Brussels elite track event in search of a new home

News that Brussels future national stadium won’t include a track has left organisers of the international Diamond League’s Ivo Van Damme Memorial scrambling to find a new venue by 2020. The replacement of the Boudewijn Stadium in Heizel, being cleared for a large-scale residential project, will be built to bring spectators closer to the action on the pitch, but won’t include the familiar running track that has attracted the likes of Usain Bolt in recent years. Hopes are that the new stadium will help make Belgium a prime candidate country for the 2020 European Football Championships.

The good news for the Ivo Van Damme Memorial is that six years still allows for the time to find a solution. Discussions to build an athletics venue are already underway, and other options are being looked at to keep the event in Brussels.