Millerntor-Stadion

Millerntor
Former names	Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion (1970-1998)
Location	St. Pauli, Hamburg-Mitte, Hamburg, Germany
Broke ground	1961
Opened	1963
Renovated	1988, since December 2006
Expanded	2007
Owner	FC St. Pauli
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	30,000,000 (Reconstruction)
Architect	agn Niederberghaus & Partner GmbH, ar.te.plan GmbH (Reconstruction)
Main contractors	Walter Hellmich GmbH
Capacity	29,063 (League Matches)
Field dimensions	105 m × 68 m
Tenants
FC St. Pauli

The Millerntor-Stadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamburg St. Pauli, Germany. It is mainly used for football matches and is the home stadium of FC St. Pauli. It is on the Heiligengeistfeld, near the Reeperbahn, the red light district of Hamburg. The stadium had a capacity of 32,000 when it was built in 1961. Sometimes it is used for the American football team of the Hamburg Blue Devils and, although very rarely, for concerts or festivals such as the Retter festival 2003 or the Jubiläumsfestival 100 Jahre FC St.Pauli in 2010.

History

The club logo outside the Millerntor-Stadion in 2007.

The first sports ground at the Heiligengeistfeld was created after the First World War as a simple flat space. This was the home ground of the St. Pauli TV, together with other workers sports associations (Arbeitersportkartells).

In 1946, the club (now called FC St. Pauli) built its own stadium on the original site of Hamburg Observatory, built in 1802 by Johann Georg Repsold and moved to Bergedorf in 1912. The stadium was located in the corner between Glacischaussee and Budapester strasse (during 1946 to 1956 named Ernst Thälmann strasse). In a city laid to ruins by the Second World War, the stadium was made possible only with the help from fans and club members. However, the stadium was not to last long as it had to be removed in 1961. This was due to the IGA (International Garden exposition) 1963 in Hamburg and parts of the park Planten un Blomen was constructed at the site.

As a result, the club had to find a new stadium and so in 1961 the construction of the Millerntor-Stadion started. The new stadium opened in 1963, delayed by of an initial lack of drainage system, which made the pitch unplayable after rain. The new stadium held 32,000 spectators, but the capacity was later reduced to 20,629 for safety reasons.

The Millerntor-Stadion has undergone numerous modifications over the years, the biggest change was the construction of a temporary seating area above the Back straight, allowing the promotion into the Bundesliga 1988. This temporary area was in use until May 2012 when the entire Back straight was demolished.

In the end of the 1980s, plans for a new stadium, the so-called Sport-Dome were blocked by supporters of the club and residents. The Sport-Dome would have become an state of the art all-seater stadium that would have combined sport facilities with a shopping mall and a hotel. The fans protested against the commercialization of their stadium and there were also fears that the Sport-Dome would have led to higher rents in the neighbourhood.

In the 1990s, the chairman of the club, the architect Heinz Weisener, made new plans, but they too collapsed, this time due to the financial situation of the club. The question of a new stadium looked like a never-ending story and every chairman has made their own plans.

Reconstruction since 2006

In December 2006, the South stand was demolished after the game versus Wuppertal. This caused the capacity to be reduced to 15,600 people. Some problems in the club leadership deferred the reconstruction and some fans spoke cynically of the "Littman hole", with regard to the controversial chairman Corny Littmann and the fact that a whole tribune was lost. However, during the spring 2007 the building of the new South stand finally started.

The improved North stand seen in 2012.

With the new South stand completed and a new provisional seating area above the North stand, the capacity was increased to 22,648 (2-1 victory over VfL Osnabrück 20 March 2008). With the first phase of reconstruction the club also fulfilled its licence terms for the DFL, as all technical requirements (e.g. undersoil heating) were included. The old cult manual scoreboard was exchanged for a digital one.

After the reconstruction of the South stand, the Main tribune was demolished in mid-November 2009 and with its seating sections completed in time for the 2010-2011 season, the capacity of the Millerntor-Stadium was increased to 24,487 spectators.

The new Back strait seen in 2013.

The reconstruction of the Back strait (die Gegengerade) started in Januari 2012 with the building of a new subway tunnel under the Heiligengeistfeld. Two different designs for the new Back strait were discussed during the autumn of 2011, one spectatular called "The Wave" and one classic in line with the other reconstructed sections. "The Wave" came from a co-operation between the engineer firm OSD and the Hamburg-based creative lab Interpol +-. It would have measured 27 meters in height and permitted a capacity of 14,000 specators, of which 3,000 seated. The classic design, with its red brick facade, came from the Dortmund-based architect bureau art.te.plan GmbH and will hold approximately 13,000 spectators, of which 3,000 seated. In exact numbers the classic design will hold 13,199 spectators: 10,126 standing closest to the pitch and 3,030 seated above them. At the top there will still be 27 places for media and commentators, as well as 16 seats for the visually impaired and their companions.

After extensive debating, a process also hearing the fans, the club president Stefan Orth announced in November 2011 that the club has chosen the classic design. The reasons given for the decision were safety, construction time, taste and cost. With a price possibly as high as 21 million euro, "The Wave" would have consumed almost the whole budget for the reconstruction of the Back strait, the North stand and the new training facilities.

The Back strait was demolished after the game against SC Paderborn in May 2012 and the main contractor for the reconstruction of the new Back strait was the company Walter Hellmich GmbH.

With the new Back straight completed, the capacity of the Millerntor-Stadion rose to 29,063 spectators by the beginning of 2013, and the next and final phase of the reconstrution is the North stand. Completion of the entirely reconstructed Millerntor-Stadion is expected in 2014 and the capacity of the new Millerntor-Stadion will be approximately 30,000 spectators.

Capacity

As of the 2010-11 season, the capacity of the individual stands and tribunes looked as following:

- South stand: 3,200 standing places, 1,320 seats, 1,002 business seats and 205 lounge seats ("Séparées")

- Main tribune: 2,247 seats, 1,482 business seats and 577 lounge seats ("Séparées")

- Back straight: 5,800 standing standing places (of which 5,300 are season ticket holders) and 2,054 seats (of which 1,800 are season ticket holders)

- North stand, home supporters: 2,300 standing places and 1,669 seats (of which 405 are season ticket holders)

- North stand, guest supporters: 1,355 standing places and 820 seats.

Guest supporters are located on the North stand, and the numbers of season ticked holders represent statistics from the 2010-11 season only.

The Business lounges are officially known as "Séparées". This is made with a humoristic reference to the "Chambres Séparées" used by the sex workers at the nearby Red Light District around Reeperbahn.

Location

• 

  A map of the surrounding area.

• 

  The surrounding area seen in 2010.

Name

The name Millerntor is derived from the Millerntor Gate, one of the gates permitting entry through the city wall that surrounded the hanseatic city of Hamburg. The area now constituting modern St. Pauli was located outside the city wall, on the no mans land between Hamburg and the Danish city of Altona.

From 1970–1998, the Millerntor-Stadion was known as the Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion. It was renamed to Millerntor-Stadion by the club members, due to the membership of Wilhelm Koch in the NSDAP. In 2007 the club members decided that there is to be no commercial use of the name.

Gallery

• 

  The match FC St. Pauli - FSV Frankfurt in 2013, view from the new Back strait.

• 

  The match FC St. Pauli - DSC Arminia Bielefeld in 2013, view from the North stand.

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

References

• "Neubau Haupttribune". 2010. 
• Hesse, Ulrich (2010), Bakom Helvetets Portar, Offside, Nummer 6, Offside Press AB, ISSN 1404-1683  

External links

• St. Pauli Official Website in English
• Millerntor-Stadion
• Millerntor-Stadion in German