Letzigrund

FC Zurich Grasshopper Club Zurich LC Zurich

• World Class Zurich
• European Athletics Championships 2014

The stadium Letzigrund Zurich is a football and athletics stadium. It is both home of the football clubs FC Zurich and GC Zurich, as well as the Athletics Association LC Zurich. The stadium is also used as a venue for the alljährlicher athletics meeting world-class Zurich, and is a regular for large open-air concerts.

The first Letzigrund Stadium was opened in 1925 and discontinued in 2006. The new building, which was officially opened on 30 August 2007, during the European Football Championship in 2008 was the venue for three group games.

• 3.1 History
• 3.2 infrastructure

Location

The stadium is located in the west of Zurich in the neighborhood Altstetten, about three kilometers from the city center. The flat area was traversed in the Middle Ages from a Letzi.

A Tram line 2 of the Zurich Public Transport right outside the entrance to the southeast is named after the station. For large events run special trains between the stadium and the main train station. At around 600 meters away Albisriederplatz as well as other places in the area continue for tram and bus lines.

A little more than a kilometer away is the S -Bahn station hardware bridge. Special trains with foreign football fans usually hold at Zurich train station a little further away Altstetten.

New Letzigrund Stadium

Planning and Architecture

In 1997, a policy decision for the expansion of the stadium Letzigrund was hit. In April 2004, a jury chose the architecture proposal " corculum imprint " of the Bétrix & Consolascio Architekten BSA / Free & Ehrensperger Architekten BSA to the winning project.

The new Letzigrund is partly built into the ground, resulting in a relatively low roof height and the stadium is literally embedded well into the neighborhood. A covered ramp leads to the highest point of the arena, where there is a restaurant with panoramic view on the lawn and the career. This part of the stadium is, except of course in play mode, open to the public. A striking feature of the new Letzigrund are the 31 headlights that have the stadium the nickname " Birthday Cake " introduced. The resting on only 31 pairs of supports oval roof gives the impression that it floats above the grandstand.

Owner and building owner is the City of Zurich (represented by the Department of Structural Engineering ). The city of Zurich also operates the stadium by the sports office Zurich.

Infrastructure

In addition to the stadium with about 26,000 seats (see above) there is a lawn, the FCZ - office, a fan shop (external ), a sauna and a hot tub ( only for the home teams ). Underground there is a training track (100m with a sandpit for long jump), a garage with 200 parking spaces, a fitness room and a gymnasium. Numerous internals for increasing safety for spectators are available.

New

On 16 December 2002, the project competition was opened, the winning design was presented on 3 May 2004. On 5 June 2005, the Zurich voters approved both the construction loan of CHF 110 million and an additional credit of CHF 11 million to make the stadium EM -compatible.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Letzigrund on 15 November 2005. The people were at the Open Day (August 21, 2006) given the opportunity to grab a souvenir from the old Letzigrund (chairs, lawn, running track, etc.). A day later, the demolition of the old stadium began ( end of 2006 completed). On August 30, 2007, the official inauguration of the new building. A week later, on 7 September 2007, the first sporting event at the new stadium took place with the Athletics Meeting 2007 before 26,500 spectators.

Structural damage to the roof

In February 2010, a crack was found in the roof and the stadium therefore blocked as provisional until March 1, 2010. Cause and possible repairs were examined in a row - it was feared a long closure of the stadium. However, the stadium was already released on March 7, with the match FC Zurich to Lucerne again after 31 temporary pillars were installed on the roof beams, which ensure the stability of the roof. The investigations had led more structural defects such as rust -days. Because the pillars partly significantly affected the view of the playing field, they were not popular with the public. The pillars were removed by start of the season on July 17, 2010, after the roof had been completed renovated.

Other Equipment

The Letzi - Mobile is an official appointed in the stadium open medical transporter for one person. It is Alkè a customized view in Switzerland electric vehicle from the Italian manufacturer. Except for a driver is behind it still arranged a seat (back / back, for example, doctor or paramedic ). These self-propelled stretcher allows careful removal as a football player until the regular ambulance and treatment of the already lying on the side-mounted carrying athlete before transport and during transport. The playing field itself can be possibly released more quickly. Busy it is with the particular duty emergency services personnel.

Old Letzigrund Stadium (1925-2006)

History

On November 22, 1925, the sports field Letzigrund was opened. It was built by the members of FC Zurich, then a polysportiver club. From now on, the Swiss Football Association left the matches of the national unsubscribe at Letzigrund and also the first cup final in the history of Swiss football took place in 1926 Letzigrund. At the beginning of FC Zurich was the owner of the stadium, but the poor economic conditions of the 1930s forced the club in the winter 1936/37, to cede the stadium to the city of Zurich. The sections athletics, hockey, boxing and rowing made ​​to it by itself. During its existence, the Letzigrund was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded: 10 years after the opening of the entire system had to be renovated. In 1958 then, a large grandstand in operation. In 1973, the two side stands were renovated and roofed and installed lighting. Eleven years later, the East Stand was with chairs. 1996 took place in Letzigrund for the first time an open-air concert ( Bon Jovi ) instead.

On 22 August 2006, finally began the demolition of the old Letzigrund to make a new place. The new Letzigrund was officially inaugurated on 30 August 2007. Since September 2007, the stadium is also the home of Grasshopper- Club.

Infrastructure

The old stadium Letzigrund had a capacity of 23'605 seats, of which 12,000 were covered standing places and 11'605 seats (of which 9'167 covered ). In addition to the main panel ( 105 x 68 meters) and the athletics facilities, which were located inside the stadium, the sports complex Letzigrund still had three more pitches ( two grass and one artificial turf ) and a smaller sandy Hard Court. In addition, there were inside the stadium a bar and a restaurant. In the basement of the East Stand was for a 100m athletics track ( four lanes ). On top of the North Stand was a matrix 2-tone bezel with a resolution of 192 x 80 light bulbs.

Events

Every year in the Letzigrund the high-class athletics meeting world-class Zurich, part of the IAAF Diamond League in 2010. The Zurich stadium was one of the venues for the 2008 European football championships in Austria and Switzerland. On 1 May 2010, the European Athletics Association EAA announced the awarding of the European Athletics Championships in 2014 to Zurich in the Letzigrund.