Gerhard Hanappi Stadium
SK Rapid Wien
The Gerhard Hanappi Stadium is a football stadium in Hütteldorf, a district in the 14th district of Vienna, home of the SK Rapid Wien. The stadium is that it leased to Rapid owned by the City of Vienna. It bears since April 1981 the name of its architect and Rapid player Gerhard Hanappi, who was famous in his time as an active soccer player as most capped player.
The Gerhard Hanappi stadium was once the home ground of the Austrian national football team, including in the European Championship qualifier in 1984 and in the World Cup qualifiers in 1986. But even today there friendly matches are played, and so far eight times the OFB Cup final of the OFB.
- 2.1 OFB Cup finals
- 2.2 Supercup ( Austria )
- 2.3 Legendary EC- Games
- 2.4 Internationals
- 3.1 Photo Gallery
- 3.2 Concerts
- 3.3 Public Viewing
- 3.4 Road Access
History
West Stadium with start-up problems
The decision to build a new stadium next to the second Wiener Prater stadium was first adopted in July 1969, in particular the SK Rapid Wien and SC Wacker Wien should be here later unsubscribe their home games. Construction began in June 1971, the work on the stadium but were under an unlucky star. The completion was delayed by more than three years, Hanappis plans were not fully implemented in order to enable a more effective solution. The capacity of the stadium was finally 20,700 spectators. In addition to the stadium turned 90 degrees, so that to this day a strong west wind incident on the pitch effect and characteristic of the stadium was. This circumstance brought the West Stadium also the amusing nickname " bird house" a. Due to its location in the west of Vienna called the new Stadium West Stadium.
The stadium was opened in several ways. On 10 May 1977, the first Bundesliga match took place, which ended 1-0 with a victory over the game of Rapid Community Austria / WAC. Despite bemühter attempts as possible to fill all the seats, then came a disappointing 14,000 visitors. There were also these two clubs, which should find a new home here. Austria had previously played in the Franz- Horr -Stadion, Rapid on the nearby Pfarrwiese. Since the construction work had been but at this time not yet complete, the official opening ceremony was held on September 14, 1977 before the UEFA Cup match against Rapid FK Inter Bratislava ( 1-0) with fireworks and musical accompaniment of a military band instead. However, following the rapid victory, there was serious rioting of Rapid fans in a train of light rail. The set was brought to a standstill by a willful emergency braking and it came to tailgating the following train. There were 37 injured.
Also the rest of the season was the Weststadion not of negative headlines spared. After a few months, from October 1977, the stadium had to be temporarily closed due to severe structural defects, since around 1.70 meters long crack was discovered in a pillar. The responsible company was in bankruptcy, bribery allegations made by the media around. Both Rapid and Austria had therefore almost the entire season 1977/78 playing at other places. The football club Rapid wore its home games then draws especially on the temporary modernized Pfarrwiese.
The following season was opened with a sold out stadium with 20,000 spectators West with a 3-1 derby win of Rapid. During the season, the audience, however, remained far behind the expectations and visited an average of only 7,000 spectators, the West Stadium. The Rapid fans it took some time until the desired sterile in their eyes stadium compared to the cozy wooden bleachers on the Pfarrwiese could conquer her heart. The purple fans again showed great resentment at having to share with the arch-rivals Rapid a stadium in his home district, and therefore returned to their Franz- Horr -Stadion. However, Austria has appeared again and again in the West Stadium, as the Horr Stadium was initially not yet approved for the European Cup games and it served as the alternative venue for expansion while in Horr Stadium. The so far last time you used the stadium as a home Hütteldorfer Austria the court in a 3-1 win over FC Bruges in 1992 in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Way to the cult Stadium
After Gerhard Hanappi died on 23 August 1980 at lymphoma, the West Stadium was renamed in his honor by the City of Vienna in Gerhard Hanappi Stadium. Hanappi was not only the architect of the stadium, but also the then most-capped player in Austria and had won in his playing career with his hometown club Wacker Wien and Rapid total of eight championships. The day when the Rapid fans adopted their new stadium finally, is usually dated to the 25th May 1982. In front of a 25,000 crowd completely crowded house Rapid brought by a 5-0 win over the SSW Innsbruck, the Austrian Championship. The successes at national and international level in the following years did the rest and the number of visitors increased. Rapid was very strong at home in Hanappi Stadium and lost in the 1982/83 season a single game in their own stadium. Today, the stadium is in accordance with the motto " Rapid is uns're religion" often called St. Hanappi. The well-known coach Ivica Osim in Austria described the Hanappi Stadium once as a cathedral of football.
