Red Bull Arena (Salzburg)

This article is about Red Bull Salzburg's home stadium. For other places with the same sponsor name, see Red Bull Arena (disambiguation).

Red Bull Arena (German: [ɹɛt ˈbʊl ʔaˌʁeːnaː]), known during the UEFA Euro 2008 as the EM-Stadion Wals-Siezenheim [eːˈʔɛmˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn ˌvalsˈsiːtsn̩haɪm] and during UEFA club football events as Stadion Salzburg,^[1] is a football stadium in Wals-Siezenheim, a municipality in the suburbs of Salzburg, Austria. It was officially opened in March 2003 and is the home ground of FC Red Bull Salzburg. Previously, the club played at Stadion Lehen.

Red Bull Arena

Interior of the stadium in July 2008
Former names	EM-Stadion Wals-Siezenheim, Bullen-Arena
Location	Stadionstraße, Wals-Siezenheim, Austria
Coordinates	47.8163°N 12.9982°E / 47.8163; 12.9982 (Stadion Wals-Siezenheim)
Owner	SWS Stadion Salzburg Planungs- und Errichtungsgesellschaft m.b.H
Capacity	30,188 (17,218 Bundesliga) (29,520 UEFA matches) (31,895 UEFA Euro 2008)
Field size	105 m × 68 m (115 yd × 74 yd)
Surface	Lawn
Construction
Built	2003
Opened	8 March 2003
Renovated	Summer 2005 6 May 2006 – 25 July 2007
Construction cost	€45 million
Architect	Schuster Architekten, Atelier Albert Wimmer
Tenants
Red Bull Salzburg FC Liefering Austria national football team

History

In 2011 the stadium hosted a friendly tournament known as the Salzburgerland Cup of four clubs. It features four teams: FK Austria Wien, FC Rapid București, Maccabi Haifa F.C. and FC Shakhtar Donetsk. To which Shaktar was declared the champions.^[2]

Overview

Its current seating capacity is 30,188.^[3] The stadium's original capacity was 18,200, but it was heavily expanded to over 30,000 so as to accommodate the 2008 European Football Championships.

The "EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim" was the only stadium in the Austrian Bundesliga which used artificial turf. Polytan's FIFA 2-Star Recommended 40mm surface Ligaturf with a 25mm elastic layer was installed in 2005, but since summer 2008 natural lawn has been used.

From the 2018-19 Austrian Football Bundesliga season onwards, the majority of the upper stand remains closed, therefore limiting capacity to 17,218. This was done in order to improve the atmosphere, which was often considered as “weak“ during Salzburg‘s national home games. This reduction in capacity only applies for Bundesliga matches.

Euro 2008 Matches

Date		Result		Round
10 June 2008	Greece	0–2	Sweden	Group D
14 June 2008	Greece	0–1	Russia
18 June 2008	Greece	1–2	Spain