The hockey fan zone will cover around 7000 square metres

Publikováno: 20.4.2024

The organizers of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, which will be held in May 2024 partly in Ostrava, will start building a large zone for fans on April 27. It will occupy an area of 7,000 square meters and its preparation will take ten days.

The largest number of fans is expected to arrive to Ostrava from Slovakia and Poland. Accommodation in Ostrava is already almost at full capacity and the fans who are coming here often have to look for accommodation in more distant cities. The city police is also preparing for the championship, especially considering security and traffic.

"The official fan zone will be located directly in front of the Ostrava Arena in the two adjacent parking lots. We will start construction immediately after taking over the arena on April 27. The fan zone will offer a rich accompanying and cultural program, which was prepared in order to bring all the participating countries closer to each other. There will be performances from the Slovak band Helenine oči or the Polish band Big Bike Orchestra" said Jan Kuklík, the spokesperson for the championship.

The preparations inside the Ostrava arena will start at the same time as the creation of the fan zone. There will be a suspended footbridge that will be used for television studios. "The studios will be built on a suspended platform in compliance with strictly given safety and static conditions," added Mr Kuklík. The platform will be 20 meters long and 5.5 meters wide. Its carrying capacity will be six tons. "We already know that the weight of the studios will be 3.75 tonnes," said the spokesman.

The organizers appeal to fans to use public transport as much as possible, to avoid driving to the arena and to arrive early enough to pass the security checks on time.

The Ostrava Public Transport Company (DPO) is also preparing for the championship. A separate workgroup was created to deal with specific adjustments to timetables and the introduction of booster connections.

A large number of foreign fans is expected to arrive to Ostrava. "As expected, the most popular matches are those of the Slovak team, there was also a high demand for the match of the Polish team, which is returning to the world championship after 22 years. After last year's medal success, we also expect a large number of fans from Latvia and Germany," said Kuklík.