EEA arena
| EEA arena | |
|---|---|
| Wormatia Stadium | |
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| Main stand after the renovation in 2008 | |
| Earlier names | |
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| Sponsor name (s) | |
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| Data | |
| place |
 Worms , Germany
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| Coordinates | 49 ° 37 '53 " N , 8 ° 20' 8.9" E |
| owner | City of Worms |
| start of building | 1927 |
| opening | 1928 |
| First game | Wormatia Worms - Stuttgarter Kickers 3: 2 (January 1, 1928, 6,000 spectators) |
| Renovations | 1974, 1987/88, 2008, 2015 |
| Extensions | 1939/40 |
| surface | Hybrid lawn |
| capacity | 5,624 seats |
| Societies) | |
| Events | |
The EWR-Arena , originally and in parlance also Wormatia-Stadion , is the football stadium of the VfR Wormatia 08 Worms . The venue originally held 25,000 spectators, but is now only approved for 5,624 spectators. In August 2011, it was decided to rename the Wormatia Stadium to the EWR Arena , after the electricity , gas and water supplier EWR AG . The contract initially had a term of three years plus an option to extend it.
capacity
On the occasion of VfR Wormatia's qualification for the new three-track regional league, the stadium was extensively renovated for the 2008/09 season for 2.1 million euros. In addition to 918 covered seats on the main grandstand, the stadium has since then had a further 1,500 uncovered seats on the new grandstand and the two new secondary grandstands north and south. There are 2,700 standing places on the back straight and another 500 in the guest block in the south curve. The rest of the south curve and the north curve, both essentially unchanged since 1939, are currently closed. If the number of spectators is expected to be high, the north curve can be opened under certain conditions in exceptional cases.
Naming
The Wormatia Stadium was not given an official name after it was built. If the previous venue was known simply as "Wormatia-Platz", the new venue was naturally called the "Wormatia Stadium". For example, on an advertising poster for Adolf Hitler's campaign speech in 1932, there was simply talk of the "Worms Stadium". This campaign appearance and the subsequent takeover of power by the National Socialists were also the reason for the board to officially name the stadium "Adolf Hitler Stadium" in 1933. From 1937 at the latest, the variant "Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn" was also common, but neither could it displace the original name "Wormatia Stadium" in the public eye. After the end of the war, the old name was reverted to.
In the nineties, the VfR Wormatia had to share the stadium with the sometimes higher-class suburb club TSG Pfeddersheim. This gave rise to the unofficial, club-neutral name "Stadion an der Alzeyer Straße". This led to complaints from the Wormatia side and in public to the question of the actually officially valid name. From the municipal side, as the owner since 1943, there was no such thing. The last and only known official decision to give the name was the name "Adolf-Hitler-Stadion" by the association in 1933. Due to this fact, the Worms City Council decided to officially define the name "Wormatia-Stadion", which has been in use since 1928. This decision will not be affected by the granting of the naming rights to EWR AG in 2011, since the old name is merely "dormant".
history
Construction of the stadium in 1927/28
As part of the ongoing sporting success, VfR Wormatia acquired a bankrupt cycling track on Alzeyer Strasse, which was only built in 1924, and built the Wormatia Stadium there in 1927/28 with a great deal of personal work for 18,000 spectators, including 800 seats on a covered wooden grandstand. During the First World War, the site housed a prisoner-of-war camp and then a transit camp for the French army, the barracks and barbed wire fencing of which were only cleared in the early twenties. All that remained was the commandant's building, which today serves as the club's clubhouse. A special feature of the stadium was the memorial for the members who fell in World War I, which crowned the north curve and was the first to catch the visitor's eye. Due to the qualification for the games for the southern German soccer championship 1927/28 , the stadium had to be used for the first time in January 1928, earlier than planned.
Reconstruction 1939/40
In 1939/40 the stadium was extensively renovated. All standing steps were demolished and rebuilt with self-cast standing steps, which can still be found today in the closed curves. The main stand was completely dismantled, moved a few meters and rebuilt with a grandstand to accommodate 1,200 seats. Circumferential low privet bushes separated the spectators from the field. The stadium, which was now spacious thanks to a running track, had a capacity of 25,000 seats. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War , Wormatia did not play regularly in the stadium until 1945, many matches were held on the old place at the welding plant.
Renovations after 1945
There were major renovations in the mid-sixties. The entrance to the stadium area was moved away from Alzeyer Straße towards the north curve in order to create a parking space. The ticket offices that are still in use today were also built. After qualifying for the new Second Bundesliga in 1974, the track was modernized, the surrounding boxwood hedge was removed and the spectator stands fenced.
New construction of the main grandstand in 1987/88
Since after the fire disaster in Bradford in 1985 large parts of the grandstand were closed because of the wooden structure, a 2.7 million marks (inflation-adjusted today 2,429,117 euros) expensive new building replaced the main grandstand from 1987. This was officially inaugurated on July 9, 1988 and had 976 covered seats as well as 600 uncovered standing places on the grandstand. The nine semicircular arches of the roof are made from the special plastic Makrolon developed in Worms , which was also used in the roof of the Munich Olympic Stadium .
