After the 1896 Summer Olympics, the city of Leipzig began to plan a stadium. The Zentralstadion was built first for the sports students in the Sportforum Leipzig, with a capacity of 100,000. Next to it was an Olympic-style swimming stadium. After the sports university, rowing channel and the swimming stadium were established, plans were made for a new stadium downtown; Leipzig wanted to be awarded the Olympic Games. Blueprints by architect Werner March, the architect of Berlin's Olympiastadion, were used. Finishing the plan took 15 months, with 180,000 volunteers. Walter Ulbricht called the stadium "Stadion der Hunderttausend" (Stadium of 100,000), and made it the home of the German Gym and Sports Celebrations.
Free German Youth regional leader Heinz Haferkorn was tasked with finding 200 volunteers per day,[6] and work on the stadium began on August 2, 1955. To save money, debris from the 1945 bombings was used. Its architect of record was Karl Souradny, who only completed the ground drawings and never visited the site.[6] A total of 180,000 volunteers worked for 735,992 hours on the stadium, which cost M28 million (DM5.6 million).[2] A small train brought debris to the stadium, which was mixed with ash, soil and water and compressed into bricks.[7]
Replacement
In 1990, due to riots in other European countries and in Leipzig's Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark, access to Zentralstadion was banned to reduce further rioting.[8] The bell in the stadium's Werner Seelenbinder Tower was silenced.[9]
Due to the rising maintenance costs, the city decided to build a smaller, soccer-only stadium in 1997.
According to critics, Berlin's similar-size Olympiastadion was renovated at the same time and the Zentralstadion could have been saved. Germany won the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup in 2000, prompting renovation of many German soccer-specific stadiums (including the Olympiastadion).
The Zentralstadion packed with spectators on 4 August 1956
The main entrance
Model of the Sportsforum
International Soccer Matches of the East Germany national football team
Between 1957 and 2004, all matches were broadcast by the Deutscher Fernsehfunk and later Eurosport. 2,812,000 visitors came to the matches in all. The Soviet Union was the team with the most matches as foreign team here. The average of the visitor numbers is 63,909 without club team matches, Spartakiade and the East German Sports Festival. The East Germany national team won 20 matches with 13 drawns and 10 defeats. One match was hosted as national stadium for Poland. 21 matches took place as qualifying matches. 23 matches were exhibition matches.[10]
1956 (2.–5. August): II. Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest
1959 (13.–16. August): III. Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest
1963 (1.–4. August): IV. Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest
1969 (24.–27. July): V. Turn- und Sportfest der DDR
1977 (25.–31. July): VI. Turn- und Sportfest der DDR und VI. Kinder- und Jugendspartakiade
1983 (25.–31. July): VII. Turn- und Sportfest der DDR und IX. Kinder- und Jugendspartakiade
1987 (27. July–2. August): VIII. Turn- und Sportfest der DDR und XI. Kinder- und Jugendspartakiade
Notes
Video documentation: "Täve, Trümmer und Triumphe" | 23.09.2014 | 29:55 Min. | Broadcaster: Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk"
Further reading
Andreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel (in German). Das Neue Berlin. p. 191. ISBN978-3360012807.
^ abAndreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 20. ISBN978-3360012807.
^ abAndreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 25. ISBN978-3360012807.
^Andreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 9. ISBN978-3360012807.
^Andreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. pp. 8–18. ISBN978-3360012807.
^ abAndreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 23. ISBN978-3360012807.
^Andreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 26. ISBN978-3360012807.
^Andreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 134. ISBN978-3360012807.
^Andreas Debski; Michael Kraske; Ingolf Rackwitz (2006). Zentralstadion Leipzig. Vom Stadion der Hunderttausend zum Fussballtempel. Das Neue Berlin. p. 28. ISBN978-3360012807.
^Fußballdaten.de. "Die Spielstatistik DDR - Tschechien" [The soccer data GDR vs. Czechoslovakia] (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
^Fußballdaten.de. "Qualifikationsrunde der WM 1978" [Qualification round of the FIFA World Cup 1978] (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
^weltfussball.de. "Fußballländerspiele 1978" [Soccer international matches 1978] (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
^"Direkter Vergleich DDR gegen CSSR" [Directly comparison between EAST GERMANY vs. CZECHOSLOVAKIA] (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
^Youtube. "Vorrunde (Gruppe 4)" [UEFA Qualifying 1980] (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
^Weltfußball. "Direckter Vergleich DDR gegen GRE" [Directly comparison GDR vs. GRE 1980] (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.