Poljud stadium faces reno or demolition

Poljud is not just a soccer stadium. It is Hajduk Split’s home, one of Croatia’s best-known pieces of sports architecture, and now a very expensive problem. The news this week is simple — Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on May 6 that the national government will help Split find a long-term answer, and that answer could still be either renovation or demolition with a replacement. The reason this landed now is that the debate has stopped being sentimental and started being practical. (hina.hr) ### What changed this week? Plenković used a Split City Council session marking Split Day to say the government would back a “long-term sustainable solution” for Poljud, and he put one concrete idea on the table — state support for a stadium at Brodarica as a temporary bridge while the Poljud question gets settled. He also said an expert group should give political leaders a comp(hina.hr)aying the final call needs technical cover, not just nostalgia. (hina.hr) ### Why is demolition even on the table? Because this is no longer just about modernizing an old venue. Poljud has been carrying age-related structural worries for years, and severe storm damage in July 2025 made the problem harder to ignore. The government then set aside €2 million for urgent repairs, especially after the roof took serious damage, but those fixes were never the (hina.hr)future. (croatiaweek.com) ### Didn’t Split already study this? Yes — and that is the real backdrop to this week’s comments. In March 2026, a city-presented feasibility study examined four scenarios and concluded that the most favorable option was building a new stadium on the current Poljud site. That option was priced at about €316.1(croatiaweek.com)at that as the best long-term solution. (croatiaweek.com) ### So what are the actual options? Basically, Split has four broad paths. One is to renovate Poljud and also build a new stadium elsewhere at Brodarica — the most sprawling hybrid option, at roughly €391.4 million. Another is to upgrade Poljud in place. A third is to tear it down and build a new stadium on the same site. (croatiaweek.com)the most expensive route. (croatiaweek.com) ### Why does Brodarica matter so much? Because the hardest part of replacing a stadium is not drawing the new one. It is figuring out where the club plays in the meantime. The March study said Hajduk could stay at Poljud until 2029 and then move temporarily to a rebuilt Park Mladeži, with that venue upgraded to UEFA standa(croatiaweek.com)is what makes any demolition plan doable. (croatiaweek.com) ### Why not just preserve Poljud as it is? Because preservation and top-level football do not line up neatly. Poljud matters architecturally — Hajduk itself still presents it as a landmark from 1979, designed by Boris Magaš. But a stadium can be culturally important and still be the wrong container for modern safety rules, (croatiaweek.com)oljud matters. They are arguing over what kind of future that importance can realistically support. (hajduk.hr) ### What happens next? The expert recommendation now matters more than the public symbolism. Split’s city council already adopted conclusions in April saying the city needs a modern football stadium and a modern athletics stadium at Brodarica, with reinforced-concrete findings serving as one basis for decisions. So the politics are moving toward action, but the exact action is still open. (split.hr) ### Bottom line This is no longer a vague stadium debate. Croatia’s government has now attached itself to the decision, money for temporary infrastructure is being discussed openly, and the city already has a study leaning toward a new-build solution. The fight is not whether Poljud has a problem. It is whether Split solves that problem by saving the shell, or starting over on the same ground. (hina.hr)