A new fast training center is under construction at Prater

The new training center of the Rapid football champion will be built in the Vienna Prater. The Hütteldorfer announced Monday night, as part of the general badembly in front of more than 1,000 members of the Allianz stadium, that an agreement could be reached with the city of Vienna regarding the location. The total cost of the project is 25 million euros.

Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2019 and end in the autumn of 2021. Talks have been taking place since 14 January 2016 and for a long time an establishment in Tullnerfeld, Lower Austria, has also discussed. "It's an important step, it's wonderful, it helps us incredibly," said sports director Fredy Bickel. Coach Dietmar Kühbauer agreed: "It's only on good training grounds that you can develop more."

Christoph Peschek provided detailed information on the new major project. "The SK Rapid acquires the functional building located in the immediate vicinity of the Ernst Happel stadium, on the grounds of the Association for Culture and Sport, and extends from 3,300 to 6,100 square meters", said the director general. There, in addition to the pros, more than 200 green and white juniors are offered the best conditions.

The future function building will include cabins, study and leisure rooms, a power plant, all sports offices, a play center, a canteen and other facilities. The existing lawn is adapted and equipped with lawn heating and a stand, including a roof. In addition, another space is under construction.

"In addition, there will be six other training areas available at the Ernst Happel stadium.In the future we should also have training courses of the same size as the main playground in Hütteldorf, and in the final phase we will also have the corresponding turf heaters, "said Peschek. District officials have already been informed about the project and the necessary authorizations will then be requested from the responsible authorities.

"After the economic consolidation and the successful commissioning of the Allianz stadium, we can now realize the sporting future project, which will ensure medium and long-term sport competitiveness," said Peschek.

There is also positive news for the ÖFB national team, who can prepare for international matches in the future on one of the newly renovated courses. In addition, the club of the municipal league ASK Elektra remains on its site and remains free for ten years.

However, Rapid will also invest in the infrastructure of Hütteldorf, where all the junior matches will be held. On the West-1-Platz, a new lawn and grbad heating system will be installed in the final construction and a roof of the grandstand will be built. In Nord-Platz, a new drainage and an extension of the training ground are planned.

Thanks to these investments, even the greatest European talents will find their way to Hütteldorf. "The fact that so many talents have landed in the past, especially in the canning club, is mainly infrastructure reasons," Bickel said. In terms of conditions, he was no longer in the top five in Austria. "We have a huge backlog, it's high time something happened there," said the Swiss.

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Artikelbild: SK Rapid Wien