Peter Weihs, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Aenneken de Kaarst, Germany, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
KAMiKAZOW, CC BY 3.0-2.5-2.0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Merkur Spiel-Arena is a German retractable-roof soccer stadium located in Düsseldorf. It seats 51,500 and is home to Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Owner
- Ville de Düsseldorf
Architect
- JSK Architekten
History
The official inauguration of the stadium took place on January 18, 2005, in front of 44,583 spectators, during a friendly match between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayern Munich. Following a naming contract, the stadium was named LTU Arena. LTU is a German low-cost airline. It was renamed ESPRIT arena from July 1, 2009 to 2018, Esprit being a German ready-to-wear clothing manufacturer.
Built at a total cost of 218 million euros, the building was partly financed by the city of Düsseldorf with a contribution of 63.9 million euros. A subsidy of 10.23 million euros was provided by Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW).
The stadium hosted the finals of the NFL Europa (World Bowl) in 2005 and 2006. The stadium was also a candidate for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Fortuna Düsseldorf, who play in Germany’s second division (2. Bundesliga), are the stadium’s resident club. From the end of January 2009 until the end of the 2008-2009 season, the Merkur Spiel-Arena will host the home matches of neighboring Bayer Leverkusen, a club in Germany’s top division (1. Bundesliga), due to the renovation of its stadium, the BayArena.
- This arena hosted the 56th Eurovision Song Contest in 2011.
