Niederrheinstadion or Stadion Niederrhein is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

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 is currently used mostly for

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 ...

matches and is the home stadium of

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...

. The stadium currently has a capacity of 17,165 spectators (4,000 seats).

History

The stadium was officially opened on February 28, 1926, with a match between Duisburger SV and

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

. At that time, it was called "Städtisches Stadion am Gräfenbusch", before being renamed to Stadion Niederrhein three years later, a name which has not been changed since. From the year 1970 on, the at the time brightest floodlights in a European stadium provided enough light to allow color television broadcasts for the first time. 1982, tartan tracks were added, and in the year 1996 the old scoreboard from the

Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion BayArena () is a Association football, football stadium in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which has been the home ground of Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen since 1958. History The stadium was originally known as ''Ulrich-Haber ...

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

was installed, a gift from

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

to the city of Oberhausen. In the two following years, the standing and the main terrace were renovated. The construction works were finished in 1998 and the stadium was reopened in time for the new season of the 2. Bundesliga. With Rot-Weiß Oberhausen being promoted to 2. Bundesliga in 2008, again renovations were needed to meet the requirements from the DFL. As part of this, the turf was replaced completely and undersoil heating was installed. At the beginning of the year 2017, works to replace parts of the old standing area began. The new standing terraces were opened in 2018.

Other uses

The stadium was one of the four grounds of the

2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 14th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Germany between 27 May and 8 June 2004. Italy won the competition for the fifth time. Italy's Alberto ...

. Three group stage matches, one semi-final and the match for third place took place in Oberhausen. At the INAS World Football Championships 2006 for athletes with intellectual disabilities two years later, the match between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(1:3) was hosted in the Stadion Niederrhein. In the 2009/10 season of the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

, the women's football club

FCR 2001 Duisburg FCR 2001 Duisburg (full name: ''Fußballclub Rumeln 2001 Duisburg'') was a German women's football club from Duisburg. The first team played in the Bundesliga (women), Bundesliga. They originate from a women's team formed in 1977 under the umbrel ...

held two of their home matches in Oberhausen, because the floodlights in the

PCC-Stadion The PCC-Stadion is a football stadium in Homberg (Duisburg), North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the home ground of the Fußball-Bundesliga (women), women's Bundesliga side MSV Duisburg (women), MSV Duisburg—continuing the tradition of the ...

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

did not satisfy the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

requirements. Major

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

events took place at the stadium including rounds of the

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...

in 1956 and 1958.

Records

In 1950, the record attendance of around 45,000 spectators was achieved when

Preußen Dellbrück Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian pa ...

and

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Fussball-Club Kickers, commonly known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left establis ...

met in the semi-final for the German championship. The match ended with a 3:0 win for Offenbach.

Transport

Stadion Niederrhein can be reached by bus. There is a number of stations in the surrounding area, with the closest to the stadium being "Schloss Oberhausen" on line 122. On matchdays, additional direct busses to transport fans from the train stations Oberhausen, Sterkrade, and Osterfeld to the stadium are provided.

References

External links

Venue information
{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Football venues in Germany Multi-purpose stadiums in Germany Buildings and structures in Oberhausen Sports venues in North Rhine-Westphalia Rot-Weiß Oberhausen