Plans to renovate the Union Saint-Gilloise (USG) football stadium have been definitively abandoned, asserted Brussels Secretary of State for Urban Planning and Heritage, Ans Persoons, on Wednesday.
A study by regional service urban.brussels explored various expansion options for the Joseph Marien stadium, concluding that creating a football stadium for 15,000 supporters is impossible at the Duden site, which is classified.
"A larger stadium would inevitably require encroaching on part of the Park," stated the Secretary of State, highlighting that the Duden Park is protected and part of the Joseph Marien stadium is also classified as heritage.
Persoons stressed that the future of the Brussels-based club lay elsewhere and not at the current location. She added that discussions must now progress towards a new stadium in a new location.
Within the current stadium perimeter, the only possibility, without crossing into the protected Duden Park, would be to build an 8,000-seat stadium, compliant with UEFA standards.
Persoons observed that this is lower than the capacity of the ageing Marien stadium and does not meet the growing ambitions of USG, a club that needs to expand its capacity to adhere to the Pro League and UEFA standards. Until now, this necessity has forced USG to play its European matches in Anderlecht’s stadium and also OH Leuven's King Power Stadium in 2022.
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Prolonged use of the Marien stadium increasingly harms the club, the State Secretary observed. She pointed out that USG, "currently at the pinnacle of Belgian football and playing European matches each year, is financially restricted due to the antiquated state of the stadium."
With no VIP area, business seating, or high-quality press room, USG receives a small percentage of the stadium-related revenue compared to other Belgian clubs of the same level, despite regular sell-out crowds.
