The Paul Greifzu Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dessau-Roßlau. It is one of the most modern stadia in Saxony-Anhalt.

Overview

Eight peace doves heralded the opening of the Paul Greifzu Stadium in Dessau in October 1952. It was named after German motorsport racer and constructor Paul Greifzu who had died in a training accident in Dessau in May that same year. The stadium had been built by voluntary work on dozens of tons of rubble from the ruins of Dessau. Altogether, 51,000 hours of work were spent to construct a 35,000 capacity stadium. It soon became a location for regional athletics championships. During the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

era, little was done for the maintenance and preservation of the stadium. Only after

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, in the mid-1990s, did the city of Dessau develop plans for the remodeling of the stadium. In several steps the complex as renovated and expanded. An important innovation was the construction of complete facilities for track and field athletics. Had athletes had to be content with a cinder track, they now found a modern running track providing optimal conditions for competitions. The facilities were completed by providing for other disciplines, such as

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, javelin throw,

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, pole vault and discus throw. The first test for the new facilities came in 1998, when Great Britain, France and Germany U23 teams competed in track and field there. Just a little later floodlights were installed with an illumination rating of 1,825

lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the ...

, one of the highest-rated floodlights in Germany. In 2002 a new west stand was constructed that provides for 2,048 covered seats. The last step of renovation to date was the construction of changing rooms and other operational facilities below the east stand, but further ideas for remodeling the complex exist. Altogether 6.7 million

Euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

have been invested in the stadium since 1996, turning it into one of the most modern stadia in Central Germany. Every year the ''Anhalt-Meeting'' is held in the Paul Greifzu Stadium, regarded as one of the best outdoor meetings in Europe by athletes such as

Franka Dietzsch Franka Dietzsch (born 22 January 1968) is a German former discus thrower best known for winning gold medals at three World Championships in Athletics. She won the 1998 European Championships in Athletics, 1998 European Championships and 1999 Wo ...

Tim Lobinger Tim Lobinger (3 September 1972 – 16 February 2023) was a German pole vaulter. Career Lobinger's discipline was pole vault and he was an elite competitor from the 1990s. His best results came in 1997 and 1999 when he jumped over 6.00 meters. ...

. It is also the home of LAC Dessau, the local track and field athletics club. A number of major football teams have played in the stadium, such as

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

in a DFB-Pokal match against TSV Völpke in DFB-Pokal 2004–05 and a friendly against SV Dessau 05 in 2005.

Leeds United A.F.C Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

played friendlies against FC Energie Cottbus in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Several matches of the now defunct DFB-Ligapokal were also held in Dessau, as well as several finals of the East German Cup, the FDGB-Pokal.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site of the annual Anhalt-MeetingOfficial site of the city of Dessau-Roßlau
Football venues in Germany Dessau Multi-purpose stadiums in Germany Buildings and structures in Dessau-Roßlau Sports venues in Saxony-Anhalt