The Maksimir Stadium we know today is no longer a venue designed around the needs of supporters, players, journalists, commercial partners or the city surrounding it. This is no longer merely an architectural issue. It is a question of functionality, safety, comfort, identity and ambition.
Maksimir officially opened in 1912 and has undergone numerous renovations and partial reconstructions over more than a century. What exists today is effectively the result of several different interventions that never produced a truly coherent, completed modern stadium.
Since the powerful Zagreb earthquake of March 22, 2020, the eastern stand has remained closed to spectators. That is why demolishing the existing Maksimir and replacing it with an entirely new stadium is not a luxury. It is a project Zagreb should have completed many years ago. But when a city has waited this long, the worst possible outcome would be to think too small.
Build for the Next 50 Years, Not the Next Five
According to the official international architectural competition, the new Maksimir is planned with a capacity of approximately 35,000 spectators as part of a much broader sports complex.
That alone represents an enormous step forward. But the proposed capacity deserves serious discussion. A stadium being designed in 2026 should not be based solely on Dinamo Zagreb’s current average attendance or the immediate needs of domestic football.
It should be designed to serve Zagreb for decades. Stadiums are not built for one generation. They are built for several.
That is why a capacity in the region of 40,000 to 45,000 seats would arguably offer a more ambitious and future-proof solution — or, at the very least, the structural design should make future expansion relatively straightforward.
That does not mean Zagreb needs an oversized 60,000- or 70,000-seat arena that would sit partially empty for most domestic matches.
It means providing room for growth.
There is a significant difference between unnecessary gigantism and sensible long-term planning.
Zagreb Is Not Building a Stadium Only for Dinamo
Maksimir will naturally be Dinamo Zagreb’s home. But its role must be broader.
It will be the most important football stage in Croatia’s capital and an obvious venue for major Croatian national team matches, Dinamo’s European fixtures, international events and other high-profile occasions.
Official planning has explicitly envisaged a top-level UEFA stadium capable of hosting matches involving Dinamo and the Croatian national team. Croatia has become one of the most recognisable football nations in the world.
The national team has achieved extraordinary international results relative to the country’s population, while Dinamo Zagreb has remained a regular presence in UEFA competitions.
In that context, the main football stadium of the Croatian capital should not be designed around minimum requirements.
It should have reserve capacity.
For major matches, the difference between 35,000 and 45,000 seats means 10,000 additional supporters inside the stadium.
Over several decades, that difference becomes substantial — not only in terms of atmosphere, but also matchday revenue, commercial opportunity and the ability to host major events.
Capacity is not just a number printed on a stadium specification sheet. It represents how many people a city can accommodate when something truly significant happens.
The Supporter Must Be at the Heart of the Stadium
The greatest problem with the old Maksimir is not simply its age. It is the experience of attending a match. A modern football stadium must begin with the supporter. The stands should be close to the pitch. Sightlines should be excellent from every sector.
A roof should protect supporters from rain and snow while helping retain noise and create a powerful atmosphere inside the ground. Entry should be efficient. Exiting should be safe. Toilets should be numerous, modern and easily accessible. Buying food or a drink should not require spending most of halftime standing in a queue. Families with children should have dedicated areas.
Supporters with disabilities should have genuinely accessible facilities rather than accessibility being treated as an afterthought. The most passionate supporters should have a stand designed to amplify atmosphere rather than an architectural layout that separates them from the action.
A 21st-century stadium must also provide modern ticketing, reliable mobile connectivity, fast internet access, real-time information and seamless digital services. A supporter buying a ticket should receive more than a plastic seat and a view of the pitch. They should receive an experience that makes them want to return.
A Modern Stadium Must Work Even When There Is No Match
This may be an even more important point. If the City of Zagreb and the Croatian Government are investing hundreds of millions of euros into the wider project, the stadium cannot function only for several hours on matchdays. The current official estimate puts the football stadium itself at €200 million excluding VAT, while the overall package including the surrounding area, training pitches and parking infrastructure is estimated at roughly €205 million excluding VAT.
