Top facts about Allianz Arena, the South Stars landing zone

The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, with a capacity of 70,000 for international matches and 75,000 for domestic games. It is the first stadium in the world with a complete color-changing facade, thanks to its outside of inflated ETFE plastic panels.

It is the second-largest arena in Germany, behind the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, and is located at 25 Werner-Heisenberg-Allee on the Fröttmaning Heath on the northern border of Munich's Schwabing-Freimann district.

Since the start of the 2005–06 season, FC Bayern Munich has played its home games at the Allianz Arena. From 1972 to 2005, the team had played its home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium.

1860 Munich originally had a 50% stake in the stadium, but Bayern Munich bought it for €11 million in April 2006 owing to 1860 Munich's financial difficulties.

was able to play in the stadium despite retaining no ownership until 2025 as a result of the agreement. Bayern Munich, on the other hand, canceled their renting agreement with 1860 in July 2017, leaving them the only tenants of the stadium.

The naming rights of the stadium were acquired for 30 years by Allianz, a significant local financial services business. This name, however, cannot be used while hosting FIFA or UEFA tournaments since these governing organizations have laws prohibiting corporate sponsorship from non-official tournament partners.

The stadium was known as FIFA WM-Stadion München during the 2006 FIFA World Cup (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich).

It is known as the Fußball Arena München in UEFA club and Nations League events, and it hosted the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final and will hold the future 2025 final, which has been relocated from 2023. Bayern Munich's museum, FC Bayern Erlebniswelt, has been housed inside the Allianz Arena since 2012.

A full coverage of the top facts about Allianz Arena, the South Stars landing zone

In this article, we will learn all about the stadium and its structure as well as its history with Bayern Munich and other clubs that have played in this arena. It is worth mentioning that we will also uncover any

top facts about Allianz Arena

, such as its metrics and the story behind its stands.

Now without any further introduction let us hop in the tour bus and get this tour of Allianz Arena going.

Allianz Arena name origin

A bit of history lesson has never hurt anyone. That is why we brought you a time machine to go back in time and meet the field in its prime days or even before its construction.

On October 21, 2002, voters were asked if a new stadium should be erected in this area and if the city of Munich should supply the required infrastructure.

The initiative was approved by around two-thirds of the voters. The Olympic Stadium's architect, Günther Behnisch, had previously rejected a significant rebuild as an alternative to building the new arena.

The stadium's façade is composed of see-through ETFE-foil panels that can be lighted from