German Third League Football Club Heidenheim Plans $8.4M Stadium Upgrade

German Third League football club Heidenheim "can finally start planning its stadium upgrade after the municipal council gave the green light for the €6.5M ($8.4M) investment," according to Jannik Gottwald of LIGA3-ONLINE.de. The upgrade of the south stand and the club youth academy "will be financed by the city with about €3.6M ($4.6M)." Another €2.9M ($3.8M) comes from club sponsors. This money "will be used to build a fan hangout as well as a business club." The Voith-Arena currently has a capacity of 10,000, which will increase to 13,000 after the upgrade is done. FC Heidenheim CEO Holder Sanwand said, "If we are promoted at some point, we will have to put in an extra 2,000 seats, to have a capacity of 15,000." The German Football Federation (DFB) requires 15,000 seats for a 2nd Bundesliga stadium. The construction is scheduled to begin in fall and be finished at the start of the '13-14 season (LIGA3-ONLINE.de, 9/24).