Red Bull Arena (), known during the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

as the EM-Stadion Wals-Siezenheim and during UEFA club football events as Stadion Salzburg, 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 ...

Wals-Siezenheim Wals-Siezenheim () is a municipality in the district of Salzburg-Umgebung District, Salzburg-Umgebung (''Flachgau'') in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. The double municipality had been founded in 1948 of the places Wals and Siez ...

, a municipality in the suburbs of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

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 ...

. It was officially opened in March 2003 and is the home ground of

FC Red Bull Salzburg Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg, commonly known as simply Red Bull Salzburg, is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Football in Austria ...

. Previously, the club played at

Stadion Lehen Stadion Lehen () was a multi-purpose stadium in Salzburg, Austria. It was used mostly for Association football, football matches and hosted the home matches of FC Red Bull Salzburg, SV Austria Salzburg. The stadium was able to hold 14,684 people ...

History

In 2011 the stadium hosted a friendly tournament known as the of four clubs. It features four teams:

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German language in Europe, German-speaking countries, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vi ...

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest, that competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivi� ...

Maccabi Haifa F.C. Maccabi Haifa Football Club () is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Haifa, Israel, a section of Maccabi Haifa sports club. The club plays in the Israeli Premier League. Maccabi Haifa home games are played at Sammy Ofe ...

and

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

. To which Shaktar was declared the champions.

Overview

Its current

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

is 30,188.Stadium official website
/ref> The stadium's original capacity was 18,200, but it was heavily expanded to over 30,000 so as to accommodate the 2008 European Football Championships. The "EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim" was the only stadium in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

which used

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

Polytan Polytan GmbH is a German manufacturer of artificial turf systems and synthetic sport surfaces. It is based in Burgheim, Bavaria, and is a subsidiary of Sport Group Holding GmbH. History Polytan was founded in 1970 as Firl + Schretter Sportstätt ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

2-Star Recommended 40mm surface Ligaturf with a 25mm elastic layer was installed in 2005, but since summer 2008 natural lawn has been used. From the 2018-19 Austrian Football Bundesliga season onwards, the majority of the upper stand remains closed, therefore limiting capacity to 17,218. This was done in order to improve the atmosphere, which was often considered as “weak“ during Salzburg‘s national home games. This reduction in capacity only applies for Bundesliga matches.

Euro 2008 Matches

References

External links

*
Red Bull Arena (Salzburg)

Stadium Guide Article
{{coord, 47, 48, 59, N, 12, 59, 54, E, region:AT_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Salzburg Red Bull Salzburg-Umgebung District Sports venues completed in 2003 FC Red Bull Salzburg Football venues in Austria