The Stadion der Freundschaft is a multi-purpose stadium in

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

, Germany, with a capacity of 12,000.

History

The stadium was built in commemoration of the 700th anniversary of the city of Frankfurt (Oder). The opening game in the stadium was a match between SG Dynamo Frankfurt and Gwardia-Wisła Kraków on 15 July 1953 in front of a record 25,000 fans.

International matches

Before

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 ...

, the Stadion der Freundschaft hosted two friendlies of the

East Germany national football team The East Germany national football team, recognized as Germany DR by FIFA, was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany. After German reunification ...

. After the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...

staged two qualifying games for the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championships.

Athletics

On 22 September 1968, the East German athlete

Margitta Gummel Margitta Gummel (née Helmbold, 29 June 1941 – 26 January 2021) was a German Olympic gold medal-winning shot putter. She competed for the Unified German team in the 1964 Summer Olympics, East Germany in the 1968 Summer Olympics, and East Ger ...

recorded a

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 ...

world record (18.87 metres) at the Stadion der Freundschaft.

Current status

Nowadays the stadium is in a state of disrepair. The original floodlights as well as the scoreboard had to be taken down in 2000 due to a public safety risk.

References

External links

FFC Viktoria – Stadion der Freundschaft
1. FC Frankfurt Buildings and structures in Frankfurt (Oder) Football venues in Germany Athletics (track and field) venues in Germany Freundschaft Sports venues in Brandenburg Sports venues completed in 1953 Sport in Frankfurt (Oder) {{Germany-sports-venue-stub