The Stadium – The HSH-Nordbank Arena Sylvesterallee 7, Hamburg 22525 The signing of the contract with media giant America Online in 2001 for the naming rights to the redeveloped Volksparkstadion capped the end of the work necessary to make the stadium ready for the 2006 World Cup. In fact, the stadium was the first of the twelve stadiums being used in 2006 to be completely ready for the World Cup Finals in September 2000 when Hamburg played their 1st ever Champions League match against Juventus (a 4-4 draw), and Germany played Greece in a friendly international. The stadium is now an outstanding venue for football – two tiers offering unobstructed views and plenty of leg room for spectators.
In 1974 the ground was chosen as a host stadium for the World Cup Finals. Three matches were played here including one of the most famous matches ever played in German football when East Germany beat their rivals and neighbours 1-0 in front of over 60,000, the last time the two countries ever met. Whilst this new ground was more than adequate for their needs, it was showing signs of its age during the 1970’s and 80’s.
The Volksparkstadion needed an urgent update, especially when in 1979 the ground was nearly the scene of a terrible accident after overcrowding in the home fans end, during the championship winning match versus Bayern Munich, led to a crush which hospitalised over 70 fans. In 1988 after further improvements had been made, the stadium hosted the semi-final match of the European Championships when the host nation surprisingly lost 2-1 to a Van Basten inspired Netherlands.
Ten years later in 1998, a decision was made to completely rebuild the stadium. In just over 2 years, all four stands were demolished and rebuilt, as well as the pitch being rotated 90 degrees. When the stadium was eventually completed, UEFA wasted little time in awarding it a 5 star status, and thus enabling it to host Champions League Final and UEFA Cup Final, although this honour hasn’t yet been given to the AOL Arena.
The club has an excellent museum located at the ground which also gives you access to a daily stadium tour at 5pm. The museum is open daily from 10am, although tours only run on non match days. Entry is €6 for Adults and €4 for Concessions. The club’s excellent German and English language website, http://www.hsv.de has more details. The stadium also has its own website at http://www.aol-arena.de.
Who Plays There? HSV won their first Championship in 1928 when they easily beat Hertha Berlin 5-2 before a long period of mediocrity. They did not reach another major final until 1956 when they lost in their first ever German Cup final 3-1 to Karlsruhe. Two championship final defeats in 1957 (to Borussia Dortmund) and 1958 (to Schalke) preceded a Championship win in 1960 and then their final honour of the decade, a 1963 Cup win over Dortmund led by their talisman Uwe Seeler. In 1976 a 2-0 Cup Final win over Kaiserslautern started a glorious 10 year period in the club’s history that saw then win 3 Bundesliga titles, 2 German Cups and their first European trophies. The club at last broke its European duck in 1977 when they beat Anderlecht 2-0 in Amsterdam to capture the European Cup Winners Cup (a defeat in the 1968 final in Rotterdam to AC Milan was their only other appearance in a final to date).
The Cup Winners Cup success in 1977 led to the club pulling off one of the transfer coups of the decade when they signed Liverpool’s star striker Kevin Keegan. With “Mighty Mouse”, as he was affectionately called by the HSV fans, firing in the goals, Hamburg won their first Bundesliga title in 1979 beating Bayern Munich in their last home match to secure the title. The game nearly ended in tragedy though as overcrowding in the Hamburg end led to a serious crush on the final whistle which resulted in over 70 seriously injured fans being taken to hospital.
A year later the club finished runners up to Bayern Munich as well as reaching the European Cup final where they lost 1-0 to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in Madrid. Keegan was voted European Footballer of the Year (He subsequently retained the title in 1980 as well) crowning an excellent season for the Germans.
When Keegan left Hamburg to join Southampton in 1981, the club continued to build a team capable of competing with the best in Europe, led by the German powerhouse Horst Hrubesch (and even Franz Beckenbauer for a short period in 1982). Ernst Happel’s team dominated the 1981/82 season and won the league again with points to spare. The team also reached the final of the UEFA Cup where surprisingly they lost over two legs 4-0 to IFK Gothenburg. In 1982/83 season they retained their Bundesliga title on goal difference from Werder Bremen and managed to sweep all before them on their way to a European Cup Final against Juventus in Athens. In the Olympic stadium Felix Magath’s goal was enough to bring the cup back to Hamburg for the first time.
The last few seasons have been a story of underachievement in the eyes of the fans. With the redevelopment of the stadium many hoped for a chance in fortunes, but this did not seem to arrive until the end of the 2005 season when the team managed to reach the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto route. Last season under the leadership of Thomas Doll the team never fell out of the top three, and were the closest challenger to eventual champions Bayern Munich right up until week 34 of the season when defeat at home to Werder Bremen allowed them to leapfrog them into the automatic Champions League spot. However, the team will be confident that they can win their qualifying match in August to secure a lucrative spot in the group stages. More information can be found at http://www.Hsv.de.
How to get a ticket for the HSH-Nordbank Arena Last season the club averaged nearly 53,000 with a number of games sold out. But that shouldn’t deter you from trying to get a ticket. As long as you plan ahead you will be able to get a ticket from the official website. Tickets normally go on sale around 4 weeks before hand, and range in price from €15 to €60. If time permits then these will be posted to you in England. Via the online ticket shop you can chose the exact seat from the virtual stadium, and even check the views from the vicinity of your seats. If you want a seat in the hardcore element of the fans then head for the north lower tier, which is converted to terracing for home matches. If you are in the city and want to try and get a ticket then visit the official fanshop near Rathaus who sell tickets until 24 hours before the match.
How to get to the HSH-Nordbank Arena The only real public transport option from the city centre to the ground is to take the S3 or S21 S-Bahn line from Hauptbahnhof to Stellingen. On exiting the station you have a choice of either a 20 minute walk through the woods to the stadium, or queuing to catch one of the shuttle buses that drop you outside the northern gates of the stadium. Travel to and from the stadium will be free to ticket holders on match days.
You can opt to get a taxi from the city centre, although the traffic around the station before the match is quite bad and so you may find it easier to walk the last 10 minutes or so. A taxi to the stadium from the city centre / St Pauli area should take around 20 minutes and cost no more than €20. After the match taxis can be found outside the indoor arena on the northern plaza. Alternatively wait in this area for a shuttle bus back to Stellingen S-Bahn station.
Getting around The centre of Hamburg is well served by the network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn and Buses that run almost 24 hours a day. Most of the main attractions are located in a small area around Reeperbahn. A single ticket for any form of transport is €1.50.
Hamburg’s main airport is located 9km north of the city centre. It was the 5th busiest airport in Germany last year with close to 10million passengers. It is linked to the city centre by the Airport City Bus which runs every 15 minutes from 6.30am and takes less than 30 minutes to reach the stop outside Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. Germanwings fly this route from London Stansted, supplementing the daily flights that BA and Lufthansa make from Gatwick and Heathrow respectively.
Ryanair fly daily from London Stansted to Lübeck Airport (LBC). This tiny airport around 6km outside the beautiful city of Lübeck – some 50km north of Hamburg. It has also gained the honour of being named one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. It is famed for the home of marzipan, which has been made for centuries in some of the beautifully preserved buildings in the old town. A bus runs from the airport to the main station in the city centre, as well as one that goes all the way to Hamburg’s Hauptbahnhof. These buses tend to depart approximately 30 minutes after the flights arrive and cost €8 one way.
Click here for a short film taken in the stadium during the 2006 World Cup Finals.
The Stadium – The HSH-Nordbank Arena