Millerntor-Stadion

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Millerntor-Stadion

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)
Former names	Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion (1970-1998)
Tenants	FC St. Pauli
Capacity	22,648 (March 2008)

A floodlit Millerntor-Stadion

A map of the surrounding area

The Millerntor-Stadion is a multi-use stadium in Hamburg St. Pauli, Germany. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FC St. Pauli. It is placed on the Heiligengeistfeld and is located nearby 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 rare, for concerts or festivals (recent the Retter festival 2003).

1 History
2 Reconstruction since 2006
3 Name
4 External links

[edit] History

Before 1961 the FC St. Pauli played nearby in a stadion constructed 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 decrease to 20.629 for safety reasons. The biggest change within these years was the construction of a provisiorily seat area above the back straight, concerning the promotion into the Bundesliga 1988. This provisiorily area is still in use!

In the end of the eighties plans about a new stadium, the so-called Sportdome were impeded by residents and supporters of the club. Originating of this dispute, the famous Millerntor roar fanzine was founded. In the nineties the chairman of the club, the architect Heinz Weisener, got new plans, but all collapse still at the finance situation of the club. The question of a new stadium looks like a neverending story and every chairmanship got their own plans.

[edit] 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 defered 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.

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

The new back straight is quite unusual, because it is constructed solely as standing area, which is an anachronism in modern football. 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.

[edit] 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.