Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the presentation of the project for Tirana’s New National Stadium:

I am very pleased today that we are here to finalize a very important stage, and to open a new one in the realization of the biggest dream of Dritan Shakohoxha, the New National Stadium. And when I say Dritan Shakohoxha, I do not mean Shako as a person, but all the fans the Albanian sports to whom Shako conveys the emotions of the national team.

Our national team offers today a marvellous image of our nation, of our country, and a radiant image of the national unity and of the best values of our people, without borders.

On the other hand, football is today much more than a sport, not only economically but also from a social and cultural point of view. Football is one of the biggest industries of growth. It is an extraordinary instrument to convey models, to inspire generations, to open perspectives, by sparking off the imagination of all young people and, through its heroes, encouraging them to believe that nothing is impossible.

In the European Union, sport contributes to 2% of gross national product of 28 countries of the Union, and generates 370 billion Euros annually, thus creating 7.3 million jobs, but even more than that.

It has been proven that sport and investments in sport are not just investments for those who enter the field of competition or for those attend the competition, but they are investments that attract, promote and unite people with the sports activity. And this has brought to the conclusion that 1 Euro invested in sport is 3.7 Euros saved in health. We know very well where we come from in terms of organization, and today I want to express once again my consideration for what the Albanian Football Federation has done during the past 10 years, as have all in front of our sight the unimaginable scenes of the stadiums which, more than football stadiums were arenas of backwardness, barbarism and extreme vulgarity. They were fields anything but football could be played, stadiums where anything but culture could develop, and obviously a whole infrastructure that did not allow talents to be discovered through mass participation, since there was no possibility to be organized seriously. On the other hand, it was not only football but the whole of the sports infrastructure.

I strongly believe that the sharp fall of the sport image, the sharp fall of the football image, the fall of the image of all those sports that have attracted for decades, not only the youth but the whole of our society, brought to a greater physical degradation our population. And unfortunately we are today a generally sedentary population, less more dynamic and healthier than we were in the early 90s, while it should be quite the opposite.

The Scientific Research Centre of Sports in Albania has concluded that only 4% of the Albanian population does physical activity. In the European Union, the average of the 28 countries is 50% of the population engaged in physical activity. In Finland, which is the world leader in this area, 92% of the population is involved in a physical activity. Of course, investments in sport do not bear fruits immediately, and it took many years to obtain a product and, for the sake of truth, none of us who are here in this room and, I believe none of the Albanians imagined that Albania could be in the final match of a European contest. But beyond being or not in the final match of a European contest, the important thing for us is lasting results, sustainable football growth first of all as a sustainable growth of the physical capacity of the entire population. This is why we are determinately focused on restoring sport activities in our schools.

Today we have a completely new system throughout the primary and secondary education, with physical education classes restored, and for this a great job has been done but it is still insufficient to have a whole troop of physical education teachers.

We will continue to support and will continue to ask for more from the former famous Institute of Physical Education where physical education teachers are being trained, primarily to have a fast increase in the didactic capacity of physical education teachers in our schools. Musicians or people who have never done physical exercise cannot teach physical education, as it has unfortunately happened in our country.

On the other hand, we believe very strongly that the combination of sport for all as an opportunity but also as a culture through teaching methods for all ages, with competitive sport and with the results that we expect from football or some other sports, will give in the coming years, in the next decade, a significant impetus to our society in terms of physical condition that will definitely mean – who has done sport knows it very well – a much better spiritual and mental activity. Ancient Greeks, the first athletes, did not say in vain “healthy mind in a healthy body!”

There is no doubt that investments have played an important. The federation has turned the page of the growth history of our football precisely because it was bale to set priorities. It focused on infrastructure and created some basic conditions to expand the football activity, enabling professionals to raise the level of their work. But, of course, these investments were and are not sufficient. Sport and football cannot grow unless the government becomes an active part in the process of supporting sport. Therefore we have been, we are and we will always be very active supporters of the Albanian Football Federation and other sports federations, in general, because we are convinced that this is an investment beyond sports.

