Merkur Arena (Graz)

Graz-Liebenau federal stadium
Data
place	Graz , Austria
	Template: Coordinate / Maintenance / Stadium
opening	June 9, 1951
First game	Selection of the StFV - AFC Sunderland 2: 1
capacity	16,000 seats
Societies)
	SK Sturm Graz;

Mercury Arena
	Liebenau stadium
	The north side of the Merkur Arena
Earlier names
	Liebenau Federal Stadium (1951–1997); Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium Graz-Liebenau (1997-2005); Graz-Liebenau Stadium (2005-2006); UPC Arena (2006-2016);
Data
place	Stadionplatz 1 VII. Liebenau , 8041 Graz , Austria;
Coordinates	47 ° 2 '46.1 " N , 15 ° 27' 16.4" E Coordinates: 47 ° 2 '46.1 " N , 15 ° 27' 16.4" E
owner	City of Graz
opening	July 9, 1997
First game	Grazer AK - SK Sturm Graz 0: 4
surface	Natural grass with lawn heating
capacity	16,364 seats
Capacity (internat.)	15,400 seats
playing area	105 × 72 m
Societies)
	SK Sturm Graz; Graz AK; Wolfsberger AC ( Europa League );
Events
	ÖFB Cup final : 2002, 2003; Supercup finals: 1999, 2002, 2004; American Football World Cup 2011; Special Olympics : 2017;

The Merkur Arena with tower

The Merkur Arena , until 2016 UPC-Arena , traditionally Liebenau Stadium or Graz-Liebenau Stadium , 1997–2005 Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Stadium , is an Austrian football stadium in the Graz district of Liebenau and at the same time the largest of its kind in Graz. It is the home of SK Sturm Graz, who plays in the Austrian Bundesliga , and since the 2019 season of the second division team Grazer AK . The stadium has been named after the sponsor Merkur Versicherung since April 2016 .

The Merkur Arena was planned and built between 1994 and 1997 as a new building for the Liebenau Federal Stadium , which opened in 1951 . In addition, as a venue for Bundesliga and regional league games as well as European Cup games, the ÖFB uses the arena as a venue for the Austrian national team and to host various final games ( ÖFB Cup and Supercup).

In July 2011 the arena was one of the venues for the American Football World Cup 2011 in Austria.

history

Construction as the federal stadium in Liebenau

In 1929 the sports field area, on which the Liebenau stadium has stood and still stands, was to be expanded for the first time. It served as a sports facility for the Grazer SC Tramway Association . Later the sports club Wacker (Grazer Sportvereinigung) used the area. This then became the factory sports facilities of the Steyr Daimler Puch company .

After the Second World War , however, the facility became extremely deserted and in 1950 the Federal Sports Administration of the Republic of Austria issued a decision to establish a federal sports field in the south of Graz. Initially planned as a pure athletics facility, the stadium was expanded into a football stadium with English turf as part of the construction. Even an indoor swimming pool and an artificial ice rink were gradually built. The federal stadium in Liebenau was opened on June 9, 1951 . The stadium was first used by the Styrian Football Association as the venue for its national selection, which held its first football match here on June 9, 1951 with a friendly against the English club AFC Sunderland .

The expansion in the following years, including the construction of the floodlights in 1955 and the covering and expansion of the grandstands in 1970, made the Liebenau stadium increasingly attractive for the Graz clubs GAK and Sturm. So far, games with an increased number of visitors as well as TV games have been moved to the federal stadium, now it was first Sturm (1974–1982) and later the GAK (1975–1986) moved into the new permanent home. The Austrian national team was also brought to Liebenau for the first time on September 10, 1970 (0: 1 against Yugoslavia) and has played here a total of 17 times to date (as of August 21, 2015).

Stadium tower next to the arena

New building

After the federal stadium became more and more in need of renovation, the decision was made to build a new one instead of renovating it. In 1994 negotiations started with the federal government regarding the takeover of the stadium by the city of Graz. This takeover took place in December 1994 together with the approval of the Graz municipal council regarding a 20 percent co-financing for the new building concept. In January 1995, the Styrian state government unanimously decided to subsidize new construction costs by 30 percent. A stadium with a capacity of 15,000 was required, which also had to be usable for international games. A public tender, a competition for the realization of the stadium started. The aim of the competition, in addition to the new construction of the stadium, was the best possible use of all surrounding areas (including the construction of parking garages, a shopping center, a fitness center as well as office and living space). A group of investors with business partners Granit Ges.mbH and the architectural group Team A Graz finally won the competition and began to build the Liebenau stadium and sports center.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction took place on January 9, 1995. Originally, that was completed in the winter of 1996/97, soccer stadium after from Thal coming bodybuilder and actor, and later California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger named (Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium Graz-Liebenau) . It was officially opened in front of 15,400 spectators on July 9, 1997 (exactly 46 years after the first game in the federal stadium ) with the 91st Graz city derby GAK against Sturm Graz, which Sturm Graz won 4-0. Roman Mählich scored the first goal in the new stadium in the third minute of the game.

Controversy about the stadium name; Name change

In December 2005, a discussion broke out about changing the name of the then Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium , since Schwarzenegger, as governor of California , on December 12, 2005, among other things, rejected a pardon from the sentenced Stanley "Tookie" Williams . In the meantime, politicians have even called for his Austrian citizenship to be withdrawn. Politicians, especially those of the Greens and the KPÖ , repeatedly called for the stadium to be renamed.

This time the votes in favor of the renaming were more intense. Before an agreement could be reached in the Graz municipal council, Schwarzenegger came before a decision: He withdrew the right to use his name from the city of Graz, especially as the football stadium was named after. He gave the Grazers the ultimatum to have his name removed from the stadium by the end of 2005, as well as from all websites and documents that advertised Graz with his name or were related to the Styrian capital. On the night of December 26, 2005, his name was finally removed from the stadium so that only the Graz-Liebenau stadium could be read. This night time was chosen so as not to give the press an opportunity for a corresponding picture reporting, and yet individual press representatives were on site.

Shortly afterwards, the Graz city government under the leadership of the then Graz City Councilor for Finance Wolfgang Riedler (SPÖ) launched a call to companies, whereupon they could apply for name sponsorship for the stadium. Some time later, UPC Telekabel turned out to be the winner .

On February 17, 2006, the remaining part of the Graz-Liebenau stadium was removed, and just one day later the new name of the stadium was presented: UPC-Arena . The first game in the stadium under a new name was the 125th Graz derby between SK Sturm and GAK, which took place on the same day and ended goalless.

modification

On September 10, 2012, those responsible at SK Sturm Graz presented the plans for a renovation of the stadium, which in its current state no longer meets the requirements of UEFA and the ÖFB for international competition matches. In addition to the adaptation and improvement of the security technology, the floodlight system, the media area and the crew cabins, an expansion of the VIP area by 750 m² is planned. Furthermore, the capacity of the stadium is to be increased by approx. 3300 to 18,700 seats by converting the north curve to standing room, which can be converted into seats for international games.

As a result, the stadium forecourt and the adjacent Ulrich-Lichtenstein-Gasse are planned to be overplated, on which a fan mile with a fan shop, club museum, gastronomy and other leisure activities is to be created. On the one hand, they want to separate road traffic and visitors, and on the other hand, create a spectacular city entrance. SK Sturm intends to start adapting the stadium for the winter break of the 2012/13 season.

At the start of the second half of the 2015/16 season, the first adaptations were completed and opened.

Conversion in the fan sector

At the end of July 2016, the seats in sectors 10–12, corresponding to the domestic fan sector, were dismantled and sold. These were replaced by breakwaters and standing room, giving the stadium a capacity of 16,764 spectators. They were used for the first time in the 6th Bundesliga round against SCR Altach .

After the game against Rapid Wien in the 7th round of the Bundesliga, the space contingent in the north curve was reduced by 400 due to a massive lack of space and long waiting times in catering and sanitary areas. This means that the Graz-Liebenau stadium can accommodate 16,364 visitors. If no further changes are made, the game is a record for the ages with 16,604 spectators (160 seats were kept free due to security measures in the away sector). Never before have there been more in the stadium in Liebenau, built in 1997.

Renamed again

In March 2016, Merkur Versicherung secured the naming rights for the stadium, which was finally named Merkur Arena in April 2016 .

numbers, data, facts

Space available

Panorama photo, view of the west stand with VIP sector, right the north stand with fan sectors

The VIP area 18, equipped with silver seat cushions

One of the arena's two video walls

Solar system on the skating hall seen from above, on the right the Merkur Arena

The Merkur Arena has 15,400 fully covered seats, divided into 27 sectors. At SK Sturm Champions League games between 1999 and 2001, additional grandstands were set up above the stadium ditch so that there was space for almost 16,000 spectators. For Bundesliga games, there is an official capacity of 16,364 spectators. The VIP sector is located on the west stand in sector 18 (around 500 seats). In addition, there is a separate area for disabled and wheelchair users with 60 places on the east side. The playing field , which is equipped with underfloor heating , has a size of 105 × 72 meters and is surrounded by a ditch almost three meters deep.

Architecture and technology

The Merkur Arena was planned in 1994 by the architectural group Team A Graz and built between 1995 and 1997. The client was the city of Graz (building authority), the architects were Jörg Wallmüller, Dietrich Ecker, Herbert Missoni and Franz Cziharz. Wolfgang Platzer, Edwin Visotschnig and Richard Greiner took over the structural planning (“statics”).

The land area on which the arena and sports center is located is 39,650 m², but the actual built-up area is only 13,725 m².

For the construction of the stadium, 85,000 m² of formwork, 1,250 tons of steel and 14,000 m³ of concrete were used . The steel roof of the Merkur Arena is around 10,000 m² and weighs 650 tons. The construction costs amounted to the equivalent of around 20 million euros.

Two video screens and the four floodlight masts are among the extras of the arena. 158 floodlights can completely illuminate the playing field with 1,200 lux .

The entire lawn is exactly 9,085 m² (79 × 115 meters), with the actual playing area measuring 72 × 105 meters. The stadium also has nine toilet facilities and 15 buffets on a distribution level of 6,000 m².

Directly next to the Merkur Arena is the Merkur Eisarena , the home of the Graz 99ers ice hockey club , and an additional skating hall with a solar thermal system with solar collectors on its roof . The energy generated on this 1,407 m² collector surface is fed directly into the Graz district heating network. The transfer of this energy between the solar circuit and the district heating circuit takes place via a corresponding station in a technical room in the Merkur Arena. The system won the Austrian Solar Prize in 2002 and was Austria's largest solar project when it was commissioned from 2002 to 2006. At the same time, it represented a Europe-wide premiere for solar district heating.

The plant has a yield of around 540 MWh per year. Compared with an oil boiler , it also saves around 250,000 kg of CO ₂ per year.

Usage and events

Coat usage

On the east side of the stadium are the players' cabins, the press rooms, stewards and police rooms under the grandstand. The reporters' booths and press seats are above the stands.

The VIP area is located on the west stand above the VIP sector (18), is equipped with a restaurant and has a panoramic glass wall. This makes it possible to follow the game within the VIP area. In addition, various conferences, company events or congresses can be held in the VIP rooms of the arena. The space below the west stand is used by the parking garage.

On the north side of the stadium there is the stadium square with the stadium tower, below the north stand the areas of the stadium administration and the sports department of the city of Graz, the fan café of SK Sturm Graz and a betting office. The stadium tower itself houses offices and apartments, and the SK Sturm fan shop is on the ground floor.

Under the south stand is a fitness center with a usable area of around 1,500 m². Right next to the south side is the covered skating hall of the Liebenau ice rink .

Soccer

In addition to being used for Sturm Graz Bundesliga games, the stadium is also used by the Austrian Football Association to host international matches as well as Cup and Supercup finals.

Finals of the ÖFB competitions

The ÖFB Cup finals and three Supercup finals have taken place in the Liebenau stadium so far .

Finals of the ÖFB
June 25, 1999	Supercup final	SK Sturm Graz - LASK Linz	4: 3 i. E. (1: 1, 1: 1)
May 12, 2002	ÖFB Cup Finals	Grazer AK - SK Sturm Graz	3: 2 (3: 0)
July 6, 2002	Supercup final	SK Sturm Graz - Grazer AK	0: 3 (0: 1)
June 1, 2003	ÖFB Cup Finals	FK Austria Vienna - FC Carinthia	3-0
July 9, 2004	Supercup final	Grazer AK - FK Austria Vienna	2: 4 i. E. (1: 1, 1: 1)

International matches

All 17 games of the Austrian national team in Graz-Liebenau are listed below.

Games of the Austrian national soccer team
September 10, 1970	Friendly match	Austria - Yugoslavia	0: 1 (0: 1)
May 7, 1985	World Cup qualification 1986	Austria - Cyprus	4: 0 (2: 0)
October 15, 1986	1988 European Championship qualification	Austria - Albania	3: 0 (1: 0)
April 11, 1989	Friendly match	Austria - Czechoslovakia	1: 2 (0: 0)
April 28, 1999	European Championship qualification 2000	Austria - San Marino	7: 0 (3: 0)
March 29, 2000	Friendly match	Austria - Sweden	1: 1 (1: 0)
March 27, 2002	Friendly match	Austria - Slovakia	2: 0 (0: 0)
March 26, 2003	Friendly match	Austria - Greece	2: 2 (0: 0)
May 25, 2004	Friendly match	Austria - Russia	0: 0 (0: 0)
August 17, 2005	Friendly match	Austria - Scotland	2: 2 (0: 2)
June 16, 2006	Friendly match	Austria - Hungary	1: 2 (0: 2)
March 24, 2007	Friendly match	Austria - Ghana	1: 1 (0: 0)
May 27, 2008	Friendly match	Austria - Nigeria	1: 1 (1: 1)
May 30, 2008	Friendly match	Austria - Malta	5: 1 (2: 1)
February 11, 2009	Friendly match	Austria - Sweden	0: 2 (0: 0)
September 5, 2009	World Cup qualification 2010	Austria - Faroe Islands	3: 1 (2: 0)
June 7, 2011	Friendly match	Austria - Latvia	3: 1 (0: 0)

American football

In the summer of 2011, the Merkur Arena was a venue for the American Football World Cup 2011 . Sturm Graz had to play a UEFA Champions League qualifying game in the Hypo Group Arena due to scheduling conflicts .

Concerts

The stadium would also be designed to host music concerts. However, on the one hand, due to the dense game operations and the small size of the stadium, it was never possible to actually hold a concert. In addition to the ever-growing concert stages, the stadium would not have enough space for visitors, which would not guarantee financial success. In addition, the natural grass would be too badly damaged after a concert.

Special Olympics 2017

Almost 15,000 fans celebrated the end of the Special Olympics 2017 in the Merkur Arena with a big event. There were u. a. Arnold Schwarzenegger , Helene Fischer and Andreas Gabalier .

Accessibility and connection

Public transportation

The Merkur Arena can be reached with tram line 4 of Holding Graz Linien . On match days, additional push-in trams are run from Jakominiplatz to the stadium (and back), which turn at the former terminus of line 4 (directly in front of the stadium). The name of the stop is Stadion Liebenau .

The Liebenau stadium can be reached by train. It is located near the S-Bahn stops Grazer Ostbahnhof and Graz Liebenau-Murpark and has a S-Bahn stop Graz Liebenau-Stadion right next to the stadium (at the level of the ice rink), which is available from four hours before SK Sturm's home games and S3 is served by all trains for up to two hours after the game.

automobile

The stadium can be reached by car from the center of Graz via Münzgrabenstraße (in the direction of Liebenauer Hauptstraße) or via Conrad-von-Hötzendorf-Straße going south. The stadium can be reached from the Süd Autobahn via the Graz Ost motorway slip road. The stadium garage under the arena has 480 parking spaces and costs eight euros on match days. There is also parking space for around 160 vehicles (not covered) on the west side of the stadium.

Fan culture

The steel corridor of the Merkur Arena for the guest fans next to the training hall of the ice rink Liebenau

The home team's original fan sector was sector 25 in the south stand. After a few years, the fans of SK Sturm Graz succeeded in expanding the fan sector: The new fan area was sectors 24, 25 and 26.

For the 2008/09 season, a long-standing requirement was finally implemented: The fan sectors in the south were relocated to the north and expanded. Now the fans of the home team are in sectors 9-13. The visiting fans, who were originally based in sector 8 in the north, also moved to sector 27 in the south. In addition, a large bus parking lot was built next to the ice rink and a 15-ton steel corridor through which the guest fans are led from the bus parking lot directly into sector 27. The fan clubs wanted the move because they wanted to make better use of the stadium square, which is located on the north side of the stadium together with the stadium tower, before and after the match. The Graz police, the stadium administration and the municipal council, on the other hand, hoped to be able to prevent traffic jams caused by roadblocks, hindrances to Graz AG Verkehrsbetriebe and acts of violence by fans.

Attendance record

The previous attendance record dates from May 1, 1969 at the Grazer Derby (1: 1) in what was then the Federal Stadium in Liebenau with more than 20,000 fans.

On September 10, 2016, the 1-1 draw against Rapid Vienna saw the next record in the Graz-Liebenau stadium, which was built in 1997, with 16,604 spectators.

The old record was the Champions League group game on September 22, 1999 against Manchester United (0: 3) with 16,480 visitors.

date	game	Stadion	Result	Viewer
May 1st 1969	Grazer AK - SK Sturm Graz	Bundesstadion Liebenau (old)	1: 1	> 20,000
September 10, 2016	SK Sturm Graz - SK Rapid Vienna	Graz-Liebenau Stadium (new)	1: 1	16.604

The sponsor

Merkur insurance company logo

→ see main article Merkur Versicherung

Merkur Versicherung was given preference over various companies. The contract was signed for 10 years until 2026.

Web links

Commons : Merkur Arena - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Homepage of the Merkur Arena

Homepage of the team of architects Team A Graz

Individual evidence

↑ EUROPA LEAGUE: Wolfsberger AC moves into the Merkur Arena

↑ Liebenauer Stadion ( Memento from December 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

↑ page 35 (PDF; 6.5 MB)

↑ page 36 (PDF; 6.5 MB)

↑ City of Graz wrestles with its "big son". In: The Standard . December 20, 2005, accessed May 22, 2019 .

^ Raimund Löw : Schwarzenegger's dispute with Graz ( memento of October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: Ö3 . December 21, 2005 ( Internet Archive )

^ Controversy over execution - Schwarzenegger withdraws its name from Graz Stadium. In: Spiegel Online . December 19, 2005, accessed May 22, 2019 .

^ Criticism of Schwarzenegger from old homeland . In: ORF . December 13, 2005

↑ New name for Schwarzenegger Stadium? In: ORF . December 15, 2005

↑ Schwarzenegger sends back the ring of honor . In: ORF . December 19, 2005

↑ Liebenau stadium will be called "UPC Arena" in future . In: ORF . February 18, 2006

↑ Peter Klimkeit: Sturm presented a future concept for the UPC Arena ( Memento from December 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: Small newspaper . September 10, 2012 (with concept as PDF; 830 kB )

↑ Michael Saria: Breakwater and standing room for the storm fans. Kleine Zeitung, August 17, 2016, accessed September 1, 2016 .

↑ Sturm Graz: Why the Rapid game will remain an all-time record . In: www.kleinezeitung.at . ( kleinezeitung.at [accessed on March 22, 2017]).

↑ The stadium in Graz is now called Merkur Arena kurier.at, on April 27, 2016, accessed on April 27, 2016