The Croatian Government and the City of Zagreb have agreed to share stadium construction costs equally. An investment on that scale must produce a building that functions throughout the year.
That means restaurants. Conference facilities. Corporate and business spaces. A club museum. A flagship fan shop. Event spaces. Modern media facilities. Offices. Tourism-related uses.
Hospitality areas capable of generating income independently of football matches.
Journalists and broadcasters need proper working facilities, strong media positions, television studios, mixed zones and infrastructure designed for major international broadcasts.
The club itself needs a stadium from which it can develop a serious sporting and commercial operation.
A stadium in the 21st century is not simply four stands around a football pitch. It is infrastructure. Maksimir Must Belong to the City as Well
There is another element that may be every bit as important as the stadium itself: how it fits into Maksimir.
This is an exceptionally sensitive urban location. On one side sits one of Zagreb’s most important parks. On the other are Maksimirska Street and a densely developed urban environment. The new stadium therefore cannot look like a giant concrete object simply dropped into the neighbourhood.
It should feel like a natural continuation of the city. Green space must play an important role. Pedestrian approaches should be wide and intuitive. Cycling infrastructure must be taken seriously.
Public transport should be prioritised over designing the entire site around tens of thousands of private cars.
The stadium surroundings should remain alive even when there is no football.
Cafés, sports facilities, public squares, walking routes and recreational areas could transform Maksimir into a destination people use on a Tuesday morning — not only on a Sunday evening when Dinamo are playing.
That is the difference between constructing a stadium and creating a successful urban project.
The Project Is Finally Moving — Now Zagreb Must Get the Big Decisions Right
The most important positive development is that, after decades of disputes and delays, the Maksimir project is finally moving forward in concrete terms.
The international architectural and urban-planning competition seeks a new football stadium of around 35,000 seats together with a broader transformation of the Svetice sports complex. The overall concept has been presented as a modern, integrated sporting district intended to replace infrastructure that has long since become outdated.
That is a major step forward.
But this is precisely the moment — before concrete and steel make major changes prohibitively expensive — when the biggest strategic questions should still be asked.
One of them is capacity.
Is 35,000 Really Enough?
For an ordinary domestic league match against a less attractive opponent, it probably is.
For many games, it will be more than enough.
But major stadiums are not designed according to the least-attended fixture on the calendar.
They also have to accommodate those nights when an entire city wants to be inside.
A European knockout match. A major Dinamo fixture. Croatia against one of the world’s biggest national teams. A domestic cup final. Potential international finals. Major sporting or cultural events.
That is why a stadium in the range of 40,000 to 45,000 seats deserves serious consideration. An even smarter solution would be a modular stadium — perhaps opening with around 40,000 seats but structurally designed so that expansion could take place later without effectively demolishing a recently completed arena.
That is how long-term infrastructure should be planned. The question should not simply be: What do we need today?
It should also be: What will Zagreb need in 2050 or 2060?
Zagreb Has a Chance to Correct Decades of Improvisation
The old Maksimir has become a symbol of incompletion. Different stands built according to different concepts. Large distances between sections of the crowd and the pitch. Repeated but unfinished reconstruction plans. A closed eastern stand. Infrastructure that fell behind modern European standards years ago.
The new Maksimir must be the exact opposite. Compact. Covered. Atmospheric. Safe. Functional. Recognisable. Green. Integrated into the city. And large enough that, on the day it opens, Zagreb does not immediately begin asking why it was not built with another five or ten thousand seats.
Zagreb does not need the largest stadium in this part of Europe. It does not need a monument to politicians, architects or football officials. It needs the best stadium Zagreb can realistically build. A stadium where Dinamo finally has a true modern home. Where the Croatian national team has a stage worthy of its international standing. Where journalists and employees have proper working conditions. Where businesses can operate.
Where the surrounding neighbourhood benefits rather than suffers. And, above all, where supporters feel that the stadium was designed with them in mind.
After more than a century of football at Maksimir and decades of waiting for a proper solution, Zagreb should not settle for a compromise that could already look undersized twenty years after opening.
If Zagreb is finally going to build a new Maksimir, it should build it once — and build it properly.
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