Karl Liebknecht Stadium

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Karl Liebknecht Stadium
KarLi
Main stand of the stadium before the last renovation
Main stand of the stadium before the last renovation
Earlier names

Sports field on Priesterstrasse
Karl-Liebknecht sports field

Data
place Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 90 14482 Potsdam - Babelsberg , Germany
GermanyGermany
Coordinates 52 ° 23 '56.7 "  N , 13 ° 5' 41.2"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 23 '56.7 "  N , 13 ° 5' 41.2"  E
owner City of Potsdam
operator SV Babelsberg 03
opening Karl Liebknecht Stadium:
July 10, 1976
First game GDR - BSG Motor Babelsberg
Renovations 2001-2002, 2010-2012
Extensions 2001–2002, 2010–2011
surface Natural grass
capacity 10,787 seats
Societies)
Events

The Karl Liebknecht Stadium (short: KarLi ) is a football stadium in the Babelsberg district of Potsdam . It is the home of SV Babelsberg 03 and the 1st FFC Turbine Potsdam . The sports field on Priesterstraße and later the Karl Liebknecht sports field were located in the same place . The stadium is named after the socialist politician Karl Liebknecht .

Location and facilities

DFB Cup match between SV Babelsberg and Bayer Leverkusen

The stadium is a pure football stadium without running tracks or other athletics facilities . The venue is located in the north of the Babelsberg district of Potsdam. It is limited to the west and north by the avenue to Glienicke and the adjoining Babelsberg Park , to the east by Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse and to the south by a residential area. In addition to the actual main stadium, there are two other training grounds on the stadium grounds. The stadium has a capacity of 10,787 spectators, spread over 2,003 seats and 8,784 standing places.

history

The stadium's floodlight masts are retractable.

Football was already being played on the edge of the Babelsberg Park at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. In 1924, the members of the Concordia Nowawes 06 sports club built the sports field on Priesterstrasse on the site of today's stadium .

At the end of the Second World War , the facility was badly damaged by bombing. By 1947, however, the worst damage had been largely repaired. Two years later, the BSG "Märkische Volksstimme" Babelsberg (later Rotation Babelsberg) qualified for the GDR Oberliga , which necessitated further renovation and expansion work on the sports facility, which has now been renamed Karl Liebknecht sports field (named after the politician Karl Liebknecht ) .

After the relegation of rotations from the league in 1958 and several sport-political restructuring in Babelsberg football in the 1960s (including rotation was delegated to the newly founded SC Potsdam , whose team was later taken over by BSG Motor Babelsberg ), there was temporarily neither first nor second division in the Karli - watch football.

In the early 1970s, the initiative to build a new stadium was formed, which was also implemented in 1974/1975. On July 10, 1976, the new Karl Liebknecht Stadium was officially inaugurated when the GDR Olympic team played against BSG Motor Babelsberg . At that time the audience capacity was still 15,000. It was only fully exploited once, namely at the World Cup qualifying match between the GDR and Malta in 1977, which is still the official record number of spectators today. Over the years, the audience capacity has been reduced again and again. For the last regional league game against Fortuna Düsseldorf on June 9, 2001, all available tickets were sold for the first time in 24 years, which meant "only" 14,700 spectators.

In 2001 the stadium was partially renovated and made suitable for the Bundesliga in 2002 with a floodlight system that is unique in Germany. The floodlight masts can be folded in at the end of the game so as not to obstruct the line of sight from the Flatow Tower to the city, as the adjacent Babelsberger Park is a World Heritage Site . As a result of these renovations, the capacity fell to 9,254 spectators, but increased again to 10,499 as a result of new counting of the seats. In addition, several ticket booths were built one after the other.

In 2007, the city of Potsdam examined whether a new stadium in Potsdam's Potsdam-Süd district (Waldstadt settlement) could be financed and enforced as part of the DFB application for the 2011 women's soccer World Cup . As a result, fans of SV Babelsberg 03 launched the “Pro Karli” campaign in order to preserve the traditional venue. A feasibility study finally pleaded for the preservation of the Karl Liebknecht Stadium, since a new building would cost the city of Potsdam around 20 million euros more. In addition, the Lord Mayor Jann Jakobs ruled out the possibility of a completely new building after the rejection of the Potsdam application as a venue for the women's soccer World Cup.

use

Fans of Turbine Potsdam

Since its inauguration in 1976, the stadium served SV Babelsberg 03 and its predecessor club BSG Motor Babelsberg as the home stadium. Motor and its competitor Rotation had already used the Karl Liebknecht sports field before . In the 1990s, SG Bornim also played in the stadium when it was briefly represented in a higher class. The second home club is 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, whose predecessor BSG Turbine Potsdam also played in the stadium during the GDR era. This is done free of charge.

International comparisons also took place in the Karl Liebknecht Stadium. In addition to the above-mentioned game between the GDR and Malta, the Olympic qualifying game between the GDR and Norway (1-0 in front of 8,500 spectators) took place here in November 1983 and another World Cup qualifier between the East German national team against Luxembourg (3-1 before 9,000 spectators). In addition, the GDR women's national team took part in their first and only international match on May 9, 1990 in the Karli . However, the 3-0 defeat against the CSSR only attracted 800 spectators. The German national women's team has played twice in the Karl Liebknecht Stadium so far. On April 13, 1995 the DFB-Elf defeated Poland 8-0 in front of 2,300 spectators. The second game against Scotland on March 27, 2003 was a qualifying match for the 2005 European Championship . In front of 4,783 spectators, Germany won 5-0.

Further highlights in women's football were the final home games of 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam in the European Women's Cup . On May 21, 2005 the “Turbines” won the trophy with a 3-1 win (first leg 2-0 for Potsdam) against Djurgårdens IF / Älvsjö from Stockholm . 8,677 spectators followed the game and represented a record attendance at home games that is still valid today. A year later, 1. FFC Turbine met 1. FFC Frankfurt in the final . In front of 4,431 spectators, Potsdam lost 4-0 in the first leg.

On June 15, 2003, the best-attended match in the history of the women's Bundesliga took place in the Karl Liebknecht Stadium for nine years. In front of 7,900 spectators, 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam and 1. FFC Frankfurt parted goalless, which meant that the Frankfurt women won the championship. In May 2012, VfL Wolfsburg exceeded this mark.

Redevelopment

The stadium was renovated in 2010 and 2011 with funds from the Economic Stimulus Package II in the amount of around eight million euros, in order to ensure the long-term suitability of the stadium for the demands of the DFB leagues of SV Babelsberg 03 and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam. The main building was renovated and an artificial turf pitch was created as a side square. For the main square, among other things, under-floor heating may even be considered. Furthermore, sidewalks were made weatherproof, sanitary facilities were built / renovated and a grandstand was raised or roofed (both only on Block K). In October 2010 there was a defect in the articulation of one of the floodlight masts, which prevented the mast from being extended and thus preventing the floodlighting system from being used. The defect also made the preventive replacement of all floodlight masts necessary.

Panorama of the Karl Liebknecht Stadium

Web links

Commons : Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the Concordia Nowawes 06 association , a small request from the Die Andere faction to the city council of the state capital of Potsdam on June 30, 2004.
  2. ↑ Henri Kramer: Young kicker must pay for the "Karli" . PNN (online) of October 26, 2012.
  3. ↑ Markus Juchem: Record number of spectators in the women's Bundesliga. May 21, 2012, accessed March 26, 2013 .