RheinEnergieStadion

History

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the fortifications of Cologne were removed, thus allowing for the building of a new structure in the surrounding area. The new construction enabled the city to create 15,000 jobs. The new stadium was called the Müngersdorfer Stadion. This allowed Cologne not only to help stabilize the country but also to gain prestige and economic benefits for the city. The cost was tallied at 47.4 million Deutsche Mark.

Following the completion of the stadium the city began to rise in sport prominence. Many major football matches were held at the stadium in front of huge crowds. The first international match was held on 20 November 1927, when the German national football team drew 2–2 with the Netherlands. Since then, the German team has played 19 times at the stadium, and only one of those matches resulted in a loss. Another notable match was the first post-war game, which saw 1. FC Nuremberg beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2–1, in front of a crowd of 75,000.

One of the specialties of the Müngersdorfer Stadion was the track meets for non-professional sportsmen. In 1929 there were over 38,000 participants. However, in 1933 Jews were no longer allowed to take part. After the war the non-professional level was never regained.

Recent matches of importance

In 2005, the stadium was a venue for three first-round games of the FIFA Confederations Cup, including the opening match between Argentina and Tunisia. The game was won by Argentina 2–1.

The Müngersdorfer has been host to many important UEFA Cup matches. Bayer Leverkusen played against Barcelona, and Galatasaray against AS Monaco in the 1988–89 European Cup. Borussia Mönchengladbach played both Arsenal and AS Monaco in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup. The stadium also functioned as the home ground to second-tier Alemannia Aachen in their 2004–05 UEFA Cup campaign.

Awards

In July 2004, the RheinEnergieStadion was awarded a bronze medal for distinguished sporting and leisure facilities by the International Olympic Committee.

Renovation

There have been two renovations, first from 1972 to 1975 and once more from 2002 to 2004.

In 1974, the World Cup was held in West Germany, and Cologne had wanted to be a host city. The city's bid was approved and it soon began work on a new stadium that was to replace the now outdated Müngersdorfer Stadion. However, the city was unable to raise the money needed for a stadium of the desired size. The original plan was for an 80,000-seat arena, which was planned to have cost 23.5 million Deutsche Mark. But the total kept growing. In the end, if the stadium had been completed, the cost would have amounted to 93.5 million. At the time, the city was able to provide only an extra 6 million Deutsche Mark.

Following the World Cup, Cologne still wanted the stadium completed. Hence, on 12 November 1975, a 61,000-seat arena was inaugurated with a match between 1. FC Köln and SC Fortuna Köln, 1. FC Köln winning 1–0.

With the news of the prospect of bringing the World Cup back to Germany, the city reacted and started renovation of the stadium, which was completed in 2003. Unlike previous configurations, there are no track-and-field facilities, allowing spectators to be much closer to the pitch than they might have been in a traditional continental multi-purpose stadium. Thus, the stadium was designed like English-style football stadia, e.g., Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Villa Park and White Hart Lane, with spectators almost on top of the pitch and players.

Facilities

The capacity is about 50,000 visitors during club matches and 46,195 for international games, when there are no standing spectators allowed. The entire field is lit with a floodlight system. In the north grandstand there is a museum dedicated to 1. FC Köln.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, due to sponsorship contracts, the arena was called "FIFA World Cup Stadium Cologne" during the World Cup.

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

Transportation

The stadion is part of Sportpark Müngersdorf, adjacent to Aachener Straße. It is accessible by car via the Cologne Beltway, only some 1200 m off the Bundesautobahn 1. RheinEnergieStadion is a KVB light rail station of Cologne Stadtbahn.

Concerts

Queen played at the stadium as part of their 1986 Magic Tour. This concert was notable for being guitarist Brian May's 39th birthday, with the crowd singing the song 39.

Michael Jackson performed at the stadium three times. The first was on 3 July 1988 during the Bad World Tour, the second on 11 July 1992 during the Dangerous World Tour and the third was on 7 June 1997 during the History World Tour. The singer performed for over 195,000 fans at this stadium.

The Rolling Stones played a concert at the venue on 4–5 July 1982 on The Rolling Stones European Tour 1982. The band played with Peter Maffey and also the J. Geils Band.

Tina Turner played a concert at the stadium on 28 July 2000 as part of her Twenty Four Seven Tour.

AC/DC performed at the venue on 8 July 2001 during the Stiff Upper Lip World Tour and on 19 May 2009 as part of the Black Ice World Tour.

The pop rock singer P!nk performed on 29 May 2010 during her Funhouse Summer Carnival.

Bruce Springsteen performed on 27 May 2012 during his Wrecking Ball World Tour in front of a sold out crowd of 40,417 fans.

Coldplay played a concert at the stadium on 4 September 2012 as part of their Mylo Xyloto Tour.

German Rock Band Unheilig will perform their final concert at the stadium on 10 September 2016.

Rihanna is set to perform here on 28 July 2016 for their Anti World Tour.

Other events

The stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Gay Games.