VfL Stuttgart - The Gottlieb Daimler Stadion - Capacity: 55,896 (51,709 Seats)
The Stadium – The Gottlieb Daimler Stadion Anyone who visited Stuttgart to watch a game 10 years ago will be hard pushed to recognise the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion now. Originally built in 1933 for the German Gymnastics Festival and named the Neckar stadium, the ground was a vast open bowl, with high banks of terracing and one covered main stand. In 1950 the stadium hosted the first German post war international when over 103,000 crammed into the ground to watch the hosts beat Switzerland 1-0. Very few changes took place to the ground in the next forty years until plans were being drawn up for the 1974 Football World Cup.
When the tournament began in 1974 the Neckar Stadium was a splendid 70,000 capacity arena. The stadium hosted group matches between Poland v Italy, Argentina v Italy and Argentina v Poland as well as a second round match between Sweden and Poland. Whilst only two of the matches were sold out (both the Italian ones), the stadium became a firm favourite with the German national team who we on to play a further dozen matches in the city, the last time being in August 2003 when Italy snatched a 1-0 victory.
In 1986 a few more changes took place in the stadium in time for the European Athletics Championships, including the installation of the first colour scoreboard in Germany. The stadium was given the honour of staging the 1988 European Cup final when PSV Eindhoven beat Benfica on penalties, as well as staging the first international match played as a unified Germany when Switzerland were beaten 4-0. In 1991 the stadium was handed the honour of hosting the 1993 World Athletics Championships which meant that the ground received its biggest upgrade to date, with a construction of a new roof over all of the stands, and the conversion of the terracing into seating. The stadium also gained its new name at this point in honour of one of the city’s most famous sons.
Over the next ten years a few changes were made to the stadium to bring it in line with the criteria laid down for the 2006 World Cup. This included the construction of a second tier in the main stand and a new media centre. The increased capacity of 54,267 meant that the stadium was the 5th biggest in the German Bundesliga. The one downside to the stadium is the presence of the athletics track which means fans are that much further away from the action, especially those sat behind the goals.
From the outside the stadium looks very impressive. The white oval roof seems to be suspended by thin wires which run around the perimeter. The design of the roof means that there is no need for any pillars in the ground thus giving all fans unobstructed views. During the 2005/06 season Stuttgart averaged over 42,000.
Who Plays There? Whilst VfB Stuttgart are currently considered to be one of the big 3 teams in the Bundesliga, it is only a few years ago that they sat firmly in the underachieving stakes. In fact it took a slice of luck in 2002/03 for them to finally finish runners up to Bayern Munich with a record low points tally for 2nd place. In 2003/04 they again made the Champions League with a 4th place finish, and even managed to qualify for the 2nd group phase where they then lost to Chelsea. Last season the team showed real consistency until the final day of the season when they dropped from 3rd in the table to 5th (and thus out of the Champions League spots) after losing to Bayern Munich at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion. The failure to make the lucrative Champions League qualifying phase prompted the club to act. In came the Italian Giovanni Trapattoni as coach, and out went the two biggest stars of the team, Kevin Kurayni to Schalke 04 for €7m and Aliaksandr Hleb to Arsenal for €15m. It remains to be seen how this will effect the balance of the team, but you can rest assured that “Il Trapp” will not have come to the club just to collect a final pay check.
The origins of the club can be traced back to 1893 when the original sporting club were first formed. The title VfB refers to a “Club for Physical Games” and relates to the different sports that the club originally played – including Hockey, Tennis and Athletics. The rise in importance of the football team cannot really be seen until the 1930’s. During the period before the Second World War, the biggest team in the city was actually Kickers Stuttgart, who reached their one and only Championship playoff in 1908 (losing 3-0 to Viktoria Berlin). In 1935 VfB reached the final, losing to Schalke 04 6-4, the highest aggregate score ever in the final.
After the Second World War when the regions were administered by the Allied Forces, football was forced to take a back seat. Under the French and British forces, a league for the region was finally set up in 1946, when VfB won the Oberliga Süd, and German international striker Robert Schlienz scored 40 goals. VfB then started a period of success in domestic competitions. In 1950 the club at last claimed their first ever Championship with a 2-1 victory over Kickers Offenbach. Two years later over 84,000 people saw VfB claim the title again with a win over Saarbrucken. A year later they reached the final again, but this time lost to a formidable Kaiserslautern team 4-1. The team claimed their first German cup win in 1954 with a 1-0 victory over Cologne, and repeated the feat in 1958, beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-3 in the final.
It was therefore hard to ignore the case for VfB Stuttgart to be omitted when the plans for a professional league were drawn up in 1963. Unfortunately the transition from amateur to professional did not bring success to the team in the remainder of the decade. In 1971 the team were implicated in the match fixing scandal, and can consider themselves lucky not to have been relegated. The 1970’s brought no further luck or upturn in fortunes for the team.
In fact it wasn’t until the mid 1980’s when the name Stuttgart re-emerged as a force. A great run of form during the closing rounds of the 1983/84 season saw the team snatch the title – their first since turning professional in 1963. They also reached the German Cup final in 1986, although a 5-2 defeat to Bayern Munich is probably the low point of the decade. However, success in Europe still eluded the team after a number of campaigns. This was to change though at the end of the decade. After qualifying for the 1988/89 UEFA Cup, they made steady progress through the rounds before meeting a Maradona inspired Napoli in the final. After a 2-1 defeat in the San Paolo stadium in Naples, expectations were high for the return leg in Stuttgart. However, whether it was the immense support that the Neapolitans brought to Stuttgart, or the inspiring influence of Maradona it was not to be as the Italians held on for a 3-3 draw to take the trophy 5-4 on aggregate.
In 1992 the club won the Bundesliga for the 2nd time and qualified for the new revamped Champions League. In the first round (this was the qualifying stage for the groups) they met Leeds United. Under the management of Christoph Daum, the team had a real attacking flair and they took a deserved 3-0 from the home leg. Back at Elland Road the team crumbled and lost 4-1, but that single away goal proved to be decisive. Or so Stuttgart thought. Leeds discovered that Daum had actually used a 4th foreign player during the match – which at the time was not allowed – and so UEFA were called in to act. In a decision that showed leniency towards the Germans, UEFA declared the game should be replayed. The game was to be played at the neutral Nou Camp in Barcelona, again much to Leeds chagrin. However, Leeds need not have worried as they ran out 2-1 winners and qualified for the next round where they met Glasgow Rangers.
In 1997 the club won the German Cup again with a 2-0 victory over Energie Cottbus, and thus qualified for a shot at the European Cup Winners Cup. Again they showed their European pedigy with a great run to the final where they met Ruud Guillet’s Chelsea in Stockholm. A Gianfranco Zola goal was enough to give the title to the Londoners.And so the club entered the new millennium sitting in mid-table in the Bundesliga. Felix Magath was brought in during the 2001/02 season to try and make Stuttgart a real challenge to the dominance of Bayern Munich. In his first full season the club finished 2nd in the league, their best finish since 1992. A 4th place finish in the following season saw Magath’s credentials underlined and so it was no surprise that Bayern Munich came knocking to offer him the top position in German domestic football. He was replaced by former crowd favourite Matthias Sammer. Unfortunately a disappointing 5th place finish and an uninspiring UEFA Cup exit at home to 9 man Parma saw the coach resign at the end of the 2004/05 season. One plus point for the season was the level of support the team received at the Gottleib Daimler where the average attendance for the season was over 42,000 – the 6th highest in Germany.
So the club enters the 2005/06 season with a new coach and a new spine to the team. It will be interesting to see the influence new striker Jon Dahl Thommason will have on the club, after finding relative success at AC Milan. It will need some effort though to close the gap on Bayern Munich as Germany’s most feared club. A relatively easy draw in the UEFA Cup to Slovenian minnows Domzale should at least see them make some progress in Europe. For more details on Stuttgart’s progress then check out their English web pages at Http://www.vfb-stuttgart.de. Their excellent club shop can be found close to the ground on Mercedes Strasse 87.
Finally, it is worth just mentioning what happened to Kickers. After hitting the heights in the first part of the 20th century, the club faded back into obscurity. They currently play in the Regionalliga Süd, the 3rd level of the German league structure, at their modest Waldau Stadion, which can be found on Königplatz 56 in the south of the city. Last season they averaged nearly 3,000 for their home matches, a figure slightly swelled by the presence in the league of local derbies versus the reserve teams of VfB and Karlsruhe. Further details of the clubs progress can be found at http://www.stuttgart-kickers.de.
How to get to the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion The stadium sits on the opposite bank of the River Neckar from the city centre. The whole area around the stadium is dominated by the Mercedes Daimler Benz factory, and this unsurprisingly makes road access to the area excellent. On a pleasant summers day the stadium is walk able from the city centre, although due to the plentiful public transport options, it is easier to use one of the following routes, especially as on match days ticket holders will be able to travel free of charge before and after the match.
The easiest and most direct routes to the station are the U-Bahn line 11 to Gottlieb Daimler Stadion (the final stop), or the S-Bahn lines 1, 2 or 3 to the station of the same name. If you use the S-Bahn from Hauptbahnhof then you need to catch a train in the direction of Esslingen. The journey time for S-Bahn from central station is around 10 minutes. As you exit the S-Bahn station go under the bridge then turn right and walk along Benz Strasse until you see the stadium on your left hand side. There is also a special matchday U-Bahn 16 service that runs direct to the stadium.
If you are coming via U-Bahn line 11 then just carry on walking in the direction of travel as you leave the train on Mercedesstrasse. The ground is a 5 minute walk from the U-Bahn station. There are also other U-Bahn stations a ten minute or so walk away, across the Neckar including Schlachthof which can be found on Talstrasse.
A taxi from the city centre should take around 10 minutes and cost no more than €15. If you are driving into the city from one of the other venues or towns close by then follow the Autobahn A8 until exit 17 – “Stuttgart Zuffenhausen”. Then take the B10 towards the city centre. The ground will be signposted from here but will be visible as you reach the river Neckar. There is car parking for over 10,000 cars around the stadium, but it is not clear at the time of going to press if any of these will be available for general match day parking.
For a more detailed view on who plays where in Stuttgart go to Footiemap.com.
Getting around Stuttgart is an outdoor city and is perfect for walking around. Pubic transport is plentiful, although you will only really need it for reaching the stadium or outlying areas. S-Bahn and U-Bahn’s cross the city and a day pass (the Stuttcard) is perfect for exploring the sites.
Stuttgart’s Echterdingen airport is located 15km south of the city centre. It is linked to the city by the S-Bahn network with both the S2 and S3 lines running direct from the main station to the airport every 10-15 minutes. There is also an hourly bus (the X3) that runs from Pfullingen. A taxi to the city centre should cost around €25 and take around 20 minutes.
Currently, the airport is served by a number of traditional airlines from the UK including BA from Birmingham, Heathrow and Manchester, BMI from Heathrow and occasionally Hapag Lloyd from Birmingham, although only Germanwings currently fly the budget airline flag from London Stansted.
Click here for a short video of the Stadium during the World Cup Finals.
The Stadium – The Gottlieb Daimler Stadion