The Croatian national football team is set to play a crucial qualifying match for the 2024 European Championship against Armenia on Tuesday at 8:45 p.m. The game will take place at Maksimir, a stadium that has been in need of renovation for some time now. Plans for the reconstruction of Maksimir have been in discussion for a long time, with talks of building a completely new stadium. It appears that the City of Zagreb, the state, and the Zagreb Archdiocese have finally come to an agreement. According to Sportske novosti, an agreement on the necessary land for the stadium’s construction in Maksimir is set to be signed in December. In exchange, the Archdiocese will receive new land in the city for building new churches.
In addition to Maksimir’s renovation, there are also plans to rebuild Kranjčevićeva street stadium. Currently home to HNL matches between Lokomotive and Rudeš, this stadium has little over 5,000 seats but is planned to have between 10,000 and 12,000 seats after its renovation, which is set to begin in spring. The newly renovated stadium would serve as Dinamo’s home during the construction of their new stadium in Maksimir. However, there may not be enough budget allocated by the City of Zagreb for such a large-scale project as they only have three million euros allocated for it in their 2024 budget.
There are several candidates vying for potential investors interested in constructing a new stadium project in Maksimir including French construction company Bouygues who is known for building Stade de France and Franjo Tuđman Airport in Zagreb among others
