The Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

stadium in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

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 and owned by the football team

Arminia Hannover SV Arminia Hannover is a German association football club based in Hanover, Lower Saxony. History The club was founded in 1910 as ''FC Arminia Hannover'' and merged with ''Rugby-Verein Merkur'' in 1918, becoming ''SV Arminia-Merkur''. Two y ...

and also frequently used for international games of the

Germany national rugby union team The Germany national rugby union team currently plays at the second level of European rugby but is yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup. The national team first played in 1927, with rugby union in Germany being administered by the German ...

. Additionally, 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 ...

team Hannover Spartans also uses the ground.Arminia Hannover website
Stadium info, accessed: 29 March 2010 In its 2008-2010 European Nations Cup First Division and in its 2014–16 European Nations Cup First Division campaign, Germany played one of its five home games at the stadium.

History

Opened in 1918, it was formerly called the ''Stadion Bischofsholer Damm'' until 2005. The stadium is a purpose-built rectangular football stadium. The standing rank of the stadium behind one of the goals was pulled down in favour of a widening of the road behind it, the ''Bischofsholer Damm'', in 1963. ''Arminia'' was asked to move their home ground for the road widening but declined. No flood lights are installed. The roof of the grand stand is actually from the ''

Stadion Rote Erde Stadion Rote Erde (; ''Red Earth Stadium'') is a 25,000 capacity (3,000 seated) football (soccer), football and sport of athletics, athletics stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It serves as the home stadium to Borussia Dortmund II and s ...

'', the former home ground of

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, the roof having been moved to Hanover in 1976. During the Second World War, the stadium was hit by three aerial bombs and was therefore unavailable for ''Arminia'' in the early post-war days. In 2005, the stadium was renamed to its current name, in honour of long-term ''Arminia'' member Rudolf Kalweit. With over 8,000 spectators, Germany's home game against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

at the stadium in April 2007 achieved the best crowd figures for a rugby match in Germany since the pre-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

days.Germany - Netherlands report
totalrugby.de, accessed: 28 March 2010 The ground's record crowd was achieved in April 1960, when almost 20,000 people saw a 6–1 victory of ''Arminia'' versus the

Bremer SV Bremer SV is a German association football club, founded in 1906 and based in the city of Bremen. The club play their home games at the Panzenberg Stadium and currently competes in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nord. History Bremer SV was form ...

References

External links

*
The Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion at weltfussball.de
{{Coord, 52, 21, 44, N, 9, 46, 50, E, type:landmark_region:DE-NI_source:dewiki, display=t Football venues in Germany Rugby union stadiums in Germany American football venues in Germany Sport in Hanover Rugby union in Hanover Buildings and structures in Hanover Sports venues completed in 1918 Sports venues in Lower Saxony