BayArena

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

• Second leg UEFA Cup final in 1988
• League Cup finals 1997-2000
• Final of the Football World Cup 2006 of people with disabilities on September 16, 2006
• World Cup 2011 Women

The BayArena ( 1956-1998 Ulrich- Haberland Stadium ) is a football stadium in Leverkusen, which is one of the Bayer 04 Immobilien GmbH, and in which the football club Bayer 04 Leverkusen discharges its home games. It is marketed by Bayer 04 Fußball GmbH, Bayer Gastronomie and Lindner Hotel AG. Innovative developments and projects in the 1990s, she was one of the Wegbegründer for the modern European football stadiums of the new millennium, and as the " jewel box in the league" known.

History

In 1923, the first sports facility built by the club members with two seats and only briefly mentioned Bayer Square. 1931 reached the Bayer kicker that long-awaited promotion to the 1st Cologne district league. A year later, the place of Dhünnaue was abandoned, and officially opened the new stadium at the city park in Bayer's residential colony III on September 4, 1932. 1936 abolished the Bayer - Eleven in this place promotion to the second highest German league. During the Second World War, the stadium will receive at the city park in 1941 a wooden stand, bringing the capacity to 15,000 spectators rises. 1949 Leverkusen missed the terse promotion to the highest German league, but those in charge of the club made ​​a pioneering decision, which was approved at a general meeting of the same year: the introduction of professional football. Bayer 04 was then queued in the 2nd Division of the Oberliga West. 1953/54, the entrance was missed in the final round of the German championship by only three points. Within five years following the rise of sporting surprisingly, the descent into the second division. Nevertheless, the club still believed in the sporting success and began the construction of a new stadium. On April 23, 1956, the groundbreaking ceremony took place for the Ulrich - Haberland Stadium at Bismarck Street.

Infrastructure & Transportation

The BayArena was built as a multi-functional complex and in addition to meeting rooms and an official fan shop of the club. Furthermore, the BayArena was the first stadium in Europe with a McDonald's restaurant and a four -star hotel of the Lindner Group, with 200 beds. The hotel behind the North Stand has the fourth floor of 120 loge seats with unobstructed views of the interior of the stadium. The McDonald's is drawn in the course of the renovation in 2008/ 09 on the other side of the street and is no longer a direct component of the stadium.

With an audience capacity of 30,210 seats, it is one of the smaller stadiums in the Bundesliga, as a result of a run for the maximum total capacity due to the location near residential areas. There are also ten VIP boxes for a total of 140 persons with underground parking. A VIP box costs about 10,000 euros and additional costs for annual tickets for the grandstand interior amounted to respectively € 1800 per person. With more than 19,000 season tickets almost two-thirds of the viewers are season ticket holders. By 2000 only home standing the BayArena has the smallest share of cheap fan areas of the Bundesliga and has positioned itself as the medium and high price range.

As for a typical club stadium infrastructure of Bayer 04 Leverkusen is housed in the stadium. The office of the Association is located in the south stand the arena, the medical field in the West Stand. The training area is located on the western part of the stadium. However, the location of the stadium on the outskirts of residential areas also attracts trouble with the local residents and the accessibility by motorized individual by itself. This is achieved by a shuttle bus system, which brings the visitors arriving by car free parking available directly in front of Kurtekotten the BayArena. The Bismarck Road to the stadium will be blocked for this period. The journey with Deutsche Bahn is possible; the Leverkusen Mitte train station is about a kilometer away from the stadium. Buses " Wupsi " transport system allow an additional arrival of visitors from the surrounding area.

Catering / event management and payment system

The marketing of the BayArena is via a newly created Event Department, BayArena Plus.

All catering areas at the BayArena ( business club, sponsors lounges, VIP booths, kiosks, fan clubs, restaurants and Press Club ) are operated by the Bayer Gastronomie. In addition to the catering areas operates BayArena Plus visitor management and event management. This allows companies, conferences and meetings at the BayArena hold.

