BayArena

The BayArena is a football stadium in Leverkusen, Germany, which has been the home ground of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen since 1958.

The stadium was originally known as "Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion" (English: "Ulrich Haberland Stadium"), named after a former chairman of Bayer AG, the club's founders. Its original capacity was 20,000. In 1986, a rebuilding project began to convert it into a modern facility; the project continued intermittently over the following decade. The project was completed in 1997, making the stadium an ultramodern all-seater with a capacity of 22,500. The stadium was renamed "BayArena" in 1998.

In 1999, a hotel attached to the stadium was completed, with some rooms having a view of the pitch. The stadium complex also includes a high-class restaurant, which also overlooks the pitch, and conference facilities.

The city of Leverkusen originally bid to become a venue for the 2006 World Cup, with an expanded BayArena as the site. However, the city, Bayer Leverkusen, and the German organizing committee soon agreed that expanding BayArena to the FIFA-mandated minimum 40,000 capacity for World Cup matches would not be practical, and the city withdrew its bid. Instead, it was agreed that BayArena would be the main training facility for the German national team during the 2006 finals. Jürgen Klinsmann, former national coach, however decided against Leverkusen and opted for Berlin as main training facility. BayArena will supposedly host two national matches as compensation.

BayArena is also one of the proposed venues for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup to be held in Germany.

On March 30th 2007 Bayer AG agreed on the extension of the stadium to a capacity of over 30,000. Construction works began end of 2007 and are supposed to be finished at the beginning of the 2009/2010 season.

External links

* [http://www.leverkusen.com/guide/Archiv1.txt/Lev00020.html BayArena (German)]