The Liebenauer Stadium, sponsored as the Merkur-Arena (formerly known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium and UPC-Arena), is in the Liebenau area of

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The ground is the home of the football clubs

SK Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

and

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

History

The first Liebenau Stadion was built before

World War II 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 ...

. In the 1950s it was renovated and expanded with a skating rink (now home of the ice hockey team Graz 99ers) and an indoor pool. A

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 ...

track was constructed around the pitch and hosted qualifying rounds of the Speedway World Championship in 1965 and 1970. In the 1970s it became home ground of the big football clubs of Graz, SK Sturm and Grazer AK. The stadium was demolished to make way for a new one. In 1996, construction began on the new stadium, which was to be named after

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the practice of progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's muscles via hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. It is primarily undertaken for aesthetic ...

, actor and former

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the U.S. state of California,

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

, who was born near

. It was built from 1996 to early 1997 and is owned by ''Stadion Liebenau Betriebs GmbH''. It opened with the game

vs.

on 9 July 1997 (0:4). In December 2005, when Schwarzenegger did not stop the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, an intense discussion in his hometown began about what to do with the stadium that bore his name. After some days, Schwarzenegger revoked the city of Graz's right to the use of his name, ending the debate. On the night of 26 December 2005 the name was removed from the stadium. The remaining part Stadion Graz-Liebenau was removed on 17 February 2006 and on 18 February 2006 the stadium was renamed to UPC-Arena. In March 2016 the Austrian insurance company Merkur Versicherung secured the rights to bear a name and the stadium was renamed to Merkur-Arena. In 2023, the city of Graz renamed the forecourt of the Merkur Arena to '' Ivica-Osim-Platz'' ('Ivica-Osim-Square'), a long time player and trainer of SK Sturm Graz, who had died the previous year.

Facts

The Merkur-Arena has an official capacity of 15,400 in 27 sectors. At Champions League games of the

, some additional platforms were built so that the stadium had a capacity of 16,000 spectators. Furthermore, the stadium has a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

area. The first game in the "new" UPC-Arena was the 125th derby between

and

(4:0). The field equipped with undersoil heating has a size of 105 x 68 metres. The stadium hosted a World Cup qualifier between

and

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

on 5 September 2009 which ended in 3–1 victory for the home team. It also hosted an international friendly between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on 30 May 2010. England had been training in Irdning, a small village in the

Austrian Alps The Central Eastern Alps (), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps () or just Central Alps, comprise the Main chain of the Alps, main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slov ...

, in preparation for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. The match ended 2–1 to England, courtesy of two

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

s by Japan.

Average attendance

The average season attendances from league matches held at the Merkur-Arena for Grazer AK and SK Sturm Graz. ''*'' Relegated to 3rd league. ''**'' Dissolved after 6 matches. Since 2012 SK Sturm Graz continuously played in the stadium, while GAK returned 2019 when they reached the 2nd league again.

History

Facts

Average attendance

Sponsors

See also

References

External links