President Vucic says Red Star and Partizan should share Serbia's National Stadium as their home venue

Photo: Tanjug/Dragan Kujundzic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has spoken about the future of  the sports infrastructure in the country, with special reference to the construction of the National Stadium and plans to renovate the existing two stadiums in Belgrade that are homes to Red Star (Crvena Zvezda) and Partizan football clubs - the bitter cross-town rivals.

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But Vucic proposed that Red Star and Partizan should share the new state-owned sports facility after it is completed, like some other clubs in Europe do.

"It's the National Stadium that the state decides about. I advise both clubs to, like Inter and Milan, apply for the (joint) use of that facility. The Italian (clubs) named theirs San Siro or Giuseppe Meazza, each after their own legend, but it's the same place. Inter supporters in the north stand, Milan supporters in the south stand, and that's it," Vucic told Informer TV.

He also revealed that he has already had discussions on this topic with the leading people of the two biggest Serbian clubs - Red Star's Zvezdan Terzic and Partizan's Rasim Ljajic.

"I said to Terzic and Ljajic, and before that to Vucelic: those who don't understand that people are looking for new levels of convenience are delusional. You can have the most loyal fans in the world, and nobody may have fans like that anywhere, but people want comfort for themselves and their families. Whoever goes to the National Stadium once, will have a hard time returning to the others," Vucic said.

Particularly important news for Partizan is the state's announcement that it will invest in renovating their existing stadium in Humska Street. The reason is not only the club's needs, but also the upcoming major sporting event.

"Regardless of the fact that Red Star renovated that central stand and regardless of the fact that we, as a country, will renovate Partizan's stadium and invest money, because we need it for the European U-21 Championship that we are organizing together with Albania, the difference in quality, class and comfort is incomparable (with the National Stadium)," concluded the president of Serbia.

With this move, Serbia plans to significantly raise the standard of its football infrastructure, both by building a brand new stadium in the capital, and renovating Belgrade's iconic venues.

(Telegraf.rs)