There are many people today who listen to us and are very enthusiastic that Albania will have a stadium of the highest European standards, a stadium that we have decided together with the President of the Federation, an arena where will see play not only our national team, but eventually also Super Cup final match, or a Europe League match, and we will succeed in this and will have one of the most beautiful stadiums in Europe. I am not exaggerating, because it is not at all difficult in this regard if you have the right vision, the right determination and the right team, and I believe that today we have the right team in this partnerships between the government, the federation, the great Italian architect Marco Casamonti and a prominent company in Albania.

But there are also people who say, “We don’t care about the stadium. We have nothing to eat.” Actually stadiums bring food. Investment in sport, investment in culture, investment to create spaces where society can take part in a physical and mental activity is a direct investment in the economy. It’s that simple. Suffice it to look at the impact that “Elbasan Arena” has had on the local economy of Elbasan. We will see the same in the local economy in Shkodra. But be sure that the new stadium “National Arena” will have a significant impact on the economy of the capital city, because it won’t be just a stadium for matches, but it will be a living space which will operate daily, an important centre of the life of the capital city, just like every other stadium today.

I believe that we can be proud of the fact that when we started cooperation together with the President of the Federation, we started it taking into account a very serious threat that Albania could lose the right to play in a qualification matches for the European championship at home. We had very little time to neutralize this threat. Otherwise, the matches that brought us to the European championship would have been played in neighbouring countries at the greatest shame of Albania, no of the federation or the team. We managed to give our National team a first house, and started thinking about the second house which is being completed. We have decided with the President to inaugurate it on Europe’s Day or in the activities that will take place around Europe’s Day. Meanwhile, here we are to see the first project of the third house of our national, which will actually be its largest and main house. Of course, many other stadiums, based on calendars and activities, are available for the national teams of different ages.

I want to conclude by saying that the very important thing is that neither the government nor the Federation will spend a single penny for the “National Arena” because this will be a public-private partnership. I know that at this stage of barbarism against everything that is done for good and against any instrument that the system gives us, we will hear many voices telling us things of all kinds, but the most important is that we will bring soon in the capital city an investment of 50 million Euros made by the private company. I am very proud that with a joint team of the government and the Federation who worked on this solution, we avoided a solution that was impossible. Previous solution according to a formula, where actually there were some proposals and some foreign companies trying to get the stadium with concession, a formula agreed in principle with the previous government, but they were demanded guarantees from the state budget. So, independently of whether the stadium would function or not, of whether there would be people or not, the government had to pay every year a massive bill that we could not afford. Meanwhile, with this partnership we guaranteed that the whole investment will be made by the private company, while the stadium is a public asset. Of course, the investor will have its profits, as it happens today across Europe. I hope today that the architect, who has just finished the second modern stadium in Italy, the stadium of Udine, will give an exhaustive explanation of the fact that today most stadiums are not built in a day, but they are built for 7 days and 7 nights. I believe this will be the third modern stadium in Italy. We talked also with our friend from UEFA when we were going through the first pages of the project, and I asked him if they have a modern stadium like this one, except that of Juventus and Udinese. He replied they don’t. So, this is Italy’s third modern stadium. Being third in Italy, I believe we are in good place. And when it’s over, I believe we will compete with the “Juventus Stadium” for the beauty and atmosphere we will create for our national team.

Many thanks!

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The new National Stadium in Tirana is the latest investment for the Albanian sport, which will give fans a thoroughly European infrastructure. After approximately seventy years Tirana will have a new prestigious monument, where tradition and modernity will be intermingled while reflecting the pattern of the ancient Roman theatre in the contemporary image of a capital city in constant renewal.

The new stadium has been thought and designed as a building providing services of collective interest dedicated to football, but not only. Thanks also to its proximity to the University, it will become a part of the city dedicated to training, sports, culture, show, hospitality and the meeting of people who, thanks to the various activities, will interact more among them.