For all food stands can only cash will be paid to the Bayer04 Club Card, so that Essens-/Getränkeausgabe is generally faster. The payment is for the casual visitor but also possible with conventional money smart cards, which are issued by many banks. For mobile vendors, ticket and cash Aufwert stations, the card can be recharged with additional cash. In all fan shops can be paid with cash outside of the match continues.

Important events

The BayArena was repeatedly venue for the League Cup final as well as friendship and qualification matches of the German national soccer team.

Through the club Bayer 04 Leverkusen she was also the venue for numerous UEFA Cup and Champions League matches with opponents like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Manchester United or Liverpool. Likewise, the association succeeded in 1988 Ulrich- Haberland Stadium during construction of winning the UEFA Cup.

The city of Leverkusen competed with the stadium to host the Football World Cup 2006. Due to the small chance of being considered as a venue, Leverkusen withdrew the application. First, it was agreed upon under the DFB coach Rudi Voeller, that instead the German national football team during the World Cup quarter relates in Leverkusen. After Jurgen Klinsmann became national coach, was as quarters but Berlin selected. The final of the football World Cup in 2006 for people with disabilities was held instead at the BayArena on September 16, 2006.

The BayArena hosted the Football World Cup Women 2011. Leverkusen in three group matches and one quarter-final took place.

Expansion Chronicle

1956 - " The old Haberland "

After many years playing at Bayer sports field, it was decided to build a new stadium in a different place. On April 23, was first sod for the " Ulrich- Haberland Stadium " at the Bismarck Street. The work was completed in 1958 and on 2 August, the stadium was inaugurated with a capacity of 22,500 spectators. 1963 got the Ulrich- Haberland Stadium on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bayer AG floodlights. With the surprising rise in 1979 in the Bundesliga a temporary additional grandstand was erected on the east side because of spectators Andrangs.

1986 - The new " Ulrich- Haberland - Stadion"

With the rise and establishment in the German top flight the club the gradual construction of a new football-only stadium with a capacity of 27,000 spectators in the meantime decided because of scarce financial resources. The construction of the West Stand began in 1990 and the new stadium at the Dhünn was completed by a gap. This was until recently still the old wooden grandstand of the old stadium, together with monochrome display board and was primarily intended as an area for visiting fans. This South Stand was built contrary to the original concept with box seats, an office and parking garage in 1996. The unusual architecture, it is still a typical attribute of the stadium. 1998 was the construction of a hotel on the north grandstand instead and it was renamed " BayArena ". Because of the changes in the expansion plan, such as box seats of the South Stand and a transformation into a pure -seater stadium in the aftermath of the Sheffield stadium disaster, the capacity shrank finally to just 22,500 viewers. By modernity and pure focus on the sport of football, it got the nickname " Jewel".

Among other things, the close cooperation between the DFB and the club Ulrich- Haberland Stadium was during this period often Innovation and reference object in the Bundesliga. High safety and control standards, comfortable seats instead of benches, a Family - Street for viewers families, heater, television Stadium, removal of the spectator fences and open gripping regions were some of the many new developments that usually first introduced to the club in the Bundesliga. This was the prelude to a new generation of football event arenas, which should place no later than the 2006 World Cup in Germany catchment in almost all major league clubs now and the classic athletic stadium displaced.

2008 - Expansion and modernization

Around the turn of the century has also increased the number of fans and visitors, so that the capacity of the stadium was utilized regularly. The multiple presence in the UEFA Champions League secured the club revenues that were needed for the expansion. With the additional inclusion of a loan from Bayer AG was started in late 2007 with the expansion; This was completed on schedule before the start of season 2009 /2010.

