Hardturm

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The Hardturm is a football stadium located in Zurich (Kreis 5). Since 1929 it is the home of the Grasshopper-Club Zurich and was a host stadium for the Football World Cup 1954.

When the stadium was opened in 1929 it could hold 27,500 spectators. After many reconstructions the capacity was 38,000 in 1986, on time for the 100-Year Anniversary of the Grasshopper-Club Zurich. Nowadays the Hardturm holds 18,821 spectators with standing areas for the home and away fans. In international games the Hardturm can hold 16,600 spectators with seating places in all areas.

[edit] New Stadium

A new stadium with a capacity of 30,000 is planned on the ground of the Hardturm for 2010. The home ground of FC Zurich, the Letzigrund, is undergoing construction and thus the city rival has moved into the Hardturm for the 2006/2007 season. This has led to protest by Grasshopper fans. The FC Zurich fangroups, namely the "Südkurve" fangroup request the western fan corner for their home games. The security council at the Hardturm rejected this for security reasons. The western fan corner has until then been used for the fans of the away team. Grasshopper-Club Zürich offered to give the FCZ fans their own "east" fan corner. This is where traditionally the Grasshopper fans are. Both fangroups have protested this motion. However it is likely that the FCZ fans will be moving into the eastern fancorner anyway.

While the stadium will be rebuilt, both teams, Grasshoppers and FC Zürich, will play in the new Letzigrund Stadium, which has a capacity of 30,000 seating places. This stadium is one of the venues for the UEFA EURO 2008, which plays in Switzerland and Austria, and is going to be ready for September 2007 but this is a stadium for atlethics. Then both teams play in the Letzigrund while they build the new "Stadium Zurich", which is a football stadium.