Munich Olympiastadion
Information:
The Olympiastadion is a stadium located in Munich, Germany. Situated at the heart of the Olympiapark München in northern Munich, the stadium was built as the main venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
With a capacity of 80,000, the stadium also hosted many major football matches including the 1974 World Cup Final, in which West Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1. The Euro ‘88 Final was played there, in which the Netherlands fared better, beating the Soviet Union 2-0, including a famous volleyed goal from Marco van Basten. In 2001, it hosted England’s famous 5-1 win over Germany in a qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup. It also hosted the European Cup Finals of 1979, 1993 and 1997.
Until the construction of the Allianz Arena for the 2006 World Cup, the stadium was home to Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munich. Today, the Olympiastadion holds 69,250.
Design
Designed by the German architect Günther Behnisch and the engineer Frei Otto, the Olympiastadion was considered revolutionary for its time. This included large sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by steel cables that were used for the first time in a large scale. The idea was to imitate the Alps and to set a counterpart to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, held during the Nazi-Regime. The sweeping and transparent canopy was to symbolize the new, democratic and optimistic Germany. This is reflected in the official motto: “The Happy Games” (”die heiteren Spiele”).
History
Following the Olympics, the stadium became the home of FC Bayern München, with their rival TSV 1860 München moving in during the 1990s. These two teams coexisted in the Olympiastadion until 2005, when both clubs moved to the purpose built Allianz Arena.
On December 31, 2006, the stadium made history as being the first venue to host the Tour de Ski cross country skiing competition. The individual sprint events, held at 1100 m, were won by Norway’s Marit Bjørgen (women) and Switzerland’s Christoph Eigenmann (men). The snow was made in the stadium by combining the hot air with the cold refrigerated water that causes the snow to act like the icy type you would see in the Alps.
On June 23 to June 24, 2007, the stadium played host to the Spar European Cup 2007. A yearly athletics event featuring the top 8 countries from around Europe.
Events
In addition to being a sports venue, the Olympic Stadium and Olympic Riding Stadium (Olympia-Reitstadion) have played host to many open-air concerts by the likes of Michael Jackson, Queen, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Madonna, Tina Turner, Celine Dion, AC/DC, Roxette, Bon Jovi, Robbie Williams, Metallica, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Rolling Stones. Parts of the 1975 film Rollerball were shot on the (then) futuristic site surrounding the stadium. Guns N’ Roses filmed parts of their Estranged video there when they visited Munich in June 1993. In 2009 Muse will also play there, due to their ‘Resistance’-Tour. Since 2005 it is the host of the yearly air and style snowboard event. It went unused in the 2006 FIFA World Cup due to the Allianz Arena being the host stadium in Munich.
Munich Olympiastadion pics
Munich Olympiastadion video
Allianz Arena
Information:
The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in the north of Munich, Germany. The two professional Munich football clubs FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München have played their home games at Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005/06 season. Both clubs had previously played their home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium since 1972; FC Bayern München all and TSV 1860 München most of their games.
The large financial services provider, Allianz purchased the rights to name the stadium for 30 years. During the 2006 World Cup it was known as FIFA World Cup Stadium Munich.
The stadium will be the venue for the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final.
Capacity
Effective with the city’s approval of modifications that was granted January 16, 2006, the legal capacity of the stadium has increased from 66,000 to 69,901 spectators (including standing room). The lower tier can seat up to 20,000, the middle tier up to 24,000, and the upper tier up to 22,000. 10,400 of the seats in the lower tier corners can be converted to standing room to allow an additional 30,120 spectators. The total capacity includes 2,000 business seats, 400 seats for the press, 106 luxury boxes with seating for up to 174 and 165 berths for wheelchairs and the like. From the second half of the 2005-06 Bundesliga season, the arena is able to accommodate 69,901 spectators at league and German Cup games, but because of UEFA regulations, the capacity remains at 66,000 seats for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup games. Bayern München has limited capacity during their league and cup games to 69,000. The partial roof covers all seats, although winds can still blow rain onto some of them.
Allianz Arena also offers three day-care centers, two fan shops, the FC Bayern München Megastore and the TSV 1860 München Allianz Arena Megastore. Merchandise is offered at stands all along the inside of the exterior wall inside the area behind the seats. Numerous restaurants and fast food establishments are also located around the stadium.
