Therefore, the sports editors of the Deník asked the chairman of the board of directors of FC Vysočina Jihlav Lukáš Vaculík for an interview on this topic, here we present the first part of it to the readers.
Mr. Vaculík, a few days ago, FC Vysočina Jihlava fans asked about a possible new stadium for the club. So what is the current situation in this regard?
For me, a situation has arisen when it is time to sit down together with the city on this topic, talk about it and decide when it will be appropriate. The city now has a big loan on the new arena, they will certainly evaluate how it will work for them, whether the operation of the Horácká Arena will be self-sufficient, whether it will not need to be subsidized, this will also be important for the debate regarding our stadium.
Of course, I don’t mean it in a bad way, but don’t you envy the hockey players a little, what conditions they got a few months ago?
On the contrary, I wish it for them, because they deserved it and waited for the new arena for a very long time, let them get the most out of it. The beautiful arena is timeless, I would say above the level of hockey that will be played here, and hockey itself, the interest in it, can move on. Thanks to that, a new owner came to the club, it wasn’t the other way around, first the hall was built and then it was followed by the new owner, they are connected vessels.
Am I right that you would like to take inspiration from this?
Vysočina is the only region in the republic where the two most popular sports in the country, i.e. football and ice hockey, do not have at least one club in the highest competition, which I take as a bit of a shame. In this way, the city and the region can help each other, but we can all see what is happening in Czech football now, when new owners enter it in recent years and the entire infrastructure rises incredibly.
So let’s go back to the FC Vysočina stadium. What is your idea of a new or renovated stand?
My idea is the completion of the remaining two stands that are missing here and the capacity for some five or six thousand spectators. I think that, given the size of the city and the popularity of football in the city, this is enough for the stadium to be decently full.
The current state of the stadium is, to put it mildly, definitely not appropriate for the third decade of the 21st century, don’t you agree?
On the one hand, I have to say that we, as one of the few teams in the second league, meet the conditions even if we were to advance to the top division. At the same time, however, I realize that the current conditions are undignified, the stadium has not been touched for twenty years, which is why it is time to open it and it should be a topic that should be addressed in the city.
So, do I understand correctly that we are talking about the completion or reconstruction of the current stadium, the option of building a new stand elsewhere in the city is out of the question?
In my opinion, there is no point in building something new somewhere else, the stadium has been here for a long time, the fans are already used to this place. It is just a matter of completing it so that it is closed on all four sides.
You mentioned a capacity of around five or six thousand spectators. I remember the visualization of the entire stadium from 2005 or 2006, which was supposed to look similar to the tribune behind one of the goals, the capacity of which was supposed to be around 11,000. Is this option no longer an option?
In my opinion, it was oversized, it would not make sense to build such a large stadium in Jihlava. Even at the prices of the time, the entire project cost one billion crowns, which is a huge number. Due to the popularity of football in Jihlava, it was already overshot at that time. The current capacity is four thousand two hundred spectators, if it were to increase by some less than two thousand, it would be completely sufficient for me.
When do you realistically see that the completion of the FC Vysočina Jihlava football stadium could begin?
It certainly won’t be in the next two or three years, I’m aware of that. At the same time, however, I think that it is necessary to start discussing this topic with the city, to prepare all the necessary documents and, once the necessary finances are available, to start building. Realistically, I think that in four or five years we could be ready, of course also with the use of subsidies from various sources.
The second part of the interview with Lukáš Vaculík, head of the football club FC Vysočina, which will cover other details of the reconstructed stadium, the boom in Czech football, current spectator visits to home games, but also the possible entry of a significant investor into the Jihlava club, will be brought by Deník in the coming days.
