Barclays Arena (originally known as the Color Line Arena and formerly known as barclaycard arena and O₂ World Hamburg) is a multipurpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It opened in 2002 and can hold up to 16,000 people (13,800 or 12,947 for sporting events). It is located at Altona Volkspark, adjacent to the football stadium Volksparkstadion and the Volksbank Arena in Hamburg's western

Bahrenfeld is a western quarter of the city of Hamburg in Germany, it is subject to the district/borough ''Bezirk Altona'' and was an independent settlement until 1890. It is home to DESY and the Barclays Arena. In 2023 the population was 31,438. Histor ...

district. The arena is primarily used for pop/rock concerts and was the home of

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

club HSV Hamburg and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team

Hamburg Freezers The Hamburg Freezers were a professional men's ice hockey club from Hamburg, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club announced its withdrawal from the DEL and ceased operations on 24 May 2016 when Anschutz Entertainment Group, ...

until both teams folded in 2016.

History

The arena opened in November 2002, is 150 meters long, 110 meters wide, and has an elevation of 33 meters. Construction costs totaled approximately €83 million (ca.

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

121.5 million). The construction was funded by the Finnish entrepreneur Harry Harkimo and the city of Hamburg, who sold Harkimo the land for a symbolic price of one

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

and also financed infrastructure improvements with 12 million Marks (about €6.1 million) as a preparatory measure. In October 2007 the arena was sold to Anschutz Entertainment Group for an estimated €75 million. Anschutz Entertainment Group is a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation, one of the world's leading sports and entertainment presenters.

Naming rights

The arena was initially named after Norwegian ferry operator Color Line as the "Color Line Arena". In 2010 the sponsor changed to Spanish telecommunications company

Telefónica , S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...

, naming the arena as "O₂ World Hamburg". O₂ sponsorship ceased in summer 2015, changing the arena name again, this time into

Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylised as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. It is considered as the United Kingdom's first and now biggest credit card provider with 5 million accounts. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June ...

Arena (stylized as "barclaycard arena"). In June 2021, because of Barclaycard's rebranding in Germany to the bank's corporate name, the arena announced that from autumn 2021 onwards, the name will change once more to

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

Arena (stylized as BARCLAYS Arena).

References

External links

*
Pictures of the O2 World Hamburg
Basketball venues in Germany Handball venues in Germany Indoor arenas in Germany Ice hockey venues in Germany Sports venues in Hamburg Buildings and structures in Altona, Hamburg Sports venues completed in 2002 Event venues established in 2002 2002 establishments in Germany Hamburg Freezers {{Germany-sports-venue-stub

History

Naming rights

See also

References

External links