Olympic Stadium (Wrocław)

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Olympic Stadium
Wroclaw stadion olimpijski z bramy.jpg
Full name Olympic Stadium in Wrocław
Former names Schlesierkampfbahn
Location Wrocław, Poland
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Owner City of Wrocław
Capacity 35,000
Surface Grass (football)
Shale (speedway)
Construction
Built 1926 to 1928
Opened 1928
Renovated 1935 to 1939
Architect Richard Konwiarz
Tenants
WTS Wrocław (Speedway Ekstraliga)
Devils Wrocław (Polish American Football League)
Giants Wrocław (Polish American Football League)

The Olympic Stadium (Polish: Stadion Olimpijski) is a multi-purpose stadium in Wrocław, Poland. It was built from 1926 to 1928 as Schlesierkampfbahn (English: Silesian Arena) according to a design by Richard Konwiarz, when the city of Wrocław (then Breslau) was still part of Germany. As of July 2015, it is used mostly for speedway racing, serves as the home stadium of Sparta Wrocław, and is also home to the Devils Wrocław and Giants Wrocław American football teams.

The stadium has a capacity now of 35,000 people and was supposed to be one of the main pitches on UEFA Euro 2012. The newly constructed Stadion Miejski was used for that event instead.

History

Stadium entrance.

The stadium was built as centre of a larger sports complex in the city district of Leerbeutel (now Zalesie), again extended from 1935 to 1939 and renamed Hermann–Göring–Stadion under the Nazi authorities. On 16 May 1937, it was the site of the legendary Breslau Eleven football match, when the Germany national football team defeated Denmark 8–0. Despite its current Polish name, the arena has never been an Olympic Games site (in particular, for the 1936 Summer Olympics); however the builder Richard Konwiarz achieved a bronze medal in the art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles for his architectural design.

Heavily devastated during the Siege of Breslau in World War II, the stadium was rebuilt by the Polish municipal administration and named after General Karol Świerczewski. From the 1970s it was used by the Wrocław University School of Physical Education and comprehensively modernized with floodlights and an undersoil heating. The Wrocław city administration assumed ownership in 2006 and had the speedway racing track rebuilt, whereafter the smaller football pitch no longer meets the requirements of UEFA stadium categories.

The speedway track is 387 metres (423 yd) in length.

Past events

The stadium has hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000. It also was a venue of the Speedway Grand Prix of Europe in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Speedway World Finals

Individual World Championship

World Pairs Championship

World Team Cup

* The Great Britain Speedway Team contained riders from the Commonwealth nations until the early 1970s. Mauger, Briggs and Moore were from New Zealand, Airey from Australia and Wilson from England.

Speedway World Cup

Speedway Grand Prix

See also

External links

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