Refurbishment 2008
After the promotion of VfR Wormatia Worms to the Regionalliga West, the Wormatia Stadium was extensively renovated before the 2008/09 season for 2.1 million euros in order to meet the guidelines of the DFB for this division. The standing grandstand was removed to make room for the additional seats required. The back straight was demolished and rebuilt with precast concrete parts; the two curves were closed due to disrepair, with the exception of the newly built guest block. To the left and right of the main grandstand, side grandstands with additional seats were created; on the main grandstand itself, the green seat shells were replaced with red ones with higher backs. Furthermore, the loudspeaker system was modernized, the floodlight system built in 1998 was equipped with new lamps, the police station and video surveillance were installed and the required separate access to the guest block was implemented. Since then, the Wormatia Stadium has been officially approved for 5,624 spectators. The redevelopment plans provide for further necessary expansion stages in the event of promotion to the third division and the second division.
Floodlight extension 2012
With the entry of VfR Wormatia Worms into the 2nd main round of the DFB-Pokal 2012/13, an extension of the floodlights was necessary in order to achieve the output of 800 lux required by the DFB. The association bears the costs of 85,000 euros, largely pre-financed by the city of Worms.
Failed expansion with functional building
At its annual reception on February 12, 2012, the association presented further expansion plans for the first time. Instead of the currently closed north curve, a multifunctional building with a grandstand was to be built, which would contain new cabin wings, a sports hall, a rehabilitation center, a bistro, a fan shop, an office and VIP rooms. The financing should be guaranteed together with various cooperation partners and without tax money. The construction of the 3 million euro project was planned to start in 2013, regardless of the game class. In order to achieve a stadium capacity of 10,000 seats required for the third division, the construction of a back-goal stand in the south curve and a shift and enlargement of the back straight were also considered. Since the city of Worms, as the owner of the arena, insists that the track should remain for the purposes of school sports, the plans in spring 2013 turned out to be unrealizable. In June 2013, the association declared the "multifunctional building" project to have failed. With the career renovation in 2015, definitive facts were created.
The origin and main reason for the plans at that time was the urgent need for additional changing rooms for the junior teams. Instead, in the second half of 2016, a functional building with the required changing rooms was built between the south curve and the adjacent spaces.
Lawn renovation 2015
After the 2014/15 season, the 50-year-old and often criticized pitch was completely renovated. A drainage system , an irrigation system and a hybrid lawn system were installed. A synthetic fiber reinforced subsurface increases the resilience of the playing field, the mineral-containing substructure is intended to defuse the earthworm problem. In addition, the circular track was renovated for school sports. Due to the unexpected finds of ordnance, the total cost increased to 890,000 euros. During the construction work, VfR Wormatia played four regional league home games each in the Uwe-Becker Stadium of TSG Pfeddersheim and in the Südweststadion Ludwigshafen . The new playing field was inaugurated with the home game against Astoria Walldorf on November 21, 2015.
Side seats
There are also two artificial turf pitches and a small pitch (also artificial turf) on the stadium grounds .
Web links
- Welcome to the EWR-Arena Worms! In: Website of the VfR Wormatia 08 Worms. Retrieved October 18, 2011 .
- Photos Wormatia Stadium. In: stadionwelt.de. Retrieved October 18, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c wormatia.de: stadium data , accessed on October 2, 2012.
- ↑ worms.de: The Wormatia Stadium becomes the EWR Arena Article dated August 25, 2011.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Stadium history , accessed on July 29, 2011.
- ↑ wormser-zeitung.de: "More space against Waldhof" from October 17, 2009, accessed on May 2, 2011.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Chronicle: 3.1 Football after the takeover of power , accessed on May 4, 2016.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Stadium history: 1928 - A new home on Alzeyer Strasse , accessed on July 29, 2011.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Stadium history: 1939 - reconstruction of the stadium , accessed on July 29, 2011.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Stadium history: 1974 - A fence for the second division , accessed on July 29, 2011.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Stadium history: 1988 - construction of the new main grandstand , accessed on July 29, 2011.
- ↑ wormatia.de: Stadium history: 2008 - conversion for the regional league , accessed on July 29, 2011.
- ↑ worms.de: Cup game can take place in Worms! ( Memento from June 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Article from September 5, 2012, accessed on June 17, 2013.
- ↑ wormser-zeitung.de: Three million project article from February 13, 2012, accessed on February 18, 2012.
- ↑ wormser-zeitung.de: New grandstand and fan shop: Wormatia Worms is planning stadium renovation for three million euros ( memento from September 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Article from February 16, 2012, accessed on February 18, 2012.
- ↑ wormser-zeitung.de: Wormatia distances itself from million dollar project - no new construction in the stadium ( Memento from June 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Article from June 15, 2013, accessed on June 17, 2013.
- ↑ Construction of the functional building is progressing. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
- ↑ wormatia.de: Hybrid lawn project , accessed on January 27, 2016.
- ↑ wormatia.de: In addition to courses , accessed on 27 January 2016th