Ellinikon Sports Park opens as part of former Athens airport redevelopment
The Ellinikon Sports Park has officially opened in southern Athens, becoming one of the first major sections of the redevelopment of the former airport site to move from construction to regular public use.
The 287,000-square-meter sports complex includes more than 115,000 square meters of open green space and is part of the wider Ellinikon project being developed by Lamda Development.
The first phase includes a 1,070-seat outdoor athletics stadium and throwing track, four 11-a-side soccer fields – two with artificial turf and two with hybrid turf – as well as two basketball courts and two tennis courts. The park also features areas for recreational exercise, pedestrian and cycling paths, children’s recreation areas, event spaces, four food outlets and 1,350 parking spaces.
The complex also includes a 124-room sports accommodation facility.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at the opening ceremony, described the facility as a major addition to Attica’s sports infrastructure and said it would serve amateur and professional athletes, including Paralympians.
Mitsotakis said the project represented another stage in the transformation of the former airport site, which he described as the largest urban redevelopment currently underway in Europe. He also referred to the years of delays and administrative obstacles that preceded the project’s implementation.
Lamda Development CEO Odisseas Athanasiou emphasized the park’s public character, saying its success would ultimately be measured by how people use it.
The opening also marked the announcement of a partnership with Mouratoglou Racket Sports. French-Greek tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou, founder of the Mouratoglou Academy, said in a video message that the Ellinikon would become the Athens base of Mouratoglou Racket Sports.
The wider Ellinikon development, on the site of the former Athens airport, is planned to include residential, commercial, hospitality, cultural and recreational facilities, as well as a large metropolitan park.
Cre:ekathimerini
