Wankdorf Stadium (, ) was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Switzerland, and the home of Swiss club

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

. Built in 1925, it hosted the finals of the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

, the

1960–61 European Cup The 1960–61 European Cup was the sixth season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Benfica, who beat Barcelona 3–2 in the final at Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, on 31 May 1961. It was the first ...

, and the

1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1988–89 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won for the third time by Barcelona in the final against Italian entrants Sampdoria. The two sides would meet again in the 1992 European Cup Final, which Barcelona also won. Wimbledon did ...

. The stadium was demolished in 2001, and replaced in 2005 by the

Stadion Wankdorf Wankdorf Stadium () is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The second largest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland, it is the home ground of BSC Young Boys. It was also one of the venues for UEFA Euro 2008. History The present-da ...

on the same site.

History

The original Wankdorf stadium was opened in 1925 after a construction period of seven months. It had a capacity of 22,000, of which 1,200 covered seats and covered standing room for another 5,000 people. The first international match took place on 8 November 1925; 18,000 spectators witnessed the 2–0 victory of the Swiss national team against Austria. From 1933 to 1939, the stadium was gradually enlarged with an additional training field and finally the construction of

bleachers Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports-fields and at other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step enabling access to a ...

across from the grandstand, increasing the capacity to 42,000. For the

, the stadium was demolished and a new one with a capacity of 64,000 spectators (on 8,000 seats and standing room for 56,000) was inaugurated shortly before the tournament began. On 4 July 1954, the legendary " Miracle of Bern", the unexpected 3–2 victory of the German team over the Hungarians in the final, made the stadium an icon of football history. The stadium saw two more major finals: in 1961, the final of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

was played in the Wankdorf stadium.

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

won 3–2 against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

on 31 May. In 1989, the stadium was the venue of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

: on 10 May,

won 2–0 against

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

. The stadium was demolished in 2001, and a new stadium was constructed in its place. The last match in the stadium was played on 7 July 2001; Young Boys played 1–1 against the team of

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

in a match in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. The final blasting of the derelict edifice occurred on 3 August 2001. The new Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, opened in summer 2005 and was one of the venues for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

. The band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

credits Wankdorf stadium as inspiring the aptly named 'Wankdorf Jam'.

1954 FIFA World Cup

Wankdorf Stadium hosted five games of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, including the final matches.

References

History of the Wankdorf/Stade de Suisse

External links

Image gallery with many historical images from 1898 to 2002
{{Coord, 46, 57, 46, N, 7, 27, 54, E, region:CH-BE_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Defunct football venues in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Bern Sports venues in the Canton of Bern Defunct sports venues in Switzerland Sports venues completed in 1925 1925 establishments in Switzerland Sports venues demolished in 2001 Demolished buildings and structures in Switzerland 20th-century architecture in Switzerland

History

1954 FIFA World Cup

See also

References

External links