Volkswagen Arena
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| Full name | Volkswagen Arena |
|---|---|
| Location | Wolfsburg, Germany |
| Coordinates | 52°25′57.5″N 10°48′14″E / 52.432639°N 10.80389°ECoordinates: 52°25′57.5″N 10°48′14″E / 52.432639°N 10.80389°E |
| Owner | Wolfsburg AG |
| Operator | VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH |
| Executive suites | 31 |
| Capacity | 30,000 (League matches) 26,000 (International matches) |
| Field size | 105×68 m |
| Surface | hybrid grass |
| Construction | |
| Built | 2001–2002 |
| Opened | 13 December 2002 |
| Construction cost | €53 million |
| Architect | HPP, Dusseldorf nb+b, Wolfsburg |
| Tenants | |
| VfL Wolfsburg | |
The Volkswagen Arena (German pronunciation: [ˈfɔlksvaːɡŋ̍ ʔaˌʁeːnaː]; also known as the VfL Wolfsburg Arena due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a football stadium in the German city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was opened in 2002 and named after the automotive group Volkswagen AG. The Volkswagen Arena has a capacity of 30,000: 22,000 seats and 8,000 standing places. It is located in the Allerpark and is the home stadium of the football team VfL Wolfsburg.
In 1997, VfL Wolfsburg was promoted to the Bundesliga, the German premier league, which led the Volkswagen Group to reinforce its commitment to the club. Discussions on the construction of a new stadium began at the end of 1997 because the VfL-Stadion am Elsterweg did not meet the requirements of the Bundesliga. Construction of the new stadium finally began in 2001. The stadium was initially referred to as the "Arena an der Berliner Brücke" ("Arena by the Berlin Bridge"). At the time, the cost of the new stadium was estimated at 99.8 million DM. The constructor of the Volkswagen Arena was the Wolfsburg AG. Both the city and the Volkswagen Group each own half of the company. Alongside the start of construction of the arena, even more leisure and recreation projects were realised in the Allerpark, including the BadeLand Wolfsburg water park. The topping-out ceremony for the stadium took place in May 2002. The work was completed in December 2002 after a total of 19 months of construction.
The stadium was officially opened on 13 December 2002 and cost a total of €53 million. The Kicker sports magazine called the Volkswagen Arena a "temple with a glass facade". Other media connected the opening of the stadium with VfL Wolfsburg's ambition to play in the Champions League. The number of spectators at home games significantly increased in the second half of the 2002-03 season. The first football match at the stadium was played between VfL Wolfsburg and VfB Stuttgart. In April 2003, tickets for the match against Hannover 96 at the Volkswagen Arena were sold out for the first time. The first international match at the stadium took place in June of the same year between Germany and Canada. In the following years, the stadium has been used for concerts performed by artists such as Herbert Grönemeyer (2003), Anastacia (2005) and Elton John (2006). The celebration for the 25th million VW Golf produced was also held in the Volkswagen Arena.
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