Leipzig Sports & Outdoors Tips by Leipzig

World Soccer Championship 2006

The stadium was one of the biggest in the world (100,000 seats) when it was opened in the 1950s. In order to make it suitable for the World Soccer Championship in 2006 the stadium was undergoing a renovation. On March 7, 2004 was the great re-opening and I attened it. I am not a big fan of soccer and I usually do neither go to games nor watch them on TV. But on this special day I made an exception. It was the first game in the new stadium. "Chemie Leipzig" vs. "Borussia Dormund - Amateure". In the end Dortmund won the game 1:0.
The organizer didn't expect so many spectators (28,595) and so they were not very well prepared. It took over one hour to get a ticket - some fans were very angry and threw bottles and protested. The tracks to the stadium were extremely muddy. Even the grass in the stadium was muddy so that every now and then a player slipped. But okay, it was a premiere.
All in all it was a great afternoon. And the event also set a new record - never before so many fans attended a game of the third league. If you plan to visit the World Soccer Championship in 2006 you might watch one game in this stadium.

Pictures:
1 front side of the stadium
2 scene of the game
3 fan block
4 show of the "Leipzig Cheers"

Meanwhile all the problems with the tickets and the muddy ways were solved and the stadium is prepared for the World Soccer Championship 2006.

Webcam: http://www.zentralstadion-le.de/webcam.php

Theme: Other

Website: http://www.wm-2006-leipzig.de/