FC Sion majestic ‘Matterhorn Coliseum’ design

Article posted by Coliseum, July 5^th, 2024

Image: FC Sion

The Swiss Super League team FC Sion (Switzerland) who had released their mammoth multipurpose stadium project in January this year has recently presented a video highlighting the design of the planned venue.

The planned majestic venue – the ‘Matterhorn Coliseum’ Stadium – could go on stream by 2029 and will hold 15,000 spectators.

If the venue project comes to fruition, the ‘Matterhorn Coliseum’ would be more than just a football stadium.

The FC Sion or Sion is a Swiss football club from the City of Sion (Switzerland). The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade de Tourbillon. The club is set to play in the Super League from 2024 to 2025, the top tier of Swiss football, after promotion from the Challenge League in 2023-2024.

Image: FC Sion

The Stade de Tourbillon is a multipurpose stadium in Sion, Switzerland. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of the FC Sion. The stadium holds 16,000 people and was built in 1968 and renovated in 1989. At the time of renovation its capacity was 19,600.

A ‘YouTube Video’ presented shows the stadium as the crux of the whole development – ‘Sion 2030’ project. The video presentation has been laid out by the FC Sion President Christian Constantin.

A noteworthy aspect of the design is that it would feature stands on three sides with a giant domed screen taking up the fourth behind one of the goals. One of the stands would boast only VIP Boxes.

Image: FC Sion

The ‘YouTube Video’ further stated that more than 30 football matches will be held per year which includes American football. The other sporting events to be held are basketball, hockey, mixed martial arts (MMA), expositions, festivals, theaters, and concerts.

The stadium will be designed in such a manner that more than 60 events can be held every year. A gourmet restaurant and a bar with a sweeping view of the field, VIP lounge and a 100-bed hotel is part of the design plans. The hotel would sit right next to the swanky venue.

The venue will come up next to the FC Sion’s present home – the Stade de Tourbillon. A futuristic football academy is also being planned at a cost of CHF 30m.

The price tag of the planned facility would come up to CHF 510m (£468.5m/€545.2m/$597.5m). A retractable roof will cover the stadium to enable all-year-round usage in what is Switzerland’s most mountainous region, Valais. Sion is a City in the Southwestern Swiss canton of Valais.

Image: FC Sion

Constantin further stated that it will be a multiuse facility and will not just hold football fixtures. He wants that the stadium should cater to the zoomers and since the planned plush facility will sit in Valais so Winter games should also be planned.

Earlier, ‘SOCCERSCENE’ reported in January this year that the FC Sion unveiled the ‘FC Sion 2030’ vision with the Canton of Valais, the City of Sion the and the Valais Football Association (AVF).

The Valais is a canton in Southern Switzerland. Its home to the pyramid-shaped Matterhorn Mountain, the upscale Alpine resorts and the upper Rhône River Valley vineyards. The resort town of Zermatt, at the foot of Matterhorn, offers numerous ski slopes and hiking on old mule traders’ routes. It’s also a starting point for the scenic Glacier Express train.

Image: FC Sion

The concept intends to construct a cantonwide football academy system, a stadium with around 15,000 seats and supporting infrastructure such as 600 residences to help fund the initiative.

Though refurbishment of the Stade de Tourbillon is not ruled out but Constantin said that building a new stadium “makes more sense”.

‘SOCCERSCENE’ further stated that the letter of intent establishes a deadline of December 31^st for the signature of a contract, allowing the above four parties to proceed with the processes that, they claim, would legally decide the promises made and give them legal effect. The football academy will be commissioned in 2026.

According to budgetary availability outlined in January, the Canton of Valais is ready to study a financial contribution in the form of a grant up to a maximum of 30 percent of eligible costs, with the stadium side of the project price tag expected to come to CHF150m.

The Olympique des Alpes SA, FC Sion’s ownership group, would contribute to the tune of 30 percent of the project costs (academy and stadium) with a ceiling set at CHF50m.

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