Expansion from 2001
From 2001 began a comprehensive renovation and modernization of the Gerhard- Hanappi stadium. The west and Osttribünen were completely covered. All seats were henceforth covered in the stadium. The SK Rapid contributed at this time its home games either continue in Hanappi Stadium with reduced capacity from without West and East Stands or moved into the Ernst Happel Stadium. On the north and south stand, the roof was replaced and the fences towards the field were reduced. Likewise, the Hanappi stadium was equipped with a new sound and lighting system, and next to the stadium an underground scale garage with 400 spaces and a new training ground were created.
The roofing of East and West Stand and the difficulty of the incident west wind has been reduced, but at the same time the life of the lawn a little reduced by a lesser ventilation. Due to the conversions, the number of seats fell to 18,442, of which 17,500 are usually admitted to Bundesliga games. The revitalization of the stadium was completed in October 2002 and the fully covered Hanappi Stadium reopened on October 27, 2002 with a 1-2 defeat against Austria Vienna.
In the following years the stadium has also been expanded and modernized. It was built from its own resources two VIP clubs on the north and south grandstand for 200 people, install a 25- m ² videowall as stadium display between the east and south stand in the stadium curve and a modern video surveillance system for the entire stadium. In 2006, the stadium was equipped with a soil heating in order to ensure the game running in all weather conditions can. During the installation of soil heating and the football pitch of 102 meters was extended to the need for the European Cup more recently 105 meters. In the basement of the Hanappi Stadium modern fitness and physiotherapy rooms were established for the training of the first team of Rapid.
On 8 May 2007, the 30 - year anniversary of the Gerhard- Hanappi stadium took place with the derby against Austria Vienna in front of a sold-out backdrop. The game was simultaneously also the 500th Championship Match of Rapid in Hanappi Stadium. The game ended 3-0 for Rapid.
In the 2008 / 09 season, a second video screen was erected between northern and western grandstand opposite the first.
In December 2011 the club museum " Rapideum " was opened under the South Stand.
For some years there is more expansion plans from SK Rapid to a capacity of up to 25,000 spectators. These plans, however, have not been realized due to financial reasons.
Rapid announced in November 2012 that a new building of the stadium is aimed at the same location. For this, legal and technical checked and then sought investors.
Special matches in Hanappi Stadium
OFB Cup finals
Supercup ( Austria )
Legendary EC- Games
Internationals
Others
Photo Gallery
North Stand
East Stand
South Stand
Concerts
1983 performed here Wolfgang Ambros, Opus and Rain Fendrich. Today may be held in Hanappistadion due to the dense residential area no more concerts.
Public Viewing
During the European Football Championship 2008, the stadium was hired as Ausweichfanzone for public viewing. Overall, however, it was only four times opened, it was half filled only in the game against Germany and Austria at the finale. Due to the high cost ( 3.4 million euro fixed costs ) and the low number of visitors, the project was heavily criticized in the media, especially since the establishment of a private Fanzone on the Danube Island had failed due to lack of funding. The grant for this fan zone would have the city of Vienna only cost € 817,000, but was rejected on the grounds that the city could not participate without a tender to private projects.
Transport links
The Hanappi Stadium is well connected to the network of public transportation. With the metro line U4, the Western Railway, the S -Bahn lines S15, S45 and S50, the tram lines 49 and 52 as well as the urban and regional bus lines that Hanappi stadium is reachable.
In addition to the stadium also is available for the viewers an underground car park with about 400 spaces.
A Park & Ride facility at 1250 parking spaces in the area of the station Hütteldorf is accessible via the Hadikgasse.