The present stands were increased and expanded in capacity from 22,500 to now 27,000 seats and standing room for 2,500 fans curve, which must be converted in international matches to seats. Thus, the BayArena has a variable seating capacity. The guest area is limited to the regulated lower limit of 10 %, that is 3,000 seats. The hospitality area with restaurants and lodges has been extended from 812 to over 2,000 seats formerly. The number of jobs for the media is almost doubled, to 228. To emphasize the character of a pure club stadium, the green seats have now been replaced with red and black seats, the " Bayer 04 " are the signs of " 1904 " and. In addition, in the course of repainting the pillars were kept in the club colors Black / Red. With a total area of ​​2,600 square meters, the team and physio area with changing rooms, treatment and massage rooms has been increased more than fourfold.

The spectator stands of the new stadium are covered by a circular roof made ​​of Makrolon, which extends along the sides of the playing field far above the grandstand area and thus outside the stadium offers visitors protection from the rain. The roof is self-supporting and does not, like in other stages usual on the structure. This allows the club to remodel the ranks of the stadium in a cost-effective framework or expand.

Also planned was a huge Bayer cross on the arena, which would have been formed with a diameter of 200 meters from 2000 transparent LEDs, which should make the company logo from the air even from great distances clearly visible. For cost reasons, and after rallies residents who successfully directed as a city landmark against the removal of the previous famous Bayer Cross, but was initially waived.

The total cost was, by higher steel prices, around 70 million euros ( 56 million previously ). As a result, both the construction of the roof cross as the construction of a parking garage are currently deferred. In addition, could take place in the period of the season 2008/ 09 no football matches at the BayArena. The team is therefore avoided in the LTU Arena in Dusseldorf.

The stadium was re-opened on August 15, 2009, a Bundesliga match against 1899 Hoffenheim. The unofficial first game was a friendly match on August 10, 2009 by Bayer 04 Leverkusen II against SV Schlebusch. The German national team paid 5 September 2009 the renovated stadium with a match against South Africa a visit.

In April 2013, Bayer 04 Leverkusen announced that the BayArena should be modernized into a multimedia experience space. In cooperation with Deutsche Telekom and Cisco over 500 additional HD monitors to be mounted in the entire stadium. In addition, approximately 350 wireless access points to ensure that 20,000 visitors can surf the Internet simultaneously. A special stadium App fans will get access to exclusive content and interactive features such as quiz competitions, games or player ratings. The system behind these extensions is StadiumVision and already comes in stages as the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (Real Madrid), Wembley Stadium (2007 ) (London ) and the Amsterdam ArenA for use.

Fan area

The Fan area of the stadium changed in the last decades several times its location. Traditionally, the fans were in the old Ulrich- Haberland -Stadion in the southern wooden stand arc, South Bend (P block), which was sung in the old Bayer anthem by Henning Krautmacher. When the stadium was then modernized in the 1980s with new concrete bleachers, the fans changed in 1985 to the standing curve of the A block and a little later in 1991 in the north, the C block. At the end of the millennium, the stadium was fence and stehplatz free on the British model and the fans based in 1996 in the north grandstand, the D - block, their new home. With the renovation in 2009, the concept of standing room was reintroduced. This is the current home of the core groups of supporters. This general admission area is designed for 3,000 people and sealed off on the sides and front by two meter high fences.

Find out more

During the construction of the then Ulrich- Haberland Stadium Bochum's Ruhr Stadium was the inspiration. During the rather lengthy rebuilding phase, the requirements of modern football stadiums, whereupon the H-Block a VIP box was changed.

The name " Ulrich- Haberland - Stadion" is supported since the name change to " BayArena " for reasons of tradition from the adjacent amateur Stadium.

The first live broadcast of a football game in 3D took place on March 14, 2010 in the BayArena with the Bundesliga match Bayer 04 Leverkusen against Hamburger SV instead. The broadcast was transmitted in HD on Sky and could be viewed with appropriate receivers and 3D glasses.

For years, the BayArena is known for its excellent playing surface. With only 22 mm cutting the lawn one of the shortest and unlike any other lawn of the Bundesliga is flat, ie he is without the slight drop to the outer edges. When removing the BayArena in 2009 the highest value was placed on a good aeration of the lawn and, for example, with low upper part in the D- block and the lack of external facade promotes air circulation.