Allianz Arena – Bayern München Football Stadium « Munich – Germany »

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Allianz Arena is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 75,000 seating capacity. Widely known for its exterior of inflated ETFE plastic panels, it is the first stadium in the world with a full colour changing exterior. Located at 25 Werner-Heisenberg-Allee at the northern edge of Munich’s Schwabing-Freimann borough on the Fröttmaning Heath, it is the second-largest arena in Germany behind Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

FC Bayern Munich has played its home games at the Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season. The club had previously played their home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium since 1972. 1860 Munich previously had a 50% share in the stadium, but Bayern Munich purchased their shares for €11 million in April 2006. The arrangement allowed 1860 Munich to play at the stadium while retaining no ownership until 2025. However, in July 2017 the rental contract was terminated, making Bayern Munich the sole tenants of the stadium.

The large financial services provider Allianz purchased the naming rights to the stadium for 30 years. However, this name cannot be used when hosting FIFA and UEFA events, since these governing bodies have policies forbidding corporate sponsorship from companies that are not official tournament partners. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the stadium was referred to as FIFA WM-Stadion München (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich). In UEFA club matches, it is known as Fußball Arena München (Football Arena Munich), and it hosted the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final. The stadium has been nicknamed “Schlauchboot” (“inflatable boat”). Since 2012 the museum of Bayern Munich, FC Bayern Erlebniswelt, has been located inside the Allianz Arena.

Effective with the city’s approval of modifications that was granted 16 January 2006, the legal capacity of the stadium increased from 69,000 to 71,000 spectators (including standing room). The lower tier can seat up to 20,000, the middle tier up to 24,000, and the upper tier up to 22,000. 10,400 of the seats in the lower tier corners can be converted to standing room to allow an additional 3,120 spectators. The total capacity includes 2,000 business seats, 400 seats for the press, 106 luxury boxes with seating for up to 174, and 165 berths for wheelchairs and the like. From the second half of the 2005–06 Bundesliga season, the arena is able to accommodate 69,901 spectators at league and DFB-Pokal games, but because of UEFA regulations, the capacity remained at 66,000 seats for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup games. Bayern Munich limited capacity during their league and cup games to 69,000. The partial roof covers all seats, although winds can still blow rain onto some of them. Prior to the 2012–13 season, Bayern Munich announced that capacity had been increased to 71,000 for domestic matches and 68,000 for UEFA matches, with the addition of 2,000 seats in the upper tier of the arena.

Allianz Arena also offers three day-care centers and a fan shop, the FC Bayern Munich Megastore. Merchandise is offered at stands all along the inside of the exterior wall inside the area behind the seats. Numerous restaurants and fast-food establishments are also located around the stadium.

There are four team locker rooms (one each for the two home teams and their respective opponents), four coaches’ locker rooms, and two locker rooms for referees. Two areas are provided where athletes can warm up (approx. 110 m² each). There are also 550 toilets and 190 monitors in the arena.

On 28 April 2013, FC Bayern announced to sell 300 more tickets in the Südkurve starting with the 2013–14 Bundesliga season.

On 21 January 2014, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declared that FC Bayern discusses a further expansion of the Allianz Arena. About 2,000 new seats to be installed in the upper tier and about 2,000 more tickets are to be sold in the Nord- and Südkurve. In August 2014, it was reported that the capacity expansion was completed leading to a new maximum capacity of 75,024 in the Bundesliga and 69,334 in international matches. An expansion was approved in January 2015 to expand the stadium’s capacity to 75,000 for Bundesliga Games and 70,000 for games in the Champions League.

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