The Olympic Stadium () is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland. It is the home stadium of

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

team Sparta Wrocław and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team Panthers Wrocław. The stadium has a capacity now of 11,000 people and was supposed to be one of the main pitches on

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

. The newly constructed Stadion Miejski was used for that event instead.

History

The stadium was built from 1926 to 1928 as ''Schlesierkampfbahn'' (''Silesian Arena'') according to a design by Richard Konwiarz. It was part of a larger sports complex in the city district of Zalesie (then ''Leerbeutel''), again extended from 1935 to 1939 and renamed '' Hermann-Göring-Stadion'' under the

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

authorities. On 16 May 1937, it was the site of the legendary

Breslau Eleven The Breslau Eleven () was the name given to the Germany national football team who defeated Denmark national football team, Denmark 8–0 at Olympic Stadium (Wrocław), Hermann-Göring-Sportfeld in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) on 16 M ...

football match, when the

Germany national football team The Germany national football team () represents Germany in men's international Association football, football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund''), founded ...

defeated

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

8–0. Despite its current Polish name, the arena has never been an Olympic Games site (in particular, for the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

); however the builder Richard Konwiarz achieved a bronze medal in the

art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics Art competitions were held as part of the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes. Art com ...

in Los Angeles for his architectural design. Heavily devastated during the

Siege of Breslau The siege of Breslau, also known as the battle of Breslau, was a three-month-long siege of the city of Wrocław, Breslau in Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), lasting to the end of World War II in Europe. From 13 Fe ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the stadium was rebuilt by the Polish municipal administration and named after General Karol Świerczewski. From the 1970s it was used by the Wrocław University School of Physical Education and comprehensively modernized with floodlights and an undersoil heating. The Wrocław city administration assumed ownership in 2006 and had the speedway racing track rebuilt, whereafter the smaller football pitch no longer meets the requirements of

UEFA stadium categories UEFA stadium categories are categories for football stadiums laid out in UEFA's Stadium Infrastructure Regulations. Using these regulations, stadiums are rated as category one, two, three, or four (renamed from elite) in ascending ranking order ...

. The speedway track is in length. Stadion Olimpijski03

Past events

The stadium has hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. It also was a venue of the Speedway Grand Prix of Europe in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. The stadium has hosted american football competition and motorcycle speedway competition at 2017 World Games.

Speedway World Finals

Individual World Championship

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

– Ivan Mauger – 15pts *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

– Gary Havelock – 14pts

World Pairs Championship

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

–

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

( Anders Michanek / Tommy Jansson) – 24pts

World Team Cup

* 1961 –

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

( Marian Kaiser / Henryk Żyto / Florian Kapała / Mieczysław Połukard / Stanislaw Tkocz) – 32pts * 1966 –

( Andrzej Pogorzelski / Marian Rose / Antoni Woryna / Andrzej Wyglenda) – 41pts * 1971 –

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

( Ray Wilson / Ivan Mauger / Jim Airey / Barry Briggs / Ronnie Moore)* – 37pts * 1977 –

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

( Peter Collins / Michael Lee / Dave Jessup / John Davis / Malcolm Simmons) – 37pts * 1980 –

( Michael Lee / Chris Morton / Peter Collins / Dave Jessup / John Davis) – 40pts ''* The

Great Britain Speedway Team The Great Britain national speedway team (formerly the England speedway team) is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway. The team is managed by former Great Britain riders Oliver Allen (speedway rider), Oliver Allen and Sim ...

contained riders from the

Commonwealth nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

until the early 1970s. Mauger, Briggs and Moore were from New Zealand, Airey from Australia and Wilson from England.''

Speedway World Cup

* 2001 –

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

( Jason Crump / Leigh Adams / Ryan Sullivan / Todd Wiltshire / Craig Boyce) – 68pts * 2005 –

(

Tomasz Gollob Tomasz Robert Gollob (; born 11 April 1971 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) is a former Polish motorcycle speedway rider. He appeared in every Speedway Grand Prix series between its inaugural season in 1995 and 2013. He earned 52 caps for the Poland nati ...

Piotr Protasiewicz Piotr Protasiewicz (born 25 January 1975 in Zielona Góra, Poland) is a Polish international speedway rider. He is a four times World team champion and earned 24 international caps for the Poland national speedway team. Career Protasiewicz ...

/ Jarosław Hampel / Rune Holta / Grzegorz Walasek) – 62pts

Speedway Grand Prix

* 1995 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland –

* 1996 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland – Tommy Knudsen * 1997 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland – Greg Hancock * 1999 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland –

* 2004 Speedway Grand Prix of Europe –

Bjarne Pedersen Bjarne Aagaard Pedersen (born 12 July 1978 in Holstebro, Denmark) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who represented Denmark in the Speedway World Cup, winning it on two occasions: in 2006 and 2008. Career summary Pedersen beg ...

National football team matches

References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Speedway venues in Poland American football venues in Poland Sports venues in Wrocław Multi-purpose stadiums in Poland Art Deco architecture in Poland 1928 establishments in Germany Sports venues completed in 1928 European League of Football venues