Westfalenstadion is a football stadium in the German city of Dortmund in the industrial metropolitan area of the Ruhrgebiet ("Ruhrpott").

The stadium is officially named Signal Iduna Park under a sponsorship arrangement lasting from December 2005 until June 2011, giving naming rights to the Signal Iduna Group, an insurance company. The older name Westfalenstadion derives from the former Prussian province of Westphalia, which is part of the German Federal State North Rhine-Westphalia. It is one of the most famous football stadiums in europe and was elected best football stadium by the Times for its amazing atmosphere.

It is the home stadium of the BV Borussia Dortmund football team playing in the German Bundesliga. It has a league capacity of 80,552 (standing and seated), and an international capacity of 65,718 (officially seats only). It is Germany's biggest stadium and established the European record in fan attendance in 2004/2005 with a total of almost 1.4 million fans. The supporters' enthusiasm increasingly produces over 50,000 sold season tickets. Regularly 24,454 fans on the famous terrace called Südtribüne fill the largest still existing standing area in European football. Famous for the intense atmosphere it breeds, the stadium has been nicknamed "The Opera House of German Football", "The Temple" or referring to the faithful Südtribüne "Yellow Wall". The Westfalenstadion hosted matches of the 1974 World Cup with Zaire, Scotland, Sweden, Brazil and later finalists Netherlands. It hosted several matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup national teams of Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Togo, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Ghana and World Cup holders Italy. In the semi-final they were the first to beat Germany in an international match played at Dortmund.

Various national friendlies and qualification matches for World and European tournaments have been played here as well as matches in European club competititons. Borussia Dortmund played legendary UEFA Cup matches with Celtic in 1987 and 1992 in front of sympathizing sets of supporters . BVB lost to Juventus in the UEFA Cup finals of 1993, only to win the UEFA Champions League final against them in Munich in 1997. Dortmund hosted the 2001 UEFA Cup Final between Liverpool F.C. and Deportivo Alavés (5:4 after golden goal).

History

Plans to construct a new stadium were drawn up in the 1960s, as the need arose to expand and refurbish the traditional ground of Borussia Dortmund, the Stadion Rote Erde ("Stadium Red Earth"). Following the historic triumph in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1966 (Dortmund was the first German team to win a European club title), it became clear that the Stadion Rote Erde was too small for the increasing number of Borussia Dortmund supporters. The city of Dortmund, however, was not able to finance a new stadium and federal institutions were unwilling to help.

In 1971, Dortmund was selected to replace the city of Cologne, which was forced to withdraw its plans to host games in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The funds originally set aside for the projected stadium in Cologne were thus re-allocated to Dortmund. However, architects and planners had to keep an eye on the costs due to a tight budget. This meant that plans for a 60 million DM oval stadium featuring the traditional athletic facilities and holding 60,000 spectators had to be discarded. Instead, plans for a much cheaper 54,000 spectator football arena, built of pre-fabricated concrete sections, became a reality. Ultimately, the costs amounted to 32.7 million DM, of which 1.6 million DM were invested in the refurbishment of the Stadion Rote Erde. The city of Dortmund, initially burdened with 6 million DM, only had to pay 800,000 DM, and quickly profited from the stadium's high revenues.

In the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the Westfalenstadion hosted 3 Group games and 1 Final Group game, during which the stadium was almost always filled to its maximum capacity of 54,000.

On the 2nd of April 1974, Borussia Dortmund officially moved into their new home and has played in the Westfalenstadion ever since. Having been relegated in 1972, the BVB was the only member of the 2. Bundesliga (second Division) to host the 1974 World Cup games in a completely new stadium. In 1976, after promotion to the Fußball-Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund played its first game in Germany's highest division in their new home stadium.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, due to sponsorship contracts, the arena was called FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund during the World Cup.

Six games were played here during the World Cup of 2006, including Germany's first loss ever at the stadium, a 2–0 defeat against Italy. Also, Trinidad and Tobago played their first ever World Cup match at the stadium, against Sweden.

Date	Time(CET)	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Round	Spectators
2006-06-10	18.00		0–0		Group B	62,959
2006-06-14	21.00		1–0		Group A	65,000
2006-06-19	15.00		0–2		Group G	65,000
2006-06-22	21.00		1–4		Group F	65,000
2006-06-27	17.00		3–0		Round of 16	65,000
2006-07-04	21.00		0–2 (AET)		Semifinals	65,000

Layout

Situated directly opposite the Stadion Rote Erde, the Westfalenstadion is composed of 4 roofed grandstands, each facing the playing field on the East, South, West and North sides. The Eastern and Western stands (Ost- und Westtribüne) run the entire length of the field, while the breadth is covered by the North and South stands (Nord- und Südtribüne).

Originally the corners between the four grandstands remained empty, the spectators appreciated the extensive roof, which covered over 80% of the stands. The Eastern and Western stands housed the stadium's 17,000 seats, while the 37,000 standing places were housed in the Northern and Southern stands.

Expansions

The original capacity of 54,000 was reduced in 1992 due to UEFA regulations. As the standing rows on the entire Northern, the lower Eastern and the lower Western grandstands were converted into seats, the capacity shrank to 42,800. With 26,000 seats (of which 23,000 were covered), the seating in the Westfalenstadion now outnumbered the standing rows.

After Borussia Dortmund won the national championship in 1995, the Westfalenstadion was expanded yet again. In the first private venture stadium expansion in German history, the two main grandstands, the Eastern and the Western blocks, received a second tier. Covered by a new roof-construction, each section housed an additional 6,000 seats. Thus, the stadium's capacity was restored to the original 54,000, of which the majority (38,500) were now covered seats. Following Dortmund's 1997 Champions League victory, success and an ever growing number of enthusiastic fans made it necessary to enlarge the Westfalenstadion yet again. The Southern and Northern grandstands were enlarged this time, boosting the total capacity to 68,800 spectators. The Southern standing ranks ("die Südtribüne", where the home team's supporters gather) became the largest free-standing grandstand of its kind in the whole of Europe, with a staggering capacity of 25,000.

When Germany won the World Cup bid in 2000, it became clear that Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, the "Opera House of German Football", would play a leading role in hosting the tournament. However, as the Westfalenstadion failed to fulfill FIFA requirements for hosting semi-finals, it had to be enlarged a third and last time. Four new stands were built to fill the corners between the existing grandstands, raising the seating capacity for international games from 52,000 to 67,000. Additionally, the new corner elements provide seating and catering to VIP guests, increasing the total number of VIP seats to 5,000. In order to provide the new sections with an unblocked view of the field, the existing interior roof supports were removed and replaced by exterior pylons, which were painted yellow to suit the BVB colors. During the course of those renovations, construction workers found an unexploded 1,000–pound (450 kg) bomb dropped by an Allied bomber in World War Two that was only about one metre below the halfway line on the pitch.Bomb disposal experts had to evacuate the stadium and surrounding neighbourhood in Dortmund, which as part of Germany's industrial centre was bombed heavily, before taking an hour to defuse the device.

The Stadium now hosts up to 80,708 fans (standing and seated) for league matches, and 67,000 seated spectators for international games. For these, the characteristic Southern grandstand is re-equipped with seats to conform with FIFA regulations.

Owners

The property of the Westfalenstadion, originally belonging to the city of Dortmund and later sold to the club Borussia Dortmund, was sold to a real estate trust in 2002 when the club was facing serious financial problems. After the Westfalenstadion was for about two years in the possession of the financier-son and million-devisee Florian Fuchs it was sold back to a real estate before the Borussia Dortmund intended to repurchase the stadium gradually up to 2017, but was not able to pay the regular rates in spring 2005. Holders of the trust agreed in cutting back the asset's interest rates and allowed the club to pay the rates after financial reorganisation. Because of these measures, bankruptcy of the club was avoided and the future of the facility was secured. In 2006 Borussia Dortmund became the new owner by buying the stadium back with the help of a credit by Morgan Stanley.

In order to reduce debt, the naming rights to the stadium was sold to an insurance company Signal Iduna. From December 2005 on, the stadium is known as the "Signal Iduna Park". However, during the FIFA World Cup in 2006, the stadium was called "FIFA World Cup Stadium Dortmund", since FIFA controls all naming rights in connection with the World Cup.

Transport

Signal Iduna Park can be reached with the light rail lines U42 (Theodor-Fliedner-Heim Station), U45 (Stadion Station, game days only), U46 (Westfalenhallen Station and also Stadion on game days). Additionally Deutsche Bahn serves the Dortmund Signal Iduna Park station with both regularly scheduled and special game-day trains. This station can be reached using regional RB trains from Dortmund Central Station, as well as from other cities in the metropolitan area, such as Hagen, Iserlohn, and Lüdenscheid.

From Dortmund Airport the stadium can be reached by taking the shuttle bus to the Holzwickide/Dortmund Airport train station, taking train RB59 towards Dortmund Central Station, getting out at Signal Iduna Park.

By car the stadium can be reached via the B 1 Ruhrschnellweg and B 54. Parking is also available at Dortmund University of Technology, where shuttle busses take fans to the stadium.

Trivia

• Signal Iduna Park is the largest football stadium in Germany.
• The unique "Südtribüne" (Southern Stand), with 24,454 enthusiastic standing fans who fill the largest still existing terrace of Europe, makes this stadium one of the most fascinating football-stadiums in the world. It can be converted from standing places (for league games) and seats (for international matches) within two days.
• Borussia Dortmund has had the highest average attendance of any football club in Europe with a record average of 78,808 spectators in the season 2003/2004.
• Prior to their semi-final loss against Italy in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the German national football team had a fourteen-game winning streak at Signal Iduna Park.
• Galatasaray played UEFA Champions League 2003-04 D Group match with Juventus in this stadium and won 2–0. Because, Turkish HSBC bank and synagogue was bombed by 2 terrorists, UEFA and Juventus wanted this match to be played abroad. 60,000 Galatasaray fans watched this match. (December 2, 2003)
• In the video game FIFA 07, the stadium is still known as the Westfalenstadion.
• In the video game UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, the stadium was still known as the Westfalenstadion.

References

1. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6789326.ece
2. [1]

• Werner Skrentny (Hrsg.), Das grosse Buch der Deutschen Fussball-Stadien, Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt, 2001
• Gernot Stick, Stadien 2006, Basel: Birkhäuser 2005
• Stahlbau Spezial: Arenen im 21. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Ernst & Sohn, Ausg. Januar 2005

External links

• Signal Iduna Park, official site
• Westfalenstadion, private site
• Stadium page at the official Borussia Dortmund website
• Westfalenstadion Guide at StadionWelt.de
• Train Schedule / Trip Creator by DB (German Railways)