History
On October 21, 2002 voters went to the polls to determine whether a new stadium should be built in this location and whether the city of Munich should provide the necessary infrastructure. About two thirds of the voters decided in favor of the proposition. An alternative to constructing the new arena had been a major reconstruction of the Olympic Stadium but this option had been refused by its architect Günther Behnisch.
The Swiss architect firm of Herzog & de Meuron then developed the concept of the stadium with a see-through exterior made of ETFE-foil panels, that can be lit from the inside and are self-cleaning. Construction started in the fall of 2002 and was completed by the end of April 2005.
The Fröttmaning and Marienplatz stations of the subway line U6 were expanded and improved in conjunction with the arena construction. The Fröttmaning subway station was expanded from two to four tracks, while the Marienplatz U-Bahn station was outfitted with additional pedestrian connector tunnels running parallel to the subway tracks, which lead towards the S-Bahn portion of the station, lessening congestion among passengers making connections to the Munich S-Bahn. To be able to handle the additional traffic load the Autobahn A9 was expanded to three and four lanes going each way and another exit was added to the A99 north of the arena.
Allianz Arena pics
Allianz Arena video
Olympiastadion
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The Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) is a sports stadium in Berlin. There have been two stadia on the site: the present facility, and one that was built for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics. Both were designed by members of the same family, the first by Otto March and the second by his son Werner March.
The current Olympiastadion was originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics in the southern part of the Reichssportfeld (today Olympiapark Berlin). During World War II, the area suffered little damage. After the war, the United Kingdom military occupation used the northern part of the Reichssportfeld as its headquarters until 1994.
Aside from its use as an Olympic stadium, the Olympiastadion has a strong footballing tradition. Historically, it is the ground of club Hertha BSC Berlin. It was also used for 3 matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. It hosted six matches, including the final, in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and was renovated for that reason. The German Cup final match is held each year at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Olympiastadion Renovation
The inauguration celebrations of the new Olympic Stadium were carried out on July 31, 2004 and August 1, 2004. On that day, Saturday, the party began with performances from Pink, Nena (99 Red Balloons) and Daniel Barenboim. It culminated at night with the opening ceremony.
On day two, friendly matches were played between different categories of the club Hertha BSC and visiting teams. On September 8, 2004, Brazil played Germany.
The new Olympic Stadium seated 76,000, second most in Germany behind Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park (formerly Westfalenstadion).
The roof rises 68 metres over the seats and is made up of transparent panels that allow sunlight to stream in during the day. The western portion (on the Marathon Arch) is open to reveal the “Glockenturm” to the spectators.
The Olympiastadion was equipped with the latest technology in artificial illumination and sound equipment. It has 113 VIP stands, a set of restaurants, and two underground garages (for 630 cars).
The total cost of the remodeling and amplification was €242 million.
Olympiastadion pics
Olympiastadion video
Westfalenstadion
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Westfalenstadion is a football stadium in the German city of Dortmund in the industrial metropolitan area of the Ruhrgebiet (”Ruhrpott”).
The stadium is officially named Signal Iduna Park under a sponsorship arrangement lasting from December 2005 until June 2011, giving naming rights to the Signal Iduna Group, an insurance company. The older name Westfalenstadion derives from the former Prussian province of Westphalia, which is part of the German Federal Republic North Rhine-Westphalia.
It is the home stadium of the BV Borussia Dortmund football team playing in the German Bundesliga. It has a league capacity of 80,552 (standing and seated), and an international capacity of 65,718 (officially seats only). 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. The supporters’ enthusiasm increasingly produces over 50,000 sold season tickets. Regularly 24,454 fans on the famous terrace called Südtribüne fill the largest still existing standing area in European football. Famous for the intense atmosphere it breeds, the stadium has been nicknamed “The Opera House of German Football”, “The Temple” or referring to the faithful Südtribüne “Yellow Wall”.
The Westfalenstadion hosted matches of the 1974 World Cup with Zaire, Scotland, Sweden, Brazil and later finalists Netherlands. It hosted several matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup national teams of Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Togo, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Ghana and World Cup holders Italy. In the semi-final they were the first to beat Germany in an international match played at Dortmund.
Westfalenstadion History
Plans to construct a new stadium were drawn up in the 1960s, as the need arose to expand and refurbish the traditional ground of Borussia Dortmund, the Stadion Rote Erde (”Stadium Red Earth”). 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 FIFA World Cup. The funds originally set aside for the projected stadium in Cologne were 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 FIFA 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 Fußball-Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund played its first game in Germany’s highest division in their new home stadium.
Westfalenstadion 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).
Originally 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.
