Stade de Suisse

Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern

Wankdorf
Location	Papiermühlestrasse 71 CH-3022 Bern, Switzerland
Coordinates	46°57′47.40″N 7°27′53.40″E
Owner	Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Nationalstadion AG
Operator	Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Nationalstadion AG
Capacity	32,000 (Football) 45,000 (Concerts)
Surface	FIFA 2-Star Synthetic: Polytan Ligaturf 240
Construction
Started	2003
Opened	July 30, 2005
Construction cost	CHF 350 million (2005)
Architect	Marazzi Generalunternehmung AG
Tenants
BSC Young Boys

The Stade de Suisse Wankdorf is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. It is the home stadium of the Berner Sport Club Young Boys (they are often simply called the "BSC Young Boys"), which is a Swiss football team. The Wankdorf is currently the second biggest football stadium in Switzerland. The stadium has seats for 32,000 people. The field is 105 m x 68 m and has got an artificial turf surface. It was one of the venues for the European Football Championship in 2008.

About the building

The Stade de Suisse was built in the place where the old Wankdorf Stadium, which was destroyed in 2001, had been. It cost 350 million francs to build the stadium. There are solar panels on the roof. There are many shops in the stadium. The stadium is 2 kilometers away from the city. The stadium was officially opened on July 30, 2005. However, the first game of football was played there on July 16, 2005. In the first game, The BSC Young Boys played against the Olympique Marseille. The BSC Young Boys lost by a score of 2-3. 14,000 people watched the game. The building's official name is "Stade de Suisse, Berne, Wankdorf". Still, most people call it the "Wankdorf". The building has also hosted Hockey games and musical concerts.

European Football Championship 2008

The Wankdorf was one of the venues for the European Football Championship in 2008 (often called Euro2008). Three games were played here for the tournament. During Euro2008, the real grass inside the stadium was replaced with fake grass, which is called artificial turf. The stadium's operators removed the artificial turf after the championship.

The hot seat

All the seats are either black or yellow, but there is one red seat in sector A. It is called the "hot seat". The ticket for that seat is often given to former players of Young Boys or famous visitors. The first person who sat in the "hot seat" was the most successful goalkeeper of the BSC Young Boys, Walter Eirich.

Other websites

• The official website of the Stade de Suisse Archived 2008-06-20 at the Wayback Machine (in German)