Karlsruhe - The Wilderparkstadion - Capacity: 32,300
About the Wildparkstadion The Wildparkstadion is a classic “old school” football stadium, very much in the mould of the old Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, or the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen. It retains many of its original features today such as the running track, banked seats behind the goal and the huge floodlights.
The stadium has been home to the club since March 1922 when a merger between two local clubs (FC Phoenix and VfB Muehlburg) necessitated a bigger arena. In the mid 1950’s the stadium was expanded to hold over 50,000 fans. A further redevelopment in 1978 saw the Gegentribune increased in size to 17,000 places, and the overall capacity to 60,000. The passion of the local fans saw the national team play games here on occasions, and still they have remained unbeaten on eleven occasions since their first game here in the 1950’s.
The main grandstand was redeveloped in the early 1990’s, and a move to all seater reduced the capacity to its current level. There have been plans drawn up for a significant redevelop again, with the end curves being brought closer to the action, and roofed although at this stage there are no concrete plans.
Who plays there? The origins of the club can be traced back to the late part of the 19th century when KFC Phoenix were formed out of a local athletics club. The team entered the regional championships in 1902 for the first time, and actually won the national title in 1909, beating Viktoria 89 Berlin.
The club continued to play in the regional leagues, merging a number of other local clubs in the process. In 1952 with the creation of the Oberligas, the club changed its name again to Karlsruhe. They won the German Cup in 1955, beating Schalke 04 in the final, and again the following year when they beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1. They became Oberliga Sud champions in 1956, 1958 and 1960 a run of success that earnt them one of the sixteen places in the first ever Bundesliga in 1963.
The club could not keep the form going in the hugely competitive professional league, and were relegated q few seasons later. It took them until 1976 before they returned to the Bundesliga, winning the newly created 2nd division. They bounced back between the two leagues over the next fifteen years, unable to hold down the consistently required at the top level.
In 1993 the club managed to finish in 6th place in the top division, and in the process qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. The club went on an impressive run, beating so-called more superior teams in PSV Eindhoven, Valencia, Bordeaux and Boavista before they lost in the semi-finals to Austria Salzburg. They continued their impressive form on the domestic stage as well, recording six successive top 9 finishes.
After relegation in 1998, the club went into freefall and went straight down to the Regionalliga Sud. An investment in the youth team, as well as some new sponsorship saw them bounce back up, and a dominant performance in 2006/07 saw them promoted back up to the Bundesliga as champions at the end of the season.
How to get there The stadium is located north of the main city centre on the other side of the beautiful Schlossgarten. The most direct way to reach the stadium is to walk through the park, around the right hand side of the lake and the ground will be in view. There are no real public transport options close by, although taxi’s do wait on the edge of the ring road after the match.
For a more detailed view on who plays where in Germany, go to Footiemap.com.
Getting a ticket With the club back in the Bundesliga again, tickets are very rare indeed and you should try and obtain your ticket before you travel. For the bigger games against the likes of Bayern Munich, Stuttgart, Schalke and Leverkusen expect tickets to be sold out long in advance. For the lower profile games, tickets in the Kurve start from €15. If you are lucky enough to be offered a ticket in the main Haupttribune then you will pay €40. A standing place on the Genegtribune is €12. Tickets, if available, can be purchased from http://www.ksc.de or from the stadium itself.
Getting around Most of the main attractions are located within walking distance of each other in the city centre. If you do need to go further a field the city has a network of trains, trams and buses. Single tickets are €2, and a Citykarte costs €4 for twenty four hours Make sure you validate your ticket when you initially board in the yellow machines.
Karlsruhe Baden Airport is located 45 kilometres outside the city, and is actually closer to the spa resort of Baden-Baden (famous as the home to the England squad and WAG’s in the 2006 World Cup). The Hahnexpress coach will get you to the main train station in around 35 minutes for €18. The Airport is currently a favourite of Ryanair who fly here daily from London Stansted.
Stuttgart airport is around 80km to the south and a 20 minute transfer to the main station will see you whisked by ICE to Karlsruhe in 60 minutes. Germanwings and BA fly here daily from London Gatwick.
About the Wildparkstadion