The stadium was officially opened on August 12, 2012, with a match between the under-19s of Rot-Weiss Essen and Borussia Dortmund (3-2). Afterwards the women's club SGS Essen played against 1. FFC Frankfurt. During the latter match, the Frankfurt players were replaced after 80 minutes by eleven male players from Rot-Weiss Essen.[3]
The last stand was finished shortly before the start of the 2013/14 season. For this occasion, an opening match between Rot-Weiss Essen and Werder Bremen (0-2) was held on August 8 in front of 11,513 spectators.[4]
The stadium was sold out for the first time on April 8, 2014, for the semi-final match of the Lower Rhine Cup between Rot-Weiss Essen and MSV Duisburg.[5]
In November 2021, Rot-Weiss Essen purchased the rights to the stadium name. The stadium was renamed Stadion an der Hafenstraße in January 2022; the Georg-Melches-Stadion it replaced carried the same name from 1939 to 1964.[6]