New Soccer Arena Opens to Athenians at Goudi Olympic Center

The new soccer arena in Goudi. Photo source: Athens Municipality.

Residents of Athens now have a new space for sports and recreation thanks to the opening of a new soccer arena and a mini-soccer field in the residential neighbourhood of Goudi.

The Greek capital’s new sports facilities follows the leasing of a section of the Goudi Olympic Center to the Municipality of Athens by the Hellenic Public Properties Co (ETAD).

The facilities leased to the municipality include a football arena with a 840-seat grandstand, a 5×5 mini-soccer field and surrounding areas of the Goudi Olympic Center, amounting to a total of some 8,385.67 square meters.

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis with ETAD’s Authorized Advisor and acting Managing Director Panagiotis Balomenos. Photo source: ETAD.

According to Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis, the two fields are expected to decongest other sports facilities of the municipality and give athletes and sports lovers more time for exercise and to practice soccer.

The mayor announced that the municipality plans to upgrade the area’s existing infrastructure and continue to invest in sports, “making use of unused urban spaces, for the benefit of the local community”.

It was also announced that more than ten clubs competing in the city’s local league will have access to the new sports facilities.

Athens’ local authority also plans to gradually transform the area into a sports, green, and leisure hub, offering a valuable outlet to the city’s residents and visitors to exercise or just take a stroll in a modern urban green space.

On his part, Panagiotis Balomenos, ETAD’s authorized advisor and acting managing director, said the goal is to broaden cooperation with the municipality and give a second chance to the unused public properties in Athens.