SAMSTAG 15:30

Home to the club since their formation, the Stadion am Zoo is one of Germany's most picturesque grounds and can be found tucked away in a natural amphitheatre of hillsides and woodland on the banks of the Wupper river.

Built in only six months and opened on 5th October 1924 as the Bergisches Stadion, it was one of the largest, most modern grounds in the country with only the Deutsches Stadion in Berlin considered to be on par with it at the time. The Lord Mayor of Cologne and future German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, was quoted at the opening ceremony as saying, "This stadium has only one flaw – it's not in Cologne!  ". 

Its multi-functional design meant that it could host both football and athletics events but cycling races were the big draw here and several world records were set on the concrete velodrome that swept around the oval-shaped bowl between the grandstands and cinder running track. 500 metres long, 12 metres wide and with its steep banks reaching a height of 8 metres, the circuit was regarded as the fastest in the world and hosted the UCI Track World Championships in 1927. In addition to cycling, the stadium was also the venue for a number of NSDAP rallies at which Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels addressed crowds of up to 50,000 during the run-up to the Reichstag elections of July 1932.

A fire destroyed the main grandstand later that year but the stadium escaped damage during World War 2 and as sport and dictatorship began to untangle themselves after the conflict, 50,000 fans saw 1.FC Kaiserslautern take on TuS Neuendorf (today's TuS Koblenz) at the ‘Zoo’ in the semi-finals of the German Championship in 1948. Wuppertaler SV had also taken up residence following their formation in 1954 but cycling continued to attract the most interest with large crowds watching the UCI Track World Championships which were held here again that year. Local cyclist Walter Lohmann set a new speed record of 96km/hr on 24th October 1955 and floodlights were installed at the stadium for the first time in 1957 before the wheels came off German cycling a year later after a race-fixing scandal led to interest in the sport falling away.

Cycling fans were soon replaced by football crowds however and the Stadion am Zoo was packed to the rafters when Wuppertal took on northern heavyweights and eventual winners Hamburger SV in the DFB-Pokal semi-final in August 1963. After securing promotion to the top-flight in 1972, in order to get the stadium ready for Bundesliga football, the old cycling track was partially removed to allow for additional spectator seating on the Gegengerade. Home crowds averaged 35,000 as the likes of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Schalke 04 and VfB Stuttgart were welcomed to the 'Zoo' and the official attendance record of 38,000 was set in 1974 when European Champions Bayern München came to town -  with some estimates putting the actual number who saw the match closer to 50,000 after wooden benches were hurriedly added to the athletics track around the pitch. Following relegation in 1975 however and Wuppertal's eventual tumble down the leagues, the stadium fell into disrepair and was only saved from demolition when it became a listed building in 1983.

In 1991, the decision was made to give the stadium a new lease of life although its protected status meant that the subsequent renovation work was both complex and expensive as designers married future ambition with history by building a new ground within the bowls of its predecessor.

The bulk of the DM 31million budget was spent on a new 5,000-seater main stand (the old one had been closed in 1988 over safety concerns) and preserving the stadium's historic 'Shield Wall' façade. Opened in 1993, the result is an impressive looking, all-seater, double-tier affair with a sweeping glass and steel roof that follows the ground's original oval outline. The changing rooms, players tunnel, media and VIP facilities are all found here along with a viewing area for disabled fans. However, even though it's the only covered section of the ground, its 'open' design offered no protection from the wind and rain that blew through the concourse on our visit – not ideal in what is officially the wettest city in Germany.

In 2005 work began to completely remove the cinder running track and cycling velodrome; and build new stands behind each goal closer to the pitch. The Nordtribüne offers concrete terraces open to the elements for 4,800 home fans and at the opposite end of the ground, the identical Südtribüne is given over to visiting clubs to create a considerably sized Gäste Block. Both terraces cost around €1m to build although financial problems meant that construction was continuously delayed, and it took the (supervised) efforts of unemployed Wuppertal fans to finally complete them in mid-2008. The existing main stand was then 'moved' closer to the action by adding four metres to the width of the pitch. The stadium’s legacy as a former dump for Wuppertal’s paint industry and the costs involved with cleaning up the contaminated land however meant that plans to install undersoil heating were shelved.

Conversion of the stadium into a pure football venue was completed when 1,500 seats were installed at the front of the otherwise fully terraced Horst-Szymaniak Tribüne (the old Gegengerade) in irregular rows - a legacy of Wuppertal's time in the Bundesliga during the 1970s when extra seating was bolted onto the cycling track to cope with increasing demand. The team dugouts are located on this side of the stadium and as a result there's quite a procession of players and staff across the pitch at half and full-time.

Although the stadium no longer features a running or cycle track, the oval shape that hints at its former multi-purpose design can still be seen with the grassed banking in each corner. Behind the Nordtribüne, a grand Wilhelminian-period villa which used to serve as the stadium restaurant and administrative offices looks out over a forecourt behind the turnstiles, and four towering floodlights complete the look of this unique stadium.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to renovation work at the Stadion am Zoo, the first home games of the 2023-24 season will take place in the IMS Arena in Velbert (IMS-Arena, Bahnhofstraße 116, 42551 Velbert ) until the end of October 2023.