Supporters and players parted their ways with old Erzgebirgsstadion in Aue. After 87 years since opening the venue will undergo its second major reconstruction in the next two years.

Yesterday Erzgebirge Aue managed to defeat Fortuna Köln 2:0 and climb to the 6th place in 3. Liga. Regular game? Not so much, because it was the very last one inside the “Old Otto”, as the dated Aue stadium is known.

The game was special, perfectly proved by the fact that tickets were sold out almost 2 weeks ago! While capacity was limited to 6,500, it still was special. Hundreds of purple-white flags and numerous smoke bombs made the ground boil with great atmosphere.

Two years for metamorphosis

The farewell was of major importance because almost everyone knows the stadium in its current form. It was last reconstructed in 1950 and original opening took place in 1928. This makes the site historically important and the new ground should respect key features of its location.

Already today preparatory works were launched on site. Formally demolition of the west stand will begin on December 11. Works will be phased, which means that the new west grandstand will be erected first, then the north and east sections are scheduled for completion. At all stages the stadium should be usable and offer no less than 10,000 capacity.

Because the stands are simple prefab-based structures, building them up should take relatively little time. By March 2016 the site should be ready for west stand’s primary structure.

The new stadium will hold app. 15,000 people in seated and standing sections, all covered. While simple in design, it will retain the primary symmetry axis running from the south-west to north-east. This means both ends will have symbolic gates visible to everyone approaching the stadium from the north and south, as presented below.