Alfred Kunze Sports Park
| Alfred Kunze Sports Park | |
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| Grandstand in the Alfred Kunze Sports Park | |
| Earlier names | |
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Georg Schwarz Sports Park (1949–1992 and December 1, 2018) |
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| Data | |
| place | Am Sportpark 2 04179 Leipzig , Germany
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 21 '29 " N , 12 ° 18' 28" E |
| owner | City of Leipzig |
| opening | Summer 1920 |
| Renovations | 1965-1966 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| costs | 512,545.83 marks (1920) |
| capacity | 4,999 places (limited by requirements of the regulatory office) |
| Societies) | |
| Events | |
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The Alfred Kunze Sport Park is a sports facility in the Leutzsch district of the Saxon city of Leipzig . The facility includes a football stadium with a main square, three more grass pitches, a football hall, an artificial turf pitch and a hard court with floodlights , as well as two social wings and a commercial building. The facility is used by BSG Chemie Leipzig as the sole tenant. At the moment the stadium's capacity is limited to 4,999 spectators due to the regulations of the public order office. The venue is located between the Leipzig-Leutzsch S-Bahn station and the Leipziger Auwald .
From 1949 to 1992 the venue was called Georg-Schwarz-Sportpark . Georg Schwarz was a German politician and resistance fighter against National Socialism who was executed in 1945. The ceremonial renaming took place on May 27, 1992. The new namesake Alfred Kunze was a member of the NSDAP , but was rehabilitated in GDR times and is still considered the most successful coach of the Leutzscher Verein. Under his leadership, what was then BSG Chemie Leipzig achieved, among other things, the GDR championship title.
The facility held up to 30,000 visitors in the 1950s. The attendance record dates back to 1950. The game between BSG Chemie Leipzig and BSG Turbine Erfurt (0: 1) took place in front of 32,000 spectators. After reunification, the capacity was reduced from 22,000 to 18,000 spectators due to renovation work. Since then, 927 grandstands, 2,721 seats on the dam and 14,352 standing places have been available.
history
In 1919, the then still independent municipality of Leutzsch planned the construction of the 512,545.83 Mark expensive sports area with an area of 36,410 m². The construction time was around a year, so that the game began in the summer of 1920. In the course of the incorporation of Leutzsch, the complex became property of the Leipzig city on January 1, 1922.
In the 1920s, the area was the venue for a wide variety of football, sports and workers' gymnastics clubs. On the initiative of the “Jahn” Leipzig-Leutzsch gymnastics club, the two-storey club building, still preserved today, was built in the Art Deco style between 1925 and 1926.
As part of the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , the clubs based in Leutzsch were expropriated and liquidated in 1933. The systems were used by the SA for training. Later a group of pilots from the German Air Sports Association was based there.
Nevertheless, the response to the site among worker athletes remained great. Since 1935/36, for example, the FC Sachsen predecessor, SV Tura 1899 Leipzig, played regularly in front of a record crowd of up to - at that time, a remarkable - 20,000 spectators. With the end of the war looming, the chapter of SV Tura soon closes.
As a result of the political and social restructuring based on the Stalinist model, new associations emerged in the Soviet occupation zone and later in the GDR. From then on, SG Leipzig-Leutzsch (1946–1949), ZSG Industrie Leipzig (1949/50), BSG Chemie Leipzig (1950–1954), SC Lokomotive Leipzig (1954–1963) and again BSG Chemie Leipzig (1963–1990) used the sports facility .
Alfred Kunze, the later namesake, shaped the most successful years of the area as a trainer. In the early 1950s and 1960s, an average of up to 27,000 spectators flocked to Leutzsch. In the 1963/64 season, Chemie Leipzig won the GDR championship title, to the surprise of the East German sports officials. In memory of this, the team's players were erected as a larger-than-life concrete monument in the sports park. The FDGB Cup victory followed in the 1966/67 season. During the renovation of the stadium from 1965 to 1966, Germany's first stadium fence was erected in front of the stands.
In the years up to the turnaround, the home games were sporadic - e.g. B. at local derbies against the GDR flagship club and arch rival 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig - moved to the central stadium .
After reunification, the Georg-Schwarz- and later Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark was the home ground of FC Sachsen Leipzig from 1990 to the end of 2003 and in the 2009/10 season. From the beginning of 2004 to mid-2009, the club played its home games in the newly built central stadium , while the Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark was used as a training ground. After the bankruptcy of FC Sachsen Leipzig and the cessation of gaming operations on June 30, 2010, the sports park was leased to the newly founded SG Sachsen Leipzig, the club used the site together with BSG Chemie Leipzig. Both men's teams played their home games alternately. At the end of the 2013/14 season, SG Sachsen was insolvent and stopped playing. Since then, the BSG Chemie Leipzig has been the sole user of the sports park.
On September 3, 2016, BSG Chemie Leipzig met Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt (2: 2) in the sports park in front of 4,999 spectators . The income is intended to benefit the maintenance of the stadium in need of renovation. Eintracht waived the entry fee. Before the game, board member Axel Hellmann presented a check for 10,000 euros.
On October 30, 2018 , the first game in the history of the stadium took place under floodlights as part of the second main round of the DFB Cup , in which BSG Chemie Leipzig competed against SC Paderborn . Four mobile floodlight masts from an English provider were rented for this purpose. BSG Chemie is planning the installation of permanent floodlight masts in the medium term.
On December 1, 2018, the stadium was given its old name Georg-Schwarz-Sportpark back for one day to commemorate the anti-fascist resistance fighter on the occasion of the major league match against BSG Wismut Gera . The “Georg Schwarz Brigade” fan group initiated the restoration of the memorial plaque at the BSG office. The inauguration and an exhibition about the life and work of Schwarz were part of the event.
state of construction
In general, the entire sports facility is in a dilapidated condition. In the past, major renovation measures often failed due to a lack of financial resources and the proximity to the nature reserve of the Leipzig alluvial forest. Only the training facilities next to the stadium were gradually expanded. The area now has, among other things, an artificial turf pitch. Thanks to the cooperation of many supporters, both the seat shells of the dam seat and the grandstand were repainted in 2009. In addition, several breakwaters were installed on the standing grandstand. Since the newly founded BSG Chemie Leipzig has been using the stadium as a sub-tenant since 2011 and as the main tenant since 2014, extensive renovation and modernization work has been taking place in the stadium again. For example, part of the standing area next to the office was renovated and expanded into a family block, as well as a complete overhaul of the wooden grandstand, which has since been in danger of collapsing. At the end of 2017, the board of directors of BSG Chemie presented a concept within the framework of which a complete modernization of the stadium and the site is to be implemented by 2030. Among other things, this should lead to an increase in audience capacity to 11,000.
As part of the 100th anniversary of the plant, a development concept of the city was presented in March 2020 in coordination with BSG Chemie. According to this, the sports park is to be completely renovated in several stages by 2040 within 20 years. The first measures are to be carried out by 2023. The water and sewer pipes are to be renewed and developed. Better drainage is planned for the playing fields and the stadium is to be floodlit . The functional buildings are to be equipped with supply lines for water, electricity, gas, telecommunications and security technology. The costs for the first section should be one million euros. In addition, there is the construction of a two-story functional building with 900 m² of usable space for around three million euros. Club, city and country want to build new ball catching systems in the short term. Artificial turf is to be laid on a hard court that can no longer be used and equipped with floodlights. The time between 2024 and 2030 is planned with the renovation of the north and wooden stands as well as the construction of two additional sanitary facilities and noise protection measures. After completing this section, the remaining two tiers will be renovated by 2040. The sports park will also have a new sports hall , a second functional building and an athletics facility with a plastic track . No information was given about the total costs. But they are estimated at between 20 and 30 million euros.
gallery
literature
- Fuge, Jens : 100 years of football in Leutzsch. Westend, Leipzig 1999.
- Fuge, Jens : The number 1 - 10 years of FC Sachsen Leipzig. Westend, Leipzig 2000.
Web links
- alfred-kunze-sportpark.de: Website of the Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark
- stadionwelt.de: Extensive picture gallery
- europlan-online.de: Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark - Leipzig-Leutzsch
- groundhopping.de: Visitor report from 2001 - Saxony Leipzig against Wattenscheid 09 (1: 0)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Facts about the Alfred Kunze Sports Park. In: alfred-kunze-sportpark.de. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
- ↑ The rest of Leipzig. In: 11freunde.de . Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Eintracht draw at the benefit game ( Memento from September 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Paderborn comes to Leipzig-Leutzsch for the floodlight premiere. In: mdr.de . October 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Chemie Leipzig plays again in the Georg-Schwarz-Sportpark. In: stadionwelt.de. November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Chemistry fans renovate family block in the Kunze Sports Park - wrestling for championship jubilee, sportbuzzer.de
- ↑ Big plans: Chemistry develops "AKS 2030 performance center". In: fupa.net. December 14, 2017, accessed March 9, 2020 .
- ↑ 20-year plan for the Leipziger Sportpark. In: stadionwelt.de. March 9, 2020, accessed March 9, 2020 .