MHPArena[1][2]
UEFA
Former namesStuttgarter Kampfbahn (1929–1933)[3]
Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn (1933–1945)
Century Stadium (1945–1949)
Neckarstadion (1949–1993)
Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion (1993–2008)
Mercedes-Benz Arena (2008–2023)
AddressMercedesstraße 87, 70372
LocationStuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
OwnerStadion NeckarPark GmbH & Co.KG
OperatorVfB Stuttgart Arena Betriebs GmbH
Capacity60,441[4] (league matches),
54,906 (international matches)
Record attendance97,553 (Germany vs. Switzerland, 22 November 1950)
Surfacenatural grass
Construction
Built1929–1933[3]
Opened23 July 1933
Renovated1949–1951, 1999–2003, 2004–2005 ('asp' architekten Stuttgart)
Expanded1993, 2009–2011 ('asp' architekten Stuttgart)
Construction cost€63.5 million (2009–2011 expansion)[5]
€58 million (2004–2005 renovation)[6]
€5.2 million (2001)[7]
ArchitectPaul Bonatz/Friedrich Scholer (1929–1933)
'asp' architekten Stuttgart
(2004–2005, 2009–2011)
Project managerStefan Heim, Martin Rau
Tenants
VfB Stuttgart (1933–present)
Germany national football team (selected matches)
Website
www.mhparena-stuttgart.de

The MHPArena (German pronunciation: [ɛmhaːpeː ʔaˌʁeːna]) is a stadium located in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and home to Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart.

Before 1993 it was called the Neckarstadion ([ˈnɛkaʁˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn] ⓘ), named after the nearby river Neckar. Between 1993 and July 2008 it was called the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion [ˌɡɔtliːpˈdaɪmlɐˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn]. The stadium was renamed the Mercedes-Benz Arena at the beginning of the 2008–09 season, starting with a pre-season friendly against Arsenal on 30 July 2008.[8] On 1 July 2023, the stadium was renamed the MHPArena.[2][1]

History

The stadium was originally built from 1929 to 1933 with the name "Stuttgarter Kampfbahn" after designs by German architects Paul Bonatz and Friedrich Scholer.[3] After it was built, it was named "Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn" (pronounced [ˌadɔlfˈhɪtlɐˌkampfbaːn]). From 1945 to 1949 it was called Century Stadium and later Kampfbahn and was used by US Troops to play baseball. The name Neckarstadion was used since 1949. It is home to VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga (and to the Stuttgarter Kickers when they played in the Bundesliga).

After a major refurbishment in the late 1980s and early 1990s partly financed by Daimler-Benz, the Stuttgart town council dedicated the stadium to Gottlieb Daimler. The inventor had tested both the first internal combustion motorcycle and the first 4-wheel automobile there in the 1880s, on the road from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim (now called Mercedesstraße).[9] The new museum, the headquarters and a factory of Mercedes-Benz are nearby.[10]

The stadium capacity was reduced to around 41,000, after one stand (Untertürkheimer Kurve) was demolished during summer 2009 in the process of converting it to a pure football arena. The rebuilt arena was completed in December 2011 with a new capacity of 60,000, including terracing. Due to UEFA regulations, which only allow seating, the capacity is reduced to 54,906 during international football matches.

"Cannstatter Kurve" is the area for the fans of VfB Stuttgart

It is divided into four sections,

  • the Haupttribüne (main stands), adjacent to Mercedesstraße, housing VIP-lounges and press seats
  • the Gegentribüne (lit: opposite stands, formerly Kärcher-Tribüne), from 2016 to 2021 named after one of VfB Stuttgart's major sponsors Kärcher
  • the Cannstatter Kurve (Cannstatt Curve), to the left of the Haupttribüne, before rebuilding it housed legendary Blocks A and B, which occupied by the most devoted home fans, and one of two video walls. Now die hard home fans stand in the new "heart of Cannstatter Kurve" in Bloks 34 and 35 in the center of the curve directly behind the goal.
  • the Untertürkheimer Kurve (Untertürkheim Curve), to the right of the Haupttribüne, housing the guest team's fans (C and D-Block) and the second video wall

The MHPArena features a unique fabric roof construction, making it easily recognizable. Made of precision-tailored membranes of PVC-coated polyester, the roof tissue is durable enough to withstand 1,000 kg of weight per square decimeter. It is suspended from an aesthetic steel frame that runs around the entire stadium weighing approximately 2,700 metric tons. The steel cables connecting the roof to the frame alone weigh about 420 tons. The roof was added during the refurbishment preceding the 1993 World Athletics Championships.

A panorama view of Stuttgart against Borussia Dortmund in October 2011

International matches

The Neckarstadion hosted four matches of the 1974 FIFA World Cup, two matches of the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship (a 1st Round match and a semi-final) and six games of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, including a Round of 16 game and the third-place playoff match (see below for details).

The stadium also hosted the finals of the European Cup (now known as UEFA Champions League) in 1959 (Real Madrid vs. Stade de Reims) and 1988 (PSV Eindhoven vs. S.L. Benfica).

Trivia

Former Name logo of Mercedes-Benz-Arena
  • As Stuttgart is located relatively close to Germany's southern neighbors Switzerland, it has hosted a total of seven international football matches versus the Swiss since 1911.
  • Germany's first international football match after World War II in 1950 (against Switzerland) was played at the stadium. The match attendance of 97,553 is the stadium record. The first match after the German reunification in 1990 (also versus Switzerland) took place at Neckarstadion Stadium as well.
  • Klaus Fischer scored Germany's "ARD Goal of the Century" here against the Swiss in 1977, with a bicycle kick ("Fallrückzieher"), his trademark move with which he also scored the important 3:3 equalizer in extra time (108th minute) at the 1982 FIFA World Cup vs France, but this was not among the Top 10 of the WC Goal of the Century.
  • With 115 m2 each, the stadium's two video walls before rebuilding were the largest in Europe, now it has the two video walls with the highest resolution in Europe.
  • The Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion was one of the four stadiums hosting games during the 2006 FIFA World Cup whose name were not changed to FIFA World Cup Stadium XYZ, as the dedication to Gottlieb Daimler was not interpreted as advertisement (i.e. for DaimlerChrysler). All others, such as the Allianz Arena in Munich or the AOL Arena in Hamburg were obliged to remove all visual references to their stadiums' name sponsors.

Sports other than football

The 1986 European Athletics Championships in which the hammer throw world record by Yuriy Sedykh was set, and the 1993 World Athletics Championships were held there, and the Daimler-Stadium was the host the IAAF World Athletics final from 2006 to 2008. The arena has also been the venue of several Eurobowl finals of American Football in the 1990s. The last athletics event took place in September 2008, after which the stadium underwent redevelopment in order to build a football-only arena.

Renovations and redevelopment into football-specific stadium

In 1993 the fabric roof of the stadium was constructed. From 1999 to 2003 the upper tier of the main stand was demolished and rebuilt. In 2005 the opposite stands received a new upper tier as well.[11]

The redevelopment into a football-specific stadium was announced along with the stadium's name change in late March 2008. The first computer images of the new arena were released at the same time, also showing a large cube with four video scoreboards above the centre circle, similar to the one in the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt.[12]

Starting in 2009, the Mercedes-Benz Arena has been redeveloped into a football-specific stadium. New stands were constructed, after the running track was demolished and the pitch level was lowered by 1.30 metres in time for the beginning of the 2009–10 season. Both curves were completely demolished and rebuilt closer to the pitch during the next two years.[11] After the interior redevelopment finished, the roof was expanded to cover all the new rows of the seats. The entire construction was completed by the end of 2011.

Within the first couple of weeks of the redevelopment, 18 undetonated bombs left over from the air raids on Stuttgart during the Second World War were found on the construction site.[13]

In June 2022 the lower tier of the main stand was demolished and the reconstruction started.[14]

International tournaments matches

All times local (CET)

1974 FIFA World Cup

Stuttgart hosted the following matches at the 1974 FIFA World Cup:

Date Time (CET) Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round Attendance
15 June 197418:00Poland 3–2 ArgentinaGroup 432,700
19 June 197419:30Argentina 1–1 ItalyGroup 470,100
23 June 197416:00Poland 2–1 ItalyGroup 470,100
26 June 197419:30Sweden 0–1 PolandGroup B44,955

UEFA Euro 1988

These UEFA Euro 1988 matches were played in Stuttgart:

Date Time (CET) Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round Attendance
12 June 198815:30England 0–1 Republic of IrelandGroup 251,373
22 June 198820:15Soviet Union 2–0 ItalySemi-finals61,606

2006 FIFA World Cup

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion during the third place play-off

The following games were played at the stadium during the 2006 FIFA World Cup:

Date Time (CET) Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round Attendance
13 June 200618:00France 0–0  SwitzerlandGroup G52,000
16 June 200618:00Netherlands 2–1 Ivory CoastGroup C52,000
19 June 200621:00Spain 3–1 TunisiaGroup H52,000
22 June 200621:00Croatia 2–2 AustraliaGroup F52,000
25 June 200617:00England 1–0 EcuadorRound of 1652,000
8 July 200621:00Germany 3–1 PortugalThird place match52,000

UEFA Euro 2024

The stadium will host four group stage matches and one quarter-finals match at the UEFA Euro 2024:

Date Time Team #1 Res. Team #2 Round Attendance
16 June 202418:00Slovenia Match 6 DenmarkGroup C
19 June 202418:00Germany Match 14 HungaryGroup A
23 June 202421:00Scotland Match 26
26 June 202418:00Play-off winner BMatch 34 BelgiumGroup E
5 July 202418:00Winner match 39Match 45Winner match 37Quarter-finals

UEFA Club Competition Finals

Date Winners Result Runners-up Round Attendance
3 June 1959Spain Real Madrid2–0France Reims1959 European Cup final72,000
5 September 1962Spain Atlético Madrid3–0Italy Fiorentina1962 European Cup Winners' Cup final (Replay)38,120
25 May 1988Netherlands PSV Eindhoven0–0 (6–5 pen.)Portugal Benfica1988 European Cup final64,000

Concerts

Pink Floyd performed at the stadium on 25 June 1989 as part of their 1989 Another Lapse European Tour (A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour).

English rock band Genesis continued their Turn It On Again: The Tour at the stadium in a sold-out crowd of 50,736 fans in attendance.

Depeche Mode performed at the stadium on 3 June 2013 during their Delta Machine Tour, in front of a sold-out crowd of 36,225 people.

References

  1. 1 2 "Porsche, MHP and VfB Stuttgart AG sign position paper". porsche.com. Porsche. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Alliance of global brands for VfB". vfb.de. VfB Stuttgart. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Das Stuttgarter Stadion im Wandel der Zeit". stuttgarter-nachrichten.de (in German). Stuttgarter Nachrichten. 28 June 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "Mercedes-Benz Arena – StadiumDB.com". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  5. ↑ Mercedes-Benz Arena Stuttgart. Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. ASP Architekten Arat.
  6. ↑ Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006. Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. ASP Architekten Arat.
  7. ↑ Parkhaus Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion Stuttgart. Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. ASP Architekten Arat.
  8. ↑ Arsenal: Friendly against VfB Stuttgart announced Archived 18 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ "Mercedes-Benz Classic: November 1885: Daimler riding car travels from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim". Daimler. 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Mercedes-Benz Museum – how to find us" (PDF). Mercedes-Benz. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  11. 1 2 "So hat sich die Arena über die Jahrzehnte verändert". stuttgarter-zeitung.de (in German). Stuttgarter Zeitung. 27 December 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  12. ↑ Groundwork set for stadium re-construction Archived 26 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Deutschland deine Stadien Archived 29 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Weltfussball.de - Article on the redevelopment of football stadiums in Germany, accessed: 9 July 2009
  14. ↑ "Modernisierung der Mercedes-Benz-Arena: Was sich für VfB-Fans verändern wird". zvw.de (in German). Zeitungsverlag Waiblingen. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
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