ZAG-Arena (formerly Preussag Arena and TUI Arena) is an

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The arena opened in 2000. It holds 10,767 during hockey or handball matches and up to 14,000 during concerts. It is the biggest indoor venue in the

Hanover Region Hanover Region () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Heidekreis, Celle (district), Celle, Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn, Peine (district), Peine, Hildeshe ...

, and most major concerts are held there. The arena is situated at the Expo Plaza in the

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially, some 40 million people were ...

grounds, in the south of Hanover, astride the Kronsberg and Mittelfeld areas.

Tenants

It was primarily used for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and was the home arena of the

Hannover Scorpions The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013. History Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...

. After the Scorpions sold their

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

-License to the

Schwenninger Wild Wings The Schwenninger Wild Wings are a professional Germany, German ice hockey team from Villingen-Schwenningen in Baden-Wuerttemberg that was founded on 20 July 1904 and currently plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The greatest success of the ...

in 2013, the license agreement for the arena wasn't renewed and the Scorpions left the arena permanently. Since then no tenant is using the arena on a regular basis. The arena was used for the local derbies of the rival clubs

Hannover Indians The Hannover Indians are a professional German ice hockey team and public limited company from Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic ...

and Hannover Scorpions (now both playing in the third tier Oberliga-Nord) in 2013 and 2014 though. If these games are to be held there in the future is uncertain. The

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

club

TSV Hannover-Burgdorf TSV Hannover-Burgdorf is a handball club from Hannover, Germany, and is competing in the Handball-Bundesliga. History The team is known as DIE RECKEN. The origins of the club lie with the sports association Freie Turnerschaft Burgdorf, which ...

is also using the arena for games with high attendances at irregular intervals, for example in 2011 against Eintracht Hildesheim and 2013 against

Frisch Auf Göppingen Turn- und Polizeisportgemeinschaft Frisch Auf Göppingen e.V. is a sports club from Germany, located in Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg. The club's men's handball team plays under the name FRISCH AUF! Göppingen in Handball-Bundesliga. Nine-time c ...

. In the 2016–17 Handball-Bundesliga season, the club played five matches in the arena, before playing up to 13 of their 17-season home matches in the arena from the 2017–18 season onwards. The arena has been constantly struggling with financial problems since the day of opening and has been a money-losing business since then due to the lack of enough regular events. After the departure of the only permanent tenant, Hannover Scorpions, in 2013, the situation became even more critical for the owner Günter Papenburg, who is also the owner of the Scorpions. He is still trying to attract more events there to minimize his financial loss.

Events

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

was scheduled to perform during her All for You Tour on 12 November 2001, but the show was cancelled because of the

11 September attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

performed a Classic-Concert with the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

on 1 June 2000 at the arena and, during her

Get Your Sting and Blackout World Tour Scorpions are a German hard rock band formed in Hanover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker. The longest-running and most successful line-up of the band included Schenker, Klaus Meine (vocals), Matthias Jabs (lead guitar), Francis Buchhol ...

on 1 June 2010, a Rockshow. In the arena there is a Scorpions-Lounge with a variety of devotional of the band. Roger Waters played the venue during his "In The Flesh" World Tour on 22 May 2002. On 5 May 2003, Irish vocal pop band

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

held a concert for their Unbreakable Tour supporting their album

Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits Volume 1 ''Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits Volume 1'' is the first greatest hits album by Irish boy band Westlife. The album was released on 11 November 2002. The album consists of all of the group's past singles along with six new songs. Hit single " ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

performed there during her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour on 4 February 2009. The

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

performed there during their 2014

In a World Like This Tour The In a World Like This Tour (also known as the 20th Anniversary Tour) was the ninth concert tour by American boy band, the Backstreet Boys. Supporting their eighth studio album, '' In a World Like This'', the tour consisted of over 150 shows ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

performed at the stadium on 3 November 2009 during their Tour of the Universe. On 14 February 2013 the German national final for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, '' Unser Song für Malmö'', took place there. The national final returned to the venue on 5 March 2015 as '' Unser Song für Österreich'' In March 2017,

Fury in the Slaughterhouse Fury in the Slaughterhouse is a German rock band from Hanover, founded in 1987. Their hits include "Time to Wonder", "Every Generation Got Its Own Disease", "Won't Forget These Days", "Radio Orchid", "Dancing in the Sunshine of the Dark", "Milk ...

started their 30th Anniversary tour at the arena, playing three dates. On 2nd May 2025,

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes (song), Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her broth ...

made her first German tour stop for the Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour at the arena.

Gallery

File:Expo Plaza Hannover.jpg, Expo Plaza File:TUI Arena.jpg, TUI Arena File:Tui Arena frontal.jpg, Frontal (2009) File:Tui Arena seitlich.jpg, Side view (2009) File:TUI-Arena Innen.JPG, Interior (2008)

References

External links

ZAG Arena's official Website

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About Hannover Expo's architecture
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What's next with the TUI-Arena
{{Authority control Sports venues completed in 2000 Indoor arenas in Germany Ice hockey venues in Germany Basketball venues in Germany Sport in Hanover Buildings and structures in Hanover Sports venues in Lower Saxony Expo 2000 2000 establishments in Germany

Tenants

Events

Gallery

See also

References

External links