On Friday, Bayer Leverkusen announced plans to start the renovation of the "BayArena" stadium, costing 56 million euros. The arena is intended to be expanded to 30,000 seats by 2009.
The club, currently occupying fifth place in the German Bundesliga, says that work will begin by the end of this year and they hope everything will be completed by the start of the 2009-10 season.
"We are very pleased that the plans for the stadium renovation have been approved, this is important for the successful future of the club," said Bayer's general manager Wolfgang Holzhauser, not hiding his joy.
"In the renovated 'BayArena' stadium, we will have modern infrastructure with excellent equipment," added W. Holzhauser.
The stadium capacity will be increased from 22,500 seats to just over 30,000, and VIP boxes will be expanded with an additional 2,000 seats.