RHEINENERGIESTADION

Cologne, Germany

The RheinEnergieStadion is a football stadium in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was built on the site of the two previous Müngersdorfer stadiums. It is the home of the local Bundesliga team, 1. FC Köln. The stadium was one of the 12 hosting the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The stadium's name comes from a contract with the local power supplier RheinEnergie AG.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the fortifications of Cologne were removed, thus allowing for the building of a new structure in the surrounding area. The new construction enabled the city to create 15,000 jobs. The new stadium was called the Müngersdorfer Stadion or the Kölner Stadion. This allowed Cologne not only to help stabilize the country but also to gain prestige and economic benefits for the city. The cost was tallied at 47.4 million Deutsche Mark.

Following the completion of the stadium the city began to rise in sport prominence. Many major football matches were held at the stadium in front of huge crowds. The first international match was held on 20 November 1927, when the German national football team drew 2-2 with the Netherlands. Since then, the German team has played 19 times at the stadium, and only one of those matches resulted in a loss. Another notable match was the first post-war game, which saw 1. FC Nuremberg beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2-1, in front of a crowd of 75,000.

Unused 4" x 6" continental size chrome

Dist. by Ziethen-Verlag