The next two Euro matches await the Czech national team at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. It has undergone several innovations, they have rotated it and you can even find traces of World War II on it. What secrets does it hide? When did the Czechs break their teeth and when did they celebrate?
Volksparkstadion Stadium, June 22, 2024, Hamburg, Germany. | Photo: Deník/Lukáš Kaboň
Here, in 2006, the tears of Pavel Nedvěd et al. The end of an era and a strong Czech selection at the championship in Germany… But more on that later.
57,000 people can attend league matches at the Hamburg stadium, despite the fact that the famous German club has been playing since the 2017/18 season, when it was relegated for the first time in its history Bundesliga, only the second highest competition, tends to sell out. But on European Championships capacity will be reduced. Two sectors are standing, which is not allowed for an international match.
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Another important piece of information for fans is that they cannot park in the vicinity of the stadium, so they must use the surrounding transport. It takes approximately 20 minutes to walk from the nearest metro station.
Z ruin stadion
But let’s go back to the history of the stadium, which is situated in the blue color of the home HSV. The original stadium that stood on the site of today’s, which hosts another of the big matches, was called Bahrenfelder Stadion and was opened in 1925. It was subsequently rebuilt and renamed Volksparkstadion in 1951-1953. There would be nothing interesting about that, but… It was partially reconstructed from materials that came from the ruins after the bombing during the Second World War, when many buildings and areas in Hamburg, including the Eimsbüttel district, were destroyed. Some materials were used and effectively used to modernize the stadium.
At that time, the stand had a capacity of 76,000 seats. But it gradually went down. First with 61,000 seats, in 1998-2000 the stadium was acquired by the Hamburger SV team, who turned it 90 degrees, modernized it again and now has a capacity of 57,000 seats.
Czech footprint
Czech football players have already tried it. There were eight of them who made it to the top. Everyone probably remembers it right away Tomáš Ujfaluši, who just moved to the club from the port city in 2000 and spent four years there at the new stadium. In addition to him, David Jarolím also left a big mark on HSV, with whom he worked there for 9 years and was the captain. Apart from them, Marek Heinz, Milan Fukal, David Rozehnal, Petr JiračekJaroslav Drobný and Miroslav Štěpánek.
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At that time, the famous clock in the stadium was still counting the time that Hamburg had not been relegated from the Bundesliga. In 2018, however, they were rescheduled to the time of the club’s establishment.
“People in Hamburg live fantastically with football and they will be more demanding, they want to get back,” Tomáš Ujfaluši let himself be heard.
Klitschko’s boxing or Michael Jackson’s concert
The sanctuary also hosted several interesting events. In 1974 the World Cup, which the home team captured, in 1988 the semi-final of the European Championship between Germany and the Netherlands. Five matches at the 2006 World Cup, including the quarter-finals. In addition, concerts are also held here – Michael Jackson, Coldplay and the Rolling Stones have played here.
In 2011, it was sold out by a boxing match between Vladimir Klitschko and David Haye – Klitschko won to unify the heavyweight titles.
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Czech fans may have an unpleasant memory of the 2006 World Cup and the match against Italy, which was lost 0:2 by Karel Brückner’s selection and eliminated in the group, when although he left the USA behind, Ghana progressed at his expense. Then there was crying, everyone was sad. They knew there was more to it, but injuries and cards didn’t help.
“It was unforgettable when, in 2006, at the World Championship in Hamburg, I got to play for the Czech national team for a few minutes on the pitch against Italy. When I was warming up, the support from the HSV fans was amazing,” recalled former Hamburg player David Jarolím for ČTK.
An even happier memory is from 2010, when Tomáš Ujfaluši won the European League with Atlético Madrid in this stadium.
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Ivan Hašek’s team can add more good memories. He will have two attempts to do so. First against today Gruziisecond on Wednesday with Turkey.
“For our fans, Germany turned out perfectly, even more so because it’s Hamburg. It’s great that we will play two games there. I am glad for that. I think the fans will like it. It’s a beautiful city on the water, it’s clean, there are parks at every step. I lived in the green not far from the harbor. It is very similar to Scandinavia,” said David Jarolím.
No training
Even before this year’s tournament, he revealed that during his time in Hamburg there was a problem with the grass due to the small amount of light streaming onto it. However, even the Czechs did not try it out the day before the first match against Georgia, as is usually the case. “UEFA wants to save the turf, that’s why it asked us for a change and we complied,” said the representative of the national team, Petr Šedivý.
What effect it will have remains to be seen, however, the Czechs already praised the atmosphere in Leipzig, where 38,421 spectators came to see the Portuguese. What kind of atmosphere and especially the result will be this time?
