SV Werder Bremen

Location

Bremen, Germany, Germany

Capacity

42,100

Opened

1947

Time zone

UTC +01:00 Central European Time (CET)

Weserstadion is a football stadium in Bremen, Germany. The Weserstadion is scenically situated on the north bank of the Weser River and is surrounded by lush green parks (the name 'Werder' is a regional German word for "river peninsula"). The city center is only about a kilometre away. It is the home stadium of German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen. Artists that have performed at the stadium include Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Depeche Mode, Metallica, The Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses and Van Halen, among others. The stadium originally included an athletics track, but that was partially removed in 2002 when the pitch was sunk by 2.1 metres (6 ft 11 in) and the stands at the straights were lengthened to the new pitch. With this the capacity rose with about 8,000 places. In 2004 four office towers were built behind the north stand. These towers offer a restaurant and offices for the club and local companies. After various previous renovations, the stadium was expanded, completely rebuilt, and modernized from 2008 to 2011. The façade was coated with photovoltaic panels and a new roof was built on top of the old roof supporting structure (the old roof itself was torn down). Both ends (east and west) were torn down and rebuilt parallel to the endline of the pitch, removing what was left of the old athletics track. Since the rebuilding's completion at the start of the 2011/12 season, it has had a capacity of just over 42,000 seats for domestic matches and over 37,000 seats for international matches. The owner of the stadium is Bremer Weser-Stadion GmbH, which is owned half each by SV Werder Bremen and the city of Bremen.