The Waldau-Stadion, known as the Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-use

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 ...

in the Degerloch district in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

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 ...

. The stadium is situated approximately 200m southwest of the

Fernsehturm Stuttgart Fernsehturm Stuttgart () is a telecommunications tower in Stuttgart, Germany. It was the first telecommunications tower in the world constructed from reinforced concrete, and it is the prototype for many such towers worldwide. Although controver ...

and holds 11,410 spectators (of these, 1,068 canopied seats and 4,949 canopied stands), which makes it the second biggest stadium in Stuttgart. It is home to the

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. The club currently plays in the Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German footb ...

, as of 2024 playing in the

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ('Regional League Southwest') is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with t ...

. The

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

teams

Stuttgart Scorpions The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württembe ...

and

Stuttgart Surge The Stuttgart Surge are an American football team based in Stuttgart, Germany. They play in the European League of Football (ELF) as part of the league's Devision West . The team plays its home games at the Gazi Stadion (full name with sponsor ' ...

use the stadium in the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is a professional American football league in Germany. The league was formed in 1979. In 1999, the league changed to its current name from American-Football-Bundesliga.

and

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football sports league, league based in Europe, continuing some team names and logos of the former NFL Europe. The ELF played its first season in 2 ...

, respectively. The Waldau-Stadion is the oldest stadium in Germany.

History

The football section of Stuttgarter Kickers plays their home games in the stadium since its inauguration in 1905, thereby being the German club that plays for the longest time in the same stadium. Until 1975, the stadium featured a wooden terrace that was built after one of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

's in scale 1–3. Due to various requirements imposed by the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

, a new main stand was built in 1976 and is in use until today. After having the names Kickers-Platz and Kickers-Stadium since 1905, the stadium was officially renamed to Waldau-Stadion in 1987. The

, founded in 1982 and playing in 1st or 2nd level leagues since, used the stadium on occasions, or nearby fields. In 1991, they hosted an Allstar Bowl Game against college players under Ex-NFL-Coach

Sam Rutigliano Sam William Rutigliano (born July 1, 1931) is an American former football coach who is a television football analyst for WEWS, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland. He served as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League ...

. Scorpions use the stadium since their return to the German Football League in 1995. In 2001, the MTV HipHop Open took place in the stadium. This was the only occurrence of the music festival in the stadium as it moved to the Reitstadion in the next year and has been moved to Mannheim since 2009. In June 2004 the name of the stadium was sold to the German main sponsor Garmo AG for 10 years. Garmo sells its products with the brand name GAZi and renamed the stadium accordingly to GAZi-Stadion auf der Waldau. On 6 October 2007, the final of the

German Bowl The German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League. The New Yorker Lions, from Braunschweig, are the record winners of the G ...

, the German championship in American Football, between the Stuttgart Scorpions and the

Braunschweig Lions The New Yorker Lions are an American Football team from Braunschweig, Germany. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions.

took place in the GAZi-Stadion. Braunschweig won the championship for the third time in a row, defeating Stuttgart 27–6 in front of 8,152 spectators. On 17 July 2008, Stuttgart's council decided to remodel the stadium for 5.4 million Euro in order to fulfill the requirements imposed by the DFB for the new 3. Liga. It was planned to increase the capacity to 12,000 spectators (2,000 canopied seats and 10.000 stands in total). Beginning of the construction work was planned for January 2009 and should be finished by July 2009. In the end of 2008, however, the council decided to postpone the remodeling for an unknown time span. Following the relegation of Stuttgarter Kickers to the fourth-tier Regionalliga Süd, the remodeling would not have been necessary.

References

{{German Football League Stadiums Football venues in Germany Buildings and structures in Stuttgart Sport in Stuttgart Sports venues in Baden-Württemberg Sports venues completed in 1905 American football venues in Germany 1905 establishments in Germany Stuttgart Surge European League of Football venues

History

See also

References