Football World Cup 2006 Germany

Signal Iduna Park

Signal Iduna Park is the name the Westfalenstadion carries from December 2005 until June 2011. It is a football stadium in the German city of Dortmund (8th biggest German city). It is the home ground of the Borussia Dortmund (BVB) football team and will host several matches of the 2006 World Cup, including a semi-final. It has a league capacity of 81,264 (standing and seated), and an international capacity of 67,000 (seated only). The stadium was named after the former Prussian province of Westphalia, which is now part of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia. It is Germany's biggest stadium and established the European record in fan attendance in 2004/2005 with a total of almost 1.4 million fans.

History

Plans to construct a new stadium were drawn in the 1960's, as the need arose to expand and refurbish the traditional ground of Borussia Dortmund, the Stadion Rote Erde. Following the historic triumph in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1966 (Dortmund was the first German team to win a European club title), it became clear that the Stadion Rote Erde was too small for the increasing number of Borussia Dortmund supporters. The city of Dortmund, however, was not able to finance a new stadium and federal institutions were unwilling to help.

In 1971, Dortmund was selected to replace the city of Cologne, which was forced to withdraw its plans to host games in the 1974 World Cup. The funds originally set aside for the projected stadium in Cologne where thus re-allocated to Dortmund. However, architects and planners had to keep an eye on the costs due to a tight budget. This meant that plans for a 60 million DM oval stadium featuring the traditional athletic facilities and holding 60,000 spectators had to be discarded. Instead, plans for a much cheaper 54,000 spectator football arena, built of pre-fabricated concrete sections, became a reality. Ultimately, the costs amounted to 32.7 million DM, of which 1.6 million DM were invested in the refurbishment of the Stadion Rote Erde. The city of Dortmund, initially burdened with 6 million DM, only had to pay 800,000 DM, and quickly profited from the stadium's high revenues.

In the 1974 World Cup, the Westfalenstadion hosted 3 Group games and 1 Final Group game, during which the stadium was almost always filled to its maximum capacity of 54,000.

On the 2nd of April 1974, Borussia Dortmund officially moved into their new home and has played in the Westfalenstadion ever since. Having been relegated in 1972, the BVB was the only member of the 2. Bundesliga (second Division) to host the 1974 World Cup games in a completely new stadium. In 1976, after promotion to the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund played its first game in Germany's highest division in their new home stadium.

Layout

Situated directly opposite the Stadion Rote Erde, the Westfalenstadion is composed of 4 roofed grandstands, each facing the playing field on the East, South, West and North sides. The Eastern and Western stands (Ost- und Westtribüne) run the entire length of the field, while the breadth is covered by the North and South stands (Nord- und Südtribüne). Although the corners between the four grandstands remained empty, the spectators appreciated the extensive roof, which covered over 80% of the stands. The Eastern and Western stands housed the stadium's 17,000 seats, while the 37,000 standing places were housed in the Northern and Southern stands.

Expansions

The original capacity of 54,000 was reduced in 1992 due to UEFA regulations. As the standing rows on the entire Northern, the lower Eastern and the lower Western grandstands were converted into seats, the capacity shrank to 42,800. With 26,000 seats (of which 23,000 were covered), the seating in the Westfalenstadion now outnumbered the standing rows.

After Borussia Dortmund won the national championship in 1995, the Westfalenstadion was expanded yet again . In the first private venture stadium expansion in German history, the two main grandstands, the Eastern and the Western blocks, received a second tier. Covered by a new roof-construction, each section housed an additional 6,000 seats. Thus, the stadium's capacity was restored to the original 54,000, of which the majority (38,500) were now covered seats. Following Dortmund's 1997 Champions League victory, success and an ever growing number of enthusiastic fans made it necessary to enlarge the Westfalenstadion yet again. The Southern and Northern grandstands were enlarged this time, boosting the total capacity to 68,800 spectators. The Southern standing ranks (die "Südtribüne") became the largest free-standing grandstand of its kind in the whole of Europe, with a staggering capacity of 25,000.

When Germany won the World Cup bid in 2002, it became clear that Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, the "Opera House of German Football", would play a leading role in hosting the tournament. However, as the Westfalenstadion failed to fulfill FIFA requirements for hosting semi-finals, it had to be enlarged a third and last time. Four new stands were built to fill the corners between the existing grandstands, raising the seating capacity for international games from 52,000 to 67,000. Additionally, the new corner elements provide seating and catering to VIP guests, increasing the total number of VIP seats to 5,000. In order to provide the new sections with an unblocked view of the field, the existing interior roof supports were removed and replaced by exterior pylons, which were painted yellow to suit the BVB colors. The Stadium now hosts up to 82,932 fans (standing and seated) for league matches, and 67,000 seated spectators for international games. For these, the characteristic Southern grandstand ("Südtribüne") is re-equipped with seats to conform with FIFA regulations.

Owners

The property of the Westfalenstadion, originally belonging to the city of Dortmund and later sold to the club Borussia Dortmund, was sold to a real estate trust in 2002 when the club was facing serious financial problems. Borussia Dortmund intended to repurchase the stadium gradually up to 2017, but was not able to pay the regular rates in spring 2005. Holders of the trust agreed in cutting back the asset's interest rates and allowed the club to pay the rates after financial reorganisation. Because of these measures, bankruptcy of the club was avoided and the future of the facility was secured.

In order to reduce debt, the naming rights to the stadium was sold to an insurance company Signal Iduna. From December 2005 on, the stadium is known as the "Signal Iduna Park". However, during the FIFA World Cup in 2006, the stadium will be called "FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund", since FIFA controls all naming rights in connection with the World Cup.

Trivia

• Signal Iduna Park is the largest football stadium in Germany.
• The unique "Südtribüne" (Southern Stand), with more than 25,000 enthusiastic standing fans, makes this stadium one of the most fascinating football-stadiums in the world. It can be converted from standing places (for league games) and seats (for international matches) within two days.
• Borussia Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any football club in Europe with a record average of 78,808 spectators in the season 2003/2004.

References

Werner Skrentny (Hrsg.), Das grosse Buch der Deutschen Fussball-Stadien, Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt, 2001

Gernot Stick, Stadien 2006, Basel: Birkhäuser 2005

Stahlbau Spezial: Arenen im 21. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Ernst & Sohn, Ausg. Januar 2005

External links

• Westfalenstadion at WorldStadiums.com
• (German) Stadium page at the official Borussia Dortmund website
• (German) Westfalenstadion Guide at StadionWelt.de

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