GLUCKSGAS STADIUM

Dresden, Germany

Glücksgas Stadium (German: Glücksgas-Stadion) is a football stadium in Dresden, Saxony. It is the current home of Dynamo Dresden. The facility had previously been known as the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, but in December 2010, the naming rights were sold to Glücksgas, a Bavarian energy company. Sports facilities have existed on the physical site of the stadium since 1874, and the site noted an attendance of 270,000 people during the 1885 festival.

The former stadium was completed on June 16, 1923 at a cost of 500,000 German reichsmark allocated for the expansion of the existing Ilgen-Kampfbahn centrally located in the inner city. The football club Dresdensia was the first organization to use the new facility.

In 1953, the Sportvereinigung Dynamo took over the stadium and on September 23, 1953, the stadium was renamed for athlete Rudolf Harbig. In the summer of 1971, it was renamed Dynamo-Stadion for the football club Dynamo Dresden which used the stadium as its home ground. The capacity of the stadium was twice expanded: to 36,000 in 1976 and then to 38,500 in 1980. The current capacity is approximately 23,940 seats (220 roofed and 10,670 open). The usual capacity is often lowered where there are security concerns.

In 1990, the stadium was upgraded to meet German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association or International Federation of Association Football) standards and the national building code. This included improved security measures to help protect players and referees. Benches have been replaced by individual seats and the pitch was re-sodded, the first time since 1956 that the playing surface has been renewed with the €375,000 cost being borne by the city of Dresden. That same year, the facility was again named for Rudolf Harbig. Currently it is used primarily for football matches and still serves as the home of Dynamo Dresden.

Since January 1, 1992, the stadium has been under the control of the City of Dresden in order to protect the site should Dynamo Dresden ever face financial problems. On May 9, 2007, German sports magazine kicker reported that an agreement has been reached with the City to finance the complete renovation of the stadium into a modern 32,400-seat arena by 2009.

The stadium in its new form was completely opened on 15 September 2009 with a sold out friendly match against Schalke 04, which Dynamo lost 1–2. Some building work is expected to continue until the end of the year, but this match opened the new stadium to full capacity.

Unused 5" x 9 1/2" jumbo size chrome postcard.

FIFA Frauen-WM-Spiele