confirmed that Estonia has a shot, and that Tbilisi game showed him that it is a great advertisement for the host nation.
UEFA will decide next year, which city will host the 2018 Super Cup final match. Next year it will be held in Trondheim (21,000 capacity), Norway, then in Skopje (33,000 capacity), Macedonia.
Editor: J.M. Laats