The PZPN’s fan portal, Łączy nas Piłka, has confirmed on Friday that Poland’s final pre-World Cup friendly against Chile will not be held at the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw. In all likelihood, the game will be moved across the city, to Legia Warsaw’s Stadion Wojska Polskiego!
While the PZPN have only stated “security issues” as the reason, earlier reports from Sebastian Staszewski of Interia.pl reported that the Reprezentacja‘s send off to Qatar was expected to be moved due to a structural issue found at the 11-year-old stadium.
According to the reports, a defect was found with the 60-tonne spire that sits above the Narodowy pitch, and houses the stadium’s retractable roof. After inspections, and an urgent visit from the stadium’s designers, the recommendation was made to close the stadium to all events with immediate effect.
There have also been further reports of a crisis meeting, being held today (Friday), as to where the meeting with the South American nation will take place. With only five days until the game, it is expected that there will be no change to the kick-off time, and the match will be moved across the Wisła river to Legia’s 31,800-capacity home.
The change, however, would have a knock-on impact for fans. With more than 20,000 fewer seats, some of those who have purchased tickets will be forced to miss out. The PZPN has already informed that affected supporters can expect to receive a refund.
Czesław Michniewicz named his 26-man squad for the World Cup on Thursday, and those players will leave for Qatar the day after facing their Chilean guests.
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