Ligue 1 side Angers’ Jean-Bouin Stadium “will be renamed Raymond-Kopa Stadium.” The decision was approved by the Angers City Council on Monday. The name honors Raymond Kopa, a French int’l who died on March 3. Kopa signed his first professional football contract with Angers in ’49 (L’ÉQUIPE, 3/27).
Poissy, France, a commune several miles northwest of Paris, confirmed Paris St. Germain will invest in building an “ultramodern” complex to serve as the club’s new training center. The club announced its intention to move its training center to Poissy last year, but encountered pushback from Poissy residents (20 MINUTES, 3/28).
Leeds City Council said that an
investor "prepared to invest"
£35M ($43.6M) in
Headingley Stadium has been found. Council leader Judith Blake said that a previous scheme to fund the work had "gone" and now the authority "was ready to broker the new deal." Super League rugby side Leeds Rhinos CEO Mark Arthur said that a financial services company "was prepared to build the new facilities and rent them back to the clubs." The plan "includes a new south stand on the rugby ground and a new joint stand overlooking both the rugby pitch and cricket ground" (
BBC, 3/28).
Super League rugby side Castleford Tigers CEO Steve Gill said that the club expects to leave Wheldon Road and move into its new Five Towns Park stadium "by 2020." Final approval for the £135M ($168M) development, "which also includes retail and leisure facilities," was granted in Sept. '15 (BBC, 3/28).
The independent inquiry into Lewisham Council’s plans to seize Millwall’s land at The Den is "set to begin in the next few days." It is expected to be completed by the end of the year and "to cost up to half a million pounds of public money." The inquiry was called "after a series of questions emerged over the process and due diligence behind the council's plans to compulsorily purchase land in Bermondsey and sell it on to an offshore‑registered developer called Renewal" (London GUARDIAN, 3/28).