Heart of Łódź stadium expansion planned

Image: Widzew Łódź

Polish football club Widzew Łódź has chosen JSK Architekci to design an expansion of the team’s home stadium.

Widzew Łódź said the agreement concerns the preparation of design documentation for a potential future stadium expansion project at its 138 Piłsudskiego Avenue Stadium.

Widzew Łódź President Michał Rydz said, “This is an important moment for the Widzew Łódź community, as we are reaching the first milestone in matters related to the stadium expansion and changes to the facility’s surroundings.

“Simply put, the design office’s task is to prepare a feasibility study for the stadium expansion.

“However, it is important to remember that the analysis will cover a much broader area than just the capacity and functionality of the stands: changes to the stadium-related infrastructure, such as access roads, and public transportation, such as rail and public transport. This will be a very comprehensive study.”

RTS Widzew Łódź is a Polish football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. They compete in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the Polish football league system, since the 2022–23 season.

The club plays its matches at its stadium, located in Łódź at 138 Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego Avenue. The stadium bears the unofficial but commonly used name of the Heart of Łódź.

The detailed agreement between the club and the architect has been divided into stages. The first stage involves developing an architectural and urban planning concept, along with a land development concept.

Importantly, the stadium would be compliant with UEFA Category IV requirements, which in practice means it could host matches in all major European competitions up to the semi-finals.

The aforementioned concept and a cost estimate for the potential investment will be developed first.

Rydz added, “The primary goal is to increase the stadium’s capacity to 30,000-32,000 seats and adapt the entire surrounding infrastructure to the new realities. The scale and cost estimate of the project will be announced in the first quarter of 2026.”

The next stages of the cooperation define in detail the next steps, such as preparatory work before submitting an application for a decision on development and land development conditions/decision on determining the location of the public purpose investment, as well as the submission of the application itself.

Before this can happen, however, a comprehensive development of the concept itself is necessary.

“This process will require the involvement and expertise of many parties: architects, the Club, City Hall, municipal services, but also Ekstraklasa SA, Livepark, and in certain cases even UEFA representatives,” comments Michał Rydz.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, intense weeks ahead. It’s also important to remember that preparing the documentation is one thing, and the current legal status of the stadium is another.

“The feasibility study itself will only be a prelude to discussions with City Hall about the actual possibilities for the formal implementation of such an investment and, above all, its financing. However, we want to clearly present our expectations for what the Heart of Łódź should look like.”

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