Schüco Arena

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Schüco Arena
Alm
View of the SchücoArena from the Southwest
Full Name	SchücoArena
Location	Bielefeld, Germany
Built	?
Opened	1926
Renovated	1996 - ongoing
Owner	Arminia Bielefeld
Construction cost	?
Former names
Bielefelder Alm
Tenants
Arminia Bielefeld (Fußball-Bundesliga)
Capacity
26,601
Dimensions
?

Schüco Arena (old name: Alm) is a football stadium in Bielefeld, Germany. The stadium, which has a capacity of 26 601, is owned by the football club Arminia Bielefeld and mostly used for the club's matches.

The stadium was constructed in 1926, with land acquired from a farmer. One of Arminia's members named the stadium Alm (German for alpine grassland) due to the stadium's proximity to the Teutoburg Forest.

Until 1971 the stands were all terraced, but with Arminia Bielefeld winning promotion to the Bundesliga, the first stand with seating was constructed. By 1978 3 new stands had been built and the stadiums capacity was 34,222.

By 1985 serious structural problems had reduced the capacity to 18,500, and later to 15,000.

[edit] Rebuilding

The northwest corner in the SchücoArena

In 1996 rebuilding work began, first the north stand was rebuild and then the west stand. Capacity was now 22,512. In 1999 the South Stand was rebuilt increasing capacity to 26,601. There are currently plans to rebuild the East stand to allow a capacity of 28,344.

[edit] Transport

The stadium is well serviced by public transport. The Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof is only a few minutes away using line 4 (The red line) of the Bielefeld Stadtbahn. For fans driving to the stadium, parking is available at Bielefeld University, which is also located on line 4 of the Stadtbahn

Bundesliga Venues (2006-07)