AOL Arena

AOL Arena is the main stadium of Hamburg, Germany. It is the home ground of the Hamburger SV football team and was one of the 12 stadiums used in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, for which hosted four group games and a quarterfinal. The arena was known as the Volksparkstadion until 2001 when AOL Time Warner bought the naming rights. It is also home to the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europe.

History

HSV actually have nothing to do with the origins of the stadium, even though they own the current arena. Before the club moved to the current site they played at Sportplatz at Rothenbaum. Bahrenfelder Stadion was the first stadium to built on the site of the Volksparkstadion and the AOL Arena. It was inaugurated on September 13th 1925 with a match between FC Altona 93 and HSV, In front of a 25,000 strong crowd, HSV lost 2-3. At the time the stadium was also known as Altonaer Stadion however it was not the home ground of FC Altona 93 (it was Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn). Altona was a large club of Germany that has long been surpassed by HSV.

After a long break the stadium was finally renovated. Between 1951 and 1953 the stadium was rebuilt. On July 12th the stadium was opened under its new name Volksparkstadion (Peoples Park Stadium). Most of the building materials came from the ruins of Elmsbüttel, a district of Hamburg destroyed under Allied bombing. The new stadium could hold up to 75,000 and was continued to be used for the various sporting events of the city.

In 1963 HSV qualified for the newly created Bundesliga, with this they moved into the Volksparkstadion, a stadium that was both larger and more modern then Rothenbaum. At this time FC Altona missed out and has struggled since. HSV begin to see some success in the Bundesliga and manage to maintain their status for years to come. HSV took titles in 1979, 1982, and 1983.

In May of 1998 HSV decided to replace the unpopular Volksparkstadion with a brand new stadium. Not only to help Germany get ready to host the World Cup but also because it was getting harder and harder to meet the safety standards with such an old stadium. The old stadium was totally demolished and the new arena was rotated 90° to provide an equal viewing experience for all the stands and to take advantage of sunlight. The estimated cost of the new stadium was anywhere from 90-100 million Euros. The new arena serves both as a football ground and a concert hall. The capacity of the stadium during club matches is 55,000 and 50,000 during international matches when the standing sections in the north grandstand are converted into seated areas. The building permit for the new arena was issued on the 30 April 1998.The new stadium got rid of the track and field facilities that increases the distance between the pitch and the stands. The stadium was inaugurated in 2000 when Germany played Greece, the home team won 2-0. With the new stadium HSV has managed to attain a 50,000 average atendance. In 2004 a museum dedicated to the history of HSV was opened.

In 2001 AOL bought the naming rights to the Volksparkstadion for 30 million marks or 15.3 million euros. This contract, with HSV, runs out in 2006 but has a provision to be renewed. However, as in many cases when naming rights are sold to corporate giants, many locals still refer to the stadium with its former name.

1974 World Cup

The 1974 FIFA World Cup was held in West Germany and the Volksparkstadion was one of the stadiums used in the tournament. In combination with the Berlin Olympic Stadium the two stadiums held all of the group A games of the first phase. Three of those were played at the Volksparkstadion. The first game played was the match between East Germany and Australia where attendance dipped to a low of only 17,000. The next game saw a bounceback with 53,300 in attendance. This was the natural result of home side West Germany playing Australia. The attendance grew for the next match coming to 60,200 as home side West Germany played neighbors East Germany, East Germany won the close game 1-0 with an 80th minute goal.

Euro 88

In 1988 the European Football Championship came to West Germany. The Volksparkstadion was chosen to be one of the host stadiums. At the time the stadium could hold 61,200 spectators. The only game of the tournament that was played at the stadium was a semi-final that saw hosts West Germany go down to the Netherlands 1-2.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, due to sponsorship contracts, the arena was known as FIFA World Cup Stadium Hamburg during the World Cup.

The following games were be played at the stadium during the World Cup of 2006:

Date	Time (CET)	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Round	Spectators
2006-06-10	21.00	Argentina	2-1	Côte d'Ivoire	Group C	49,480
2006-06-15	15.00	Ecuador	3-0	Costa Rica	Group A	50,000
2006-06-19	18.00	Saudi Arabia	0-4	Ukraine	Group H	50,000
2006-06-22	16.00	Czech Republic	0-2	Italy	Group E	50,000
2006-06-30	21.00	Italy	3-0	Ukraine	Quarterfinals	50,000

Recent Matches of Importance

The record attendance was attained in Hamburg's victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach (2-0) on the 9th of April, 2006, where 56,750 people were counted. The date marked the 40th birthday of Hamburg manager Thomas Doll.

Awards

The AOL Arena is one of UEFA's UEFA 5 star stadiums which enables it to host the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League Final.

Facilities

The pitch is heated via undersoil heaters. There are 22 positions for cameras to provide quite a few angles for TV viewers. This makes it one of the most modern stadiums in the world.

External links

Official team site
Official site of the AOL Arena
Stadium Guide
Fan site HSV Forever
Stadium info site Stades Mythiques (french)

Gourt Home::Gourt :: AOL Arena