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Westfalen Stadion
Dortmund
82900
international games: 67 000

A third expansion stage is to close the corners and to enlarge the seating to 66,000 during international matches. "We have the biggest stadium in Northrhine-Westphalia and the most faithful fans", Dr Gerd Niebaum presented the facts (66,000 seats and thus a capacity of nearly 80,000 spectators in the Bundesliga) in Frankfurt some months ago during the presentation of the application for hosting football matches during the World Cup 2006. He also talked about history ("The semi-final of the 1974 World Cup played by the Netherlands and Brazil was a highlight of the whole tournament") and about the "atmospheric finals" of Alaves against Liverpool (UEFA Cup final in 2001) as well as of Germany against Ukraine (World Cup relegation). By expanding the seating capacity to "60,343 seats net" (plus 6,000 seats for the press and guests of honour) the Westfalenstadion meets the requirements for a semi-final location. Only the stadiums of Berlin (under construction) and Munich (being planned) will provide similar seating capacities. Such an expansion of the seating capacity is also discussed in Stuttgart. After the Westfalenstadion had been expanded from 48,000 to 68,800 seats for about 56 million euros between 1995 and 1998 by two stages, the third stage was taken up in May 2002. "Foundations were established during the summer break", the engineers from "Engels und Partner" explained. According to Udo Engels, graduate engineer, the corners will be closed between the home games without interferences or restrictions. Before the beginning of the 2003/2004 season construction will be finished. Most challenging is the construction of the roof and the superstructure. The current suspension towers carrying the roofs with cross girders will be removed and replaced by a construction of hanging suspension towers. This construction requires a weight of 600 tons to be propped up over a distance of 30 metres. The clou of the story is that the stands will end above the video screens. "The corners will remain open at the bottom so that the ventilating of the lawn is guaranteed", Dr Niebaum pointed out and added that, in the future, the field might be a mix of grass and artificial turf. In Liverpool the grass is already "artificially grown". BVB hopes to be allowed to host a World Cup semi-final in 2006 and to further increase the season ticket sales. "So far, sales have always been stopped after 42,000 tickets have been sold", says Borussia's president. The new stands will house further gastronomy offers. "We calculate with additional receipts of more than 8 million euros per season", Niebaum answers the question about the refinancing. In contrast to other stadiums hosting World Cup games in 2006 Borussia Dortmund does not receive any budget from the land, Northrhine-Westphalia, nor the state. The land does not even stand surety for BVB.