Not without controversy, the new national football stadium will be located in fields that are regularly subject to flooding and is also well outside the capital city. It also comes attached to a 28,000m2 Factory Outlet store. The plans have upset the Ville de Luxembourg, which currently houses the national stadium – the Stade Josy Barthel – on the route d’Arlon and city retailers are also concerned that the shopping centre will lead to a further exodus of shoppers from the capital.

The masterplan incorporates a new motorway junction that will lead traffic directly to the stadium-retail centre. The A3 motorway will also be expanded from its current four lanes to six lanes near the site, around the Bettembourg junction, to ease the possibility of congestion, and a tunnel will help avoid the backlog of tricks around the Aire de Berchem, which has even been the cause of serious road accidents in the past.

A car park for between 4,000 and 4,500 cars is also part of the plan. In addition, a new railway station will be built and special buses will be laid on during public events that attract large crowds. The flooding problem will be dealt with by the construction of rainwater retention basins – two on the surface and one optional underground pool.

Two projects for the new stadium and retail business were presented on Monday, one from Swiss architects IttenBrechbuehl and one from French bureau Valode & Pistre (pictured).