Ludwigsparkstadion – historical stadium description

What is the history of Ludwigsparkstadion?

Ludwigsparkstadion was inaugurated on August 2, 1953 as the largest stadium of the entire Saarland district, which was then (1947-1956) a French protectorate. As the Saarland had its own national team, the squad played its most important matches here, and the World Cup elimination match against Germany on March 28, 1954 (1:3) saw a record stadium attendance of 53,000.

In the 1980s, Germany played two more matches here - already as hosts - and Luxembourg also played one World Cup qualifying match here. 1. FC Saarbrücken was the permanent home of the arena, and the stadium also hosted other sporting and non-sporting events.

The facility had an athletics track surrounded by uncovered, embanked stands, although reinforced concrete covered sections were added along the pitch at the top. Among other features, the stadium was equipped with floodlighting and an digital scoreboard, and its capacity in its old configuration was 35,303 spectators.

When was the new Ludwigsparkstadion built?

A presentation of the new Ludwigsparkstadion can be seen on a separate subpage

At the beginning of 2016, a comprehensive redevelopment of the facility began, which included the construction of completely new stands behind the goals and in the south (main stand). The new stands were built right next to the pitch, giving the facility a football-specific look. The redevelopment project was prepared by Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), in collaboration with schlaich bergermann partner (sbp).

As a result of the modernisation, the capacity of the stadium has been reduced to around 16,000 spectators (including 6,000 standing places). Completion of the redevelopment took place in 2021, but 1. FC Saarbrücken returned to the facility at the start of the 2020/21 season (for the duration of the construction, the club temporarily moved to Hermann-Neuberger-Stadion in nearby Völklingen).