Stadion der Freundschaft (Cottbus)
Energie Cottbus Energie Cottbus II
- Football
- Music Festivals
The stadium of friendship is a football stadium in Cottbus, Brandenburg, in which the FC Energie Cottbus plays its home games. The stadium is located about two kilometers from the city center, right on the river Spree. To the stadium area next to the office of FC Energie Cottbus also includes a gym and a training ground with soil heating in the nearby Elias Park. Another place is in the Parzellenstraße.
History
The stadium of friendship was inaugurated in the spring of 1930. Already in August 1930 improvements were made by the construction of new locker halls. The sporty inauguration was followed in September 1930. Was not until the end of the 1960 years was the home venue of the BSG Energie Cottbus. The team had previously played their home games at the stadium of the railwaymen and the Max Reimann Stadium. The stadium of friendship took at that time 15,000 spectators. In 1983 the reconstruction of the standing beams and thus offered in 1985, 18,000 people. In August 1988, the new grandstand could be used for the first time.
On 15 April 1997, the 1800 Lux strong floodlight system was inaugurated. After promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga, the DFB standards for the Bundesliga football had to be met. Thus, the trusses were attached, renewed the fences, a telescopic tunnel installed, and set up a video surveillance system. In April 1998, the modernization of the stadium was continued with the construction of a video display board in the South Stand.
At the beginning of the 2003/04 season was the largest construction project, the two-storey east stand, be put into operation. She offered 2,760 seats in the upper tier, 4,500 standing places in the lower tier, 50 wheelchair spaces and is completely covered.
In summer 2007, the traverses the northern curve were filled and built a covered, 8,000 fans comprehensive steel tube stand until the start of season 2007/ 08. In turn, the lower tier of the East Stand was converted into a seating area, so that since then are 9,102 covered seats in the stadium. The capacity increased slightly to 22 746 places. The West Stand was completely new seats.
For the first time after rebuilding the stadium was sold out at the meeting of Energie Cottbus vs FC Bayern Munich ( 2-0) on March 15, 2008.
At the beginning of 2008, the VIP area was expanded to the West Stand by an annex to 140 m².
Between the end of the 2007/08 season and the start of season 2008/ 09 the South Stand of the stadium was rebuilt. It is as well as the expansion of the north stand around a steel tube construction. This and the last turn was closed in the stadium of friendship. On the new grandstand seated and standing capacity for a total of 5,559 spectators came. The total capacity decreased by increasing the seats, up 218 places on now 22,528 spectators.
On 1 July 2011, the FC Energie Cottbus acquired the ownership of the stadium, for which the association of the city of Cottbus paid 1.95 million euros and it also guaranteed a percentage share of an eventual sale of the naming rights.
Internationals
The stadium of friendship was multiple venues of football - playing countries of the German Football Association or the Football Association of the GDR. The first international match was played on 21 April 1976 by the German Democratic Republic and Algeria, which ended with a 5-0 for the GDR. On September 21, 1988 game against the GDR, Poland was played in the stadium of friendship. Then played for the East German national team, among others, the later league players, Ulf Kirsten, Andreas Thom, Thomas Doll and Matthias Sammer, nevertheless, the game ended with a 1:2.
On 16 November 2004 played with the U21 national team for the first time an all-German team in Cottbus. The game against Poland ( Full 1:1) was overshadowed by the serious injury of Christian Müller, a rail and had suffered broken fibula. On 11 May 2006, the national football team of women met in their last home game of the World Cup qualifying on the team in Ireland. The game ended 1-0 for Germany.
On 24 March 2011 the U20 national teams of Germany and Poland were in the stadium of friendship against each other. The game ended in front of 2,898 spectators with 1-1 tie.
DFV Supercup
The stadium was on August 5, 1989 the first and at the same time last venue of the DFV - Supercup. In this competition, the East German champion met the fdgb Cup winner. The game of BFC Dynamo against Dynamo Dresden was held before over 22,000 spectators and ended 4:1 for the BFC Dynamo. Scorers were, inter alia, the later Bundesliga professionals and coach Thomas Doll and Matthias Sammer.
Spectator capacity
The entire stadium currently has a capacity of 22,528 spectators. It offers 10,949 covered seats, 7,795 covered and not covered 3,630 standing places, and 154 seats in the wheelchair handicap range.
The visiting fans are covered and uncovered standing in the blocks N and O to be available ( 1,557 standing) as well as seats in block S1 ( 740 seats)
The following table shows the attendance figures in recent years.
Gallery
View of the East Stand of the former North Curve ( 2004)
Panoramic image before a Bundesliga match (2009)