English football club Forest Green Rovers has revealed nine stadium designs in the running to provide the blueprint for its new home ground.

Almost 50 entries were received from architecture studios of various sizes around the world after an international architecture competition was launched in April.

The competition brief called for a fan-focused and sustainable design in line with the club’s strong environmental principles.

The nine shortlisted architects are:

• AFL Architects

• DP Architects

• George King Architects

• Gianni Botsford Architects

• Glenn Howells Architects

• Richard Kroeker

• Studio M12

• Zaha Hadid Architects

• ZedFactory

Dale Vince, founder of green energy company Ecotricity and Forest Green Rovers chair, said: “We originally said we’d draw up a shortlist of eight entries, but we’ve had such a fantastic range of designs from across the world that we’ve had to squeeze an extra one in.

“The shortlisted architects will now work up their designs in more depth, and I’m very excited to see what comes next.”

The club will select two finalists from the shortlist who will be paid an honorarium and requested to produce a scale model of their design. The final winner will be unveiled in September.

Stadium design expert Frank Whittle Partnership is overseeing the competition.

Forest Green Rovers’ new stadium is a major part of the club’s planned £100m (US$142m, €124.9m) Eco Park development – a 100 acre sports and green technology business park located in Gloucestershire.

Half of Eco Park will consist of sporting facilities, including the new stadium, grass and all-weather training pitches, publicly accessible multi-disciplinary facilities and a sports science hub.

The other half will feature sustainably built commercial offices and new buildings for Ecotricity, which has submitted the overall proposal. A nature reserve is also planned for the site.

Speaking about the planned stadium earlier this year, Vince said: “Sustainability will be key; we expect that to run through the core of the design, as through a stick of rock.

“There are two aspects to this. First, it’s about sustainable construction, in terms of the material used, and second, it’s about the long-term operational sustainability of the stadium.”