Ruhrstadion () is 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 ...

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

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 the home ground for the

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

and has a capacity of 27,599. It was known as rewirpowerSTADION (or, rarely, ) from 2006 to 2016, also for sponsorship reasons.

History

In 1911 the Spiel und Sport Bochum leased a

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

from a local farmer as their new home ground. The club played the first match at the new venue against the VfB Hamm in front of 500 spectators. The

TuS Bochum Turn- und Sportverein Bochum 1908 was a German association football club from the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was established in 1908 as ''Spiel und Sport 08 Bochum''. The first football match at the ''Castroper Str ...

did not build a stadium until after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

as late as 1921. The stadium has a capacity of 27,599 people. The original capacity was over 50,000 but was decreased by numerous modifications. The stadium was expanded between March 1976 and July 1979 and the first game was between the VfL Bochum and

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

on 21 July 1979. This expansion could technically count as a complete rebuild; legally, it is officially an expansion.

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

performed at the stadium during his

Serious Moonlight Tour The Serious Moonlight Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the English musician David Bowie, launched in May 1983 in support of his album '' Let's Dance'' (1983). The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal, Brussels, on 18 May 1983 and ended ...

on 15 June 1983.

Herbert Grönemeyer Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Peter ...

performed multiple sold-out concerts at the stadium in 1985, 1994, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2019. Additionally, his song Bochum is sung before the kickoff of every home match of VfL Bochum, with the final line before the final chorus of the piece bearing special significance to the club. Herbert has been an honorary member of the club since 2006. The stadium hosted a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

match between

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

and

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in December 1992 because the teams weren't able to play in Moscow for weather reasons. In 2006, a five-year naming rights deal was struck with Stadtwerke Bochum to rebrand the stadium as "rewirpowerSTADION". In 2016, a new naming rights deal was struck with the German housing association

Vonovia Vonovia is a European multinational real estate company based in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. Its history goes back to Deutsche Annington, which merged with GAGFAH and was subsequently renamed Vonovia. The company currently owns around 5 ...

, and the stadium was rebranded as Vonovia Ruhrstadion.

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

References

External links

Ruhrstadion picture
Football venues in Germany Sports venues in North Rhine-Westphalia VfL Bochum Buildings and structures in Bochum {{NorthRhineWestphalia-struct-stub

History

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

See also

References

External links