Bay Arena () is a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
in
Leverkusen
Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf.
With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is on ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, which has been the home ground of
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
club
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...
since 1958.
History
The stadium was originally known as ''Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion'' (; en, Ulrich Haberland Stadium), named after a former chairman of
Bayer AG
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...
, the club's founders. Its original capacity was 20,000.
In 1986, a rebuilding project began to convert it into a modern facility; the project continued intermittently over the following decade. The project was completed in 1997, making the stadium an ultramodern all-seater with a capacity of 22,500. The stadium was renamed ''BayArena'' in 1998. The former name was then used for the youth team stadium next to it.
In 1999, a hotel attached to the stadium was completed, with some rooms having a view of the pitch. The stadium complex also includes a high-class restaurant, which also overlooks the pitch, and conference facilities.
The city of Leverkusen originally bid to become a venue for the
2006 World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
, with an expanded Bay Arena as the site. However, the city, Bayer Leverkusen, and the German
organizing committee
A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers.
In some unions, the orga ...
soon agreed that expanding Bay Arena to the
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
-mandated minimum 40,000 capacity for
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
matches would not be practical, and the city withdrew its bid. Instead, it was agreed that Bay Arena would be the main training facility for the
German national team during the 2006 finals.
Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...
, former national coach, however decided against Leverkusen and opted for Berlin as the main training facility. As compensation, BayArena would supposedly host two national matches, though they were never played.
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
On 30 March 2007 Bayer AG agreed on the extension of the stadium to a capacity of over 30,000. Construction works began end of 2007 and are supposed to be finished at the beginning of the 2009–10 season.
On 30 September 2008, Bay Arena was selected as one of nine venues to be used during the
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...
to house three group and one quarterfinal match.
Design
As the new stadium design was planned in the 80s, it was based on the design of the then
Ruhrstadium in
Bochum
Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...
. A steep single-tier football stadium without a running track with seating for 35,000 spectators. The stadium was intended to be constructed section by section over time in order to save costs and grow with the demands of the club, starting with the east stand in 1986, the west in 1989 and the north in 1991. In the middle of the rebuild, the demands of modern football stadiums changed. Suites and VIP Areas became necessary, a family friendly section as well as design modification to all-seater following the Bundesliga riots of the 1990s and the demands for international matches.
As a lesson from the World Cup 1994 in the USA the north section was redesignated as a so-called "Family Street", the first section of a German stadium aimed at attracting a younger audience. This concept proved to be a rousing success and demanded the moving of the Family Street to the larger east section for the 1996–97 season. In the process the BayArena was the first stadium in Germany to turn into an all-seater and to remove part of the fences which had separated the tiers from the pitch, starting again in the east and later expanded to the whole stadium. Due to the demands for larger VIP areas, the original plans for closing the gap in the south with a stand the same layout as the north were dropped in 1995. Instead the south section was built as box suites, making the stadium unique in the Bundesliga with its South American style horseshoe design. With the work finished in 1997 the BayArena was judged as the most comfortable and modern stadium in Germany.
The expansion and renovation of 2007–2009 added a second tier over the east, north and west sections, new VIP suites between the two tiers, a new oval roof covering all seats as well as the complete rebuild of the club's main facilities in the west section. It also saw the reintroduction of pure standing areas for the home supporters in the corner north/east. After summer 2013, the pure standing area was stretched over the complete first rows of the north section of the stadium.
Gallery
File:Schema BayArena.svg,
File:Bay Arena Leverkusen 002.jpg,
File:BayArena.jpg,
File:Leverkusen BayArena 3.jpg, Interior of the BayArena
File:Leverkusen BayArena 6.jpg, Office of Bayer 04
File:Leverkusen BayArena 4.jpg, Office of Bayer 04
File:Leverkusen BayArena 8.jpg, Office of Bayer 04
File:Leverkusen BayArena 2.jpg, Office of Bayer 04
File:Leverkusen BayArena 9.jpg, Office of Bayer 04
File:Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion 2013-12-08 main stand.JPG, BayArena next to the currently-named Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion used for youth teams
References
External links
Official Homepage
BayArena
Pictures from stadium expansion in Leverkusen 2008
{{coord, 51, 2, 17.72, N, 7, 0, 7.94, E, type:landmark, display=title
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Football venues in Germany
Buildings and structures in Leverkusen
2011 FIFA Women's World Cup stadiums
Sports venues completed in 1958
Sports venues in North Rhine-Westphalia
Outdoor arenas