Red Bull Arena (Salzburg)

Red Bull Arena
Former names	Stadion Wals-Siezenheim, EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim
Location	Salzburg, Austria
Opened	8 March 2003 (first match Austria Salzburg – FC Kärnten 1:1)
Expanded	Summer 2005, 2006 - 2007 (for UEFA Euro 2008) (first match Red Bull Salzburg – Arsenal London 1:0)
Owner	Stadion Wals-Siezenheim Errichtungsgesellschaft m.b.H. (SWS)
Surface	lawn
Architect	Schuster Architekten (Düsseldorf), Atelier Albert Wimmer (Wien)
Capacity	31.895 (league matches), 29.800 (international matches)
Field dimensions	105 x 68 m
Tenants	Austria Salzburg(till 2005), F.C. Red Bull Salzburg (new name after the takeover by Red Bull), FC Liefering

The Red Bull Arena is a footballstadium in Salzburg, municipality Wals-Siezemheim. It is the homeground of F.C. Red Bull Salzburg. During the Euro 2008 football championship it was one of four venues in Austria.

History[change | change source]

The arena was built in 2003 and opened on March 8th, 2003 (Austria Salzburg – FC Kärnten 1:1 ). It replaced the old stadium in Lehen. The building is not in the city of Salzburg but in the neighbouring borough of Wals- Siezenheim. In international matches the ground is called "EM Stadion Wals- Siezenheim". The architects were Schuster Architekten (Düsseldorf) and Atelier Albert Wimmer (Wien).^[1] The costs were around 70 millions €. 2005 two videowalls were erected.

At this time the capacity was around 18 000 but was expanded to over 30 000 in 2006 because the ground was used for the Euro 2008 football championship Austria-Switzerland. A second balcony was built. After the EURO it was decided, despite of neighbour protests, that this balcony should stay for further use by Red Bull Salzburg. The stadium was the only one in Austria with an artificial turf, but since 2010 the arena has got a natural lawn. In it´s history the Red Bull Arena only two times was sold out, in a friendly match of Red Bull Salzburg versus Arsenal London and another friendly match versus Bayern München. The Stadium is the homeground of F. C. Red Bull Salzburg, who rented the stadium from the owner, the SWS Stadion Salzburg Planungs- und Errichtungsgesellschaft m.b.H, which is a subsidiary company of the Land-Invest. Therefore, the stadium is indirectly owned by the state of Salzburg.