Union Berlin wants to play in the Olympic Stadium in 2025/26

Will probably not only populate the away block of the Olympic Stadium in 2025/26: fans of Union Berlin.

picture alliance / nordphoto GmbH / Engler

“In the 2025/26 season we plan to play in the Olympic Stadium,” said Union President Dirk Zingler in an interview with the club’s own media that was published on Sunday. In the first part of the interview, Zingler had already indicated that Union could play the Champions League games at the home ground of city rivals Hertha BSC in the coming season. This is based not only on the specifications of UEFA, but also on our own considerations. Union had already played the games in the 2021/22 Conference League season in the Olympic Stadium.

With a capacity of just over 22,000 spectators in the past season, the stadium An der Alten Försterei was the smallest of all Bundesliga clubs. That’s one of the reasons why Union wants to rebuild and expand the stadium. Original plans for this had already been submitted in 2017, but were delayed due to the Corona crisis and problems with the traffic concept. Last November, the association then published the concrete renovation measures at a general meeting.

The first extensive construction work around the stadium is scheduled to begin as early as the end of June. In addition to the stadium expansion, a new training center for the professionals, a multi-storey car park and a clubhouse are also to be built. As things stand at present, however, it will not be possible to play at the Alte Försterei in the 2025/26 season – not just in the Champions League, but in all competitions.

“We do it deliberately because we want to keep the time when we wouldn’t play here as short as possible,” Zingler explained the decision in the interview. All accompanying construction measures should therefore be completed before then. “Not that something is delayed and then we suddenly have to stay over there for a year and a half or two,” says Zingler. After the conversion, the stadium at the Alte Försterei should have a capacity of around 37,700 seats. The work is scheduled to be completed in June 2026.