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 ...
in
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 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 on 15 June 1983.
Herbert Grönemeyer 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 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 ...
See also
*
List of football stadiums in Germany
*
Lists of stadiums
The following are lists of stadiums throughout the world. Note that horse racing and motorsport venues are not included at some pages, because those are not stadiums but sports venues.
Combined lists
*List of stadiums by capacity
* List of c ...
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