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| Former names | Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion (1970-1998) |
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| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Opened | 1963 |
| Renovated | 1988, since December 2006 |
| Expanded | 2007 |
| Owner | FC St. Pauli |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | 32,000,000 (Reconstruction) |
| Architect | agn Niederberghaus & Partner GmbH (Reconstruction) |
| Capacity | 23,201 (March 2008) |
| Tenants | |
| FC St. Pauli | |
The Millerntor-Stadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamburg St. Pauli, Germany. It is mainly used for Football (soccer) matches and is the home stadium of FC St. Pauli. It is on the Heiligengeistfeld, near the Reeperbahn. The stadium had a capacity of 32,000 when it was built in 1961. Sometimes it is used for the American football team of the Hamburg Blue Devils and very rarely for concerts or festivals (recent the Retter festival 2003).
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History
Before 1961 the FC St. Pauli played nearby in a stadium constructed in 1946. But due to the IGA (International Garden exposition) 1963 in Hamburg it had to be removed. On the former area the park Planten un Blomen was constructed. Within the years the capacity was reduced to 20.629 for safety reasons. The biggest change within these years was the construction of a temporary seating area above the back straight, allowing the promotion into the Bundesliga 1988. This temporary area is still in use!
In the end of the eighties plans for a new stadium, the so-called Sportdome were blocked by residents and supporters of the club. Originating in this dispute, the famous Millerntor roar fanzine was founded. In the nineties the chairman of the club, the architect Heinz Weisener, made new plans, but they collapsed due to the financial situation of the club. The question of a new stadium looks like a never-ending story and every chairman has made their own plans.
Reconstruction since 2006
Finally in December 2006 the south stand was demolished after the game versus Wuppertal and has caused the capacity to be reduced to the level of 15,600. Some troubles in the club leadership deferred the reconstruction. Some fans speak cynical of the "Littman hole", concerning the controversial chairman Corny Littmann and the fact that a tribune is lost. But in the spring 2007 the reconstruction work started. However, with the newly reconstructed south stand (nearly finished in march 2008) and a provisory seat area above the northern stand, the capacity increased to 22,648 (2:1 victory versus VfL Osnabrück 20.3.2008). When the south stand is completely finished, the capacity will 23,201. The capacity of the completely reconstructed Millerntor stadium will be 27,000 in 2014 or earlier, depending of the league. The next tribune scheduled for rebuilding should be the north stand, according on the plans. However, it now looks like the rebuilding of the main tribune will start first, and the north stand will be used, for some time to come, with the provisory seats - which were originally booked for the season tickets holder of the main tribune.
The Main Tribune was demolished in Mid-November 2009, with the new seating sections scheduled to be completed in time for the start of the 2010-2011 season.
Progress overview
1. South stand: 3000 standing places, 2600 seats (1000 business) and 10 Séparées (VIP Lounge)
2. Main tribune: 4800 seats and 200 Séparées
3. North stand: 1940 standing places for guest supporters, 3375 seats for home and guest
4. Back straight: 10,000 standing places, 1175 seats
With the reconstructed south stand the club ensure their licence terms for the DFL, because all technical requirements (e.g. undersoil heating) is included. Further the old cult manual scoreboard is exchanged for a digital one. The old scoreboard might get a place somewhere at the stadium front.
Name
From 1970–1998, the Millerntor-Stadion was known as the Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion. It was renamed to Millerntor-Stadion by the club members, due to the membership of Wilhelm Koch in the NSDAP. In 2007 the club members decided, that there is to be no commercial use of the name.
Millerntor was the original site of Hamburg Observatory built in 1802, by Johann Georg Repsold.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: FC St. Pauli |
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