hsh nordbank arena, hamburg (part 1)...
Amongst many other things, I visited HSH Nordbank Arena (HSV's stadium) when I was in Hamburg, and I thought I'd start my report with a picspam of it. The stadium is really beautiful, and the guided tour was awesome.
The view from the subway station "Stellingen", about 1.6 kilometres away from the stadium. Apparently, the way is shorter if you get off the train at the next station, but there are no signs there to show you the way. Halfway to the stadium, we regretted not having gotten off the train later because we walked directly past a waste recycling factory and it smelled horribly. Football fans going to watch a match are obviously considered immune against it.
We chose the north-eastern entrance on the bottom, because that's where all the important things are.
And after a while, we caught the first glimpse of the stadium!
The view gets better and better... I doubt this is the official parking lot, but it's quite big nevertheless.
Dude, how adorable is this? ♥
Team bus!
The office!
I suppose that's HSV's mascot, celebrating the fact that HSV is the only club that has managed to stay promoted ever since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963.
That's where we went. I was greatly amused by HSV's restaurant being called "Die Raute" ("The Rhombus"). (Aww.)
HSV fanstore. Yes, I bought something. Will tell you later what it is. XD
From the fanshop, you have a brilliant view on the pitch.
I didn't buy this, but I had to take a pic of it. It's so dorky. ♥
More pretty pitch...
In front of the museum, they have last year's jerseys of Alexander Laas (born in Hamburg but now playing for Wolfsburg) and Piotr Trochowski (who many people pretend was born in Hamburg because he's grown so close to the club).
Banners and presents from last year's Champions League opponents.
And that's where our guided tour finally started! The stadium was built on the very same spot where the late Volksparkstadion was located; during the construction period starting on June 2nd 1998, the terraces were knocked down separately, one by one, so the stadium could still be used for Bundesliga and international matches.
On August 23rd 1998, HSV play their first home match of the new season in a constructive mix of old and new: the new eastern terrace is complete already, but Hamburg's fans still celebrate on their old western terrace.
Guest terrace.
The standings on this level, HSV's home terrace, are almost completely sold to season ticket owners. For international matches, the metal panels are flipped over to reveal seats. The standings offer space for 10,000 fans or 6,000 seats.
The "Perpetual Clock", a clock that counts the time HSV has already been in the first league. If you're into maths, you can calculate day and time of HSV's first Bundesliga match in 1963 with the help of this clock.
The passages to the upper blocks were designed by the fans themselves. The walls are covered with beautiful graffiti that tell HSV's history. This first graffiti shows the three clubs HSV was founded from in 1919: SC Germania 1887, Hamburger FC 1888 and FC Falke 1906. This is why HSV's official founding date is 1887.
This graffiti shows the flag of the city of Hamburg with its official logo, the German flag, and the HSV logo. HSV's logo is the only club logo in the world that doesn't have letters or numbers on it, just a symbol. It consists of three of the club's four colours; red, one of Germania's colours, is missing, but it can be found in the team's kits, which is why HSV is usually called "Rothosen" ("redpants").
From the passages, you have a good view on the Color Line Arena, the stadium of Hamburg's handball and ice hockey teams as well as the location for music events.
The view from the highest entrance. Amazing, isn't it?
The stadium's roof is built of membrane that is stretched by steal rope (total length: 17 kilometres, weight: 460 tons). To ensure that the grass gets enough sunlight to grow, the membrane is transparent to ultraviolet radiation. The roof cannot be closed at present because it's not necessary, but if the need arises, extra membrane can be added to it in order to seal it easily and cheaply.
Cleaning personnel tidying up the standings from the HSV vs Bayer Leverkusen match.
Press seats with room for computer monitors and internet access. You can get into the arena for free if you have a press pass, but you don't automatically have a reservation for one of these seats because they're rare. Especially for important international matches (World Cup, Champions League), there are hardly enough press seats. On more than one occasion in the past, HSV's staff had to turn another block into such press seats because of FIFA/UEFA regulations.
Press room!
The cabin of security, fire brigade and police - this room's windows face the pitch so they can watch the match whilst waiting for work, which is quite neat!
On this TV screen, they're showing the current match exclusively. Only when the action on the pitch is over, they show summaries of the other matches as well as interviews and press conferences. There are little sockets in the wall so the journalists can plug in their computers there and e-mail their reports directly to their offices.
This photo in the press room is quite an important one. It shows the last HSV squad that consisted of players born in Hamburg only. The most famous of them would be Uwe Seeler (third from the right), who has played for no other club than HSV during his career and even refused an offer from AC Milan. Understandable, though. On his right side, there's his brother Dieter, by the way.
This is the VIP area - but you don't have to be famous or anything to get a seat here, you just have to have money. If you want to rent a lounge, you have to pay about 600 Euros for one afternoon. Most of the lounges are rented permanently. You can either keep the furniture it comes with or install your own furniture (but you have to undo all your changes before you hand it back).
A lounge with private furniture. It comes complete with catering and service.
Original HSV furniture.
Business lounge.
This photo can be found in a little room that leads to the press conference room. I just had to take a photo of it because of all the players that are still in business. Do you recognize them? And just look at that goalie. ♥ He was my first football crush ever. How time passes...
Press conference room! The neat thing was - we actually got to sit on those chairs. No, I'm not kidding. I have proof (but the post will be locked for obvious reasons).
Of course, the press people must not die of thirst.
On the walls of the press conference room, there are big posters with little jokes like "For the city in which the banana cross was invented."
"For the city whose inhabitants know everything but wanderlust."
"For the city where you rather say 'Moin-Moin' than do 'Kiss-Kiss'."
"For the city whose queen is named Mary [hint to the famous cruise ship Queen Mary 2] and whose king is named Lotto [hint to Lotto King Karl who started a career as an entertainer after having won the lottery]."
"For the city in which you don't have to drive to the ocean to lie on the beach."
The garage for the teams' buses. The door with the HSV logo leads to HSV's training area.
Training centre to the left, path to the player tunnel in the front and the guest lockers to the right.
Some of you might recognize the furniture from the movie Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen. This is the locker room for the guest team with the original furniture from the World Cup. FIFA ordered every World Cup stadium to have the same furniture (a special kind provided by the FIFA) in every locker room to give every team the same chance. HSV gladly installed the new furniture because it was better than the old one they had there. We were told that in this very locker room, teams like Ukraine and Ivory Coast stayed for group stage matches.
There's actually something quite intriguing about this locker room: It used to be HSV's locker room until only a little while ago, when the management decided to establish a training centre directly next to the stadium. This training area meant that the players were present at the stadium almost every day (which was why we couldn't visit HSV's current locker room), and they shouldn't have to walk such a long way from the locker rooms to the training pitch, which was why they switched locker rooms.
Evidence for the fact that the guest locker room used to be HSV's locker room is this:
Two relaxation basins. Usually, guest lockers only have one of them and it's not always filled with water because many teams don't use it as they travel home directly. Teams like Werder Bremen use it, though, because they don't have such a long way home, and the Champions League opponents from last season used the basins, too. For the World Cup, FIFA actually wanted HSV to destroy one of the basins (equal chances for everyone - and there's only one basin in HSV's locker), but in the end, there was the compromise of covering the second basin so it couldn't be used.
Showers!
The entrance to HSV's training centre.
Pretty adidas carpet!
We've almost reached the player tunnel now, but before I fall off my chair from exhaustion, I'll go to bed and continue this tomorrow, okay? Thanks for reading so far, hope you enjoyed it!
On to the player tunnel!
The view from the subway station "Stellingen", about 1.6 kilometres away from the stadium. Apparently, the way is shorter if you get off the train at the next station, but there are no signs there to show you the way. Halfway to the stadium, we regretted not having gotten off the train later because we walked directly past a waste recycling factory and it smelled horribly. Football fans going to watch a match are obviously considered immune against it.
We chose the north-eastern entrance on the bottom, because that's where all the important things are.
And after a while, we caught the first glimpse of the stadium!
The view gets better and better... I doubt this is the official parking lot, but it's quite big nevertheless.
Dude, how adorable is this? ♥
Team bus!
The office!
I suppose that's HSV's mascot, celebrating the fact that HSV is the only club that has managed to stay promoted ever since the Bundesliga was founded in 1963.
That's where we went. I was greatly amused by HSV's restaurant being called "Die Raute" ("The Rhombus"). (Aww.)
HSV fanstore. Yes, I bought something. Will tell you later what it is. XD
From the fanshop, you have a brilliant view on the pitch.
I didn't buy this, but I had to take a pic of it. It's so dorky. ♥
More pretty pitch...
In front of the museum, they have last year's jerseys of Alexander Laas (born in Hamburg but now playing for Wolfsburg) and Piotr Trochowski (who many people pretend was born in Hamburg because he's grown so close to the club).
Banners and presents from last year's Champions League opponents.
And that's where our guided tour finally started! The stadium was built on the very same spot where the late Volksparkstadion was located; during the construction period starting on June 2nd 1998, the terraces were knocked down separately, one by one, so the stadium could still be used for Bundesliga and international matches.
On August 23rd 1998, HSV play their first home match of the new season in a constructive mix of old and new: the new eastern terrace is complete already, but Hamburg's fans still celebrate on their old western terrace.
Guest terrace.
The standings on this level, HSV's home terrace, are almost completely sold to season ticket owners. For international matches, the metal panels are flipped over to reveal seats. The standings offer space for 10,000 fans or 6,000 seats.
The "Perpetual Clock", a clock that counts the time HSV has already been in the first league. If you're into maths, you can calculate day and time of HSV's first Bundesliga match in 1963 with the help of this clock.
The passages to the upper blocks were designed by the fans themselves. The walls are covered with beautiful graffiti that tell HSV's history. This first graffiti shows the three clubs HSV was founded from in 1919: SC Germania 1887, Hamburger FC 1888 and FC Falke 1906. This is why HSV's official founding date is 1887.
This graffiti shows the flag of the city of Hamburg with its official logo, the German flag, and the HSV logo. HSV's logo is the only club logo in the world that doesn't have letters or numbers on it, just a symbol. It consists of three of the club's four colours; red, one of Germania's colours, is missing, but it can be found in the team's kits, which is why HSV is usually called "Rothosen" ("redpants").
From the passages, you have a good view on the Color Line Arena, the stadium of Hamburg's handball and ice hockey teams as well as the location for music events.
The view from the highest entrance. Amazing, isn't it?
The stadium's roof is built of membrane that is stretched by steal rope (total length: 17 kilometres, weight: 460 tons). To ensure that the grass gets enough sunlight to grow, the membrane is transparent to ultraviolet radiation. The roof cannot be closed at present because it's not necessary, but if the need arises, extra membrane can be added to it in order to seal it easily and cheaply.
Cleaning personnel tidying up the standings from the HSV vs Bayer Leverkusen match.
Press seats with room for computer monitors and internet access. You can get into the arena for free if you have a press pass, but you don't automatically have a reservation for one of these seats because they're rare. Especially for important international matches (World Cup, Champions League), there are hardly enough press seats. On more than one occasion in the past, HSV's staff had to turn another block into such press seats because of FIFA/UEFA regulations.
Press room!
The cabin of security, fire brigade and police - this room's windows face the pitch so they can watch the match whilst waiting for work, which is quite neat!
On this TV screen, they're showing the current match exclusively. Only when the action on the pitch is over, they show summaries of the other matches as well as interviews and press conferences. There are little sockets in the wall so the journalists can plug in their computers there and e-mail their reports directly to their offices.
This photo in the press room is quite an important one. It shows the last HSV squad that consisted of players born in Hamburg only. The most famous of them would be Uwe Seeler (third from the right), who has played for no other club than HSV during his career and even refused an offer from AC Milan. Understandable, though. On his right side, there's his brother Dieter, by the way.
This is the VIP area - but you don't have to be famous or anything to get a seat here, you just have to have money. If you want to rent a lounge, you have to pay about 600 Euros for one afternoon. Most of the lounges are rented permanently. You can either keep the furniture it comes with or install your own furniture (but you have to undo all your changes before you hand it back).
A lounge with private furniture. It comes complete with catering and service.
Original HSV furniture.
Business lounge.
This photo can be found in a little room that leads to the press conference room. I just had to take a photo of it because of all the players that are still in business. Do you recognize them? And just look at that goalie. ♥ He was my first football crush ever. How time passes...
Press conference room! The neat thing was - we actually got to sit on those chairs. No, I'm not kidding. I have proof (but the post will be locked for obvious reasons).
Of course, the press people must not die of thirst.
On the walls of the press conference room, there are big posters with little jokes like "For the city in which the banana cross was invented."
"For the city whose inhabitants know everything but wanderlust."
"For the city where you rather say 'Moin-Moin' than do 'Kiss-Kiss'."
"For the city whose queen is named Mary [hint to the famous cruise ship Queen Mary 2] and whose king is named Lotto [hint to Lotto King Karl who started a career as an entertainer after having won the lottery]."
"For the city in which you don't have to drive to the ocean to lie on the beach."
The garage for the teams' buses. The door with the HSV logo leads to HSV's training area.
Training centre to the left, path to the player tunnel in the front and the guest lockers to the right.
Some of you might recognize the furniture from the movie Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen. This is the locker room for the guest team with the original furniture from the World Cup. FIFA ordered every World Cup stadium to have the same furniture (a special kind provided by the FIFA) in every locker room to give every team the same chance. HSV gladly installed the new furniture because it was better than the old one they had there. We were told that in this very locker room, teams like Ukraine and Ivory Coast stayed for group stage matches.
There's actually something quite intriguing about this locker room: It used to be HSV's locker room until only a little while ago, when the management decided to establish a training centre directly next to the stadium. This training area meant that the players were present at the stadium almost every day (which was why we couldn't visit HSV's current locker room), and they shouldn't have to walk such a long way from the locker rooms to the training pitch, which was why they switched locker rooms.
Evidence for the fact that the guest locker room used to be HSV's locker room is this:
Two relaxation basins. Usually, guest lockers only have one of them and it's not always filled with water because many teams don't use it as they travel home directly. Teams like Werder Bremen use it, though, because they don't have such a long way home, and the Champions League opponents from last season used the basins, too. For the World Cup, FIFA actually wanted HSV to destroy one of the basins (equal chances for everyone - and there's only one basin in HSV's locker), but in the end, there was the compromise of covering the second basin so it couldn't be used.
Showers!
The entrance to HSV's training centre.
Pretty adidas carpet!
We've almost reached the player tunnel now, but before I fall off my chair from exhaustion, I'll go to bed and continue this tomorrow, okay? Thanks for reading so far, hope you enjoyed it!
On to the player tunnel!