Belgian Pro League side Club Brugge KV is seeing the €2.5M ($2.7M) the Flemish government promised the club for its new stadium “fly away,” according to LA MEUSE. The government is citing a “fundamental modification” as the reasoning behind the change of plans. In ’14, the government agreed to allocate €8M to support the investments of sports stadiums, “both for renovation projects and new construction.” Brugge officials were promised €2.5M after they presented a plan to construct a multi-functional sporting facility in the town of Blankenberge. After reviewing the plan, Belgian Sports Minister Philippe Muyters decided that “the project does not correspond to initial talks” and the government will not grant the club the promised money. Muyters announced on Tuesday that the money will go to helping “four other Flemish clubs.” KV Ostende will receive €119,500 ($130,308), Sporting Lokeren gets €750,000 ($817,838) “for renovations to its stadium,” Royal Antwerp will get €250,000 ($272,612) for “its own renovations” and Lommel United will receive €1.19M ($1.3M) “for the construction of a new stadium.” Club Brugge KV President Bart Verhaeghe said, “We have always said we could build our stadium with our own assets” (LA MEUSE, 2/2).
