The Waldau-Stadion, known as the Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-use stadium in the Degerloch district in Stuttgart,

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 ...

. The stadium is situated approximately 200m southwest of the

Fernsehturm Stuttgart Fernsehturm Stuttgart ( en, Stuttgart TV Tower) is a telecommunications tower in Stuttgart, Germany. It was the first telecommunications tower in the world constructed from reinforced concrete, and it is the prototype for many such towers worldw ...

and holds 11,410 spectators (of these, 1,068 canopied seats and 4,949 canopied stands), which makes it the second biggest stadium in Stuttgart. It is home to the

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. History In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Südk ...

, as of 2013 playing in the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

. The

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

teams Stuttgart Scorpions and

Stuttgart Surge The Stuttgart Surge are an American football team based in Stuttgart, Germany. They play in the European League of Football (ELF) as part of the league's South division. The team plays its home games at the Gazi Stadium which is currently the ol ...

use the stadium in the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''American-Football-Bundesliga'' to ''German Foot ...

and

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a professional American football league. The league (as of the 2023 season) consists of 17 teams located in Germany, Poland, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic and France, with p ...

, respectively. Since 2008, the

VfB Stuttgart II VfB Stuttgart II is a German football team located in Stuttgart, currently playing in the Regionalliga Südwest. From 2008 to 2016 the team played in the 3. Liga. They are the reserve team of VfB Stuttgart. Until 2005 the team played under the n ...

, also playing in the 3. Liga, plays its home games here. The Waldau-Stadion is the oldest stadium in Germany.

History

The football section of Stuttgarter Kickers plays their home games in the stadium since its inauguration in 1905, thereby being the German club that plays for the longest time in the same stadium. Until 1975, the stadium featured a wooden terrace that was built after one of Arsenal's in scale 1–3. Due to various requirements imposed by the German Football Association, a new main stand was built in 1976 and is in use until today. After having the names Kickers-Platz andKickers-Stadium since 1905, the stadium was officially renamed to Waldau-Stadion in 1987. The Stuttgart Scorpions use the stadium since their promotion to the German Football League in 1995. In 2001, the MTV HipHop Open took place in the stadium. This was the only occurrence of the music festival in the stadium as it moved to the Reitstadion in the next year and has been moved to Mannheim since 2009. In June 2004 the name of the stadium was sold to the German main sponsor Garmo AG for 10 years. Garmo sells its products with the brand name GAZi and renamed the stadium accordingly to GAZi-Stadion auf der Waldau. On 6 October 2007, the final of the

German Bowl The German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League. The New Yorker Lions, from Braunschweig, are the record winners of the Ger ...

, the German championship in American Football, between the Stuttgart Scorpions and the

Braunschweig Lions The New Yorker Lions are an American Football team from Braunschweig, Germany. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions.

took place in the GAZi-Stadion. Braunschweig won the championship for the third time in a row, defeating Stuttgart 27–6 in front of 8,152 spectators. On 17 July 2008, Stuttgart's council decided to remodel the stadium for 5.4 million Euro in order to fulfill the requirements imposed by the DFB for the new 3. Liga. It was planned to increase the capacity to 12,000 spectators (2,000 canopied seats and 10.000 stands in total). Beginning of the construction work was planned for January 2009 and should be finished by July 2009. In the end of 2008, however, the council decided to postpone the remodeling for an unknown time span. Following the relegation of Stuttgarter Kickers to the fourth-tier Regionalliga Süd, the remodeling would not have been necessary. VfB Stuttgart II, however, for now continues to host its home games in the 3. Liga in the stadium with a special approval by the DFB.

References

{{German Football League Stadiums Football venues in Germany Buildings and structures in Stuttgart Sport in Stuttgart Sports venues in Baden-Württemberg Sports venues completed in 1905 American football venues in Germany 1905 establishments in Germany Stuttgart Surge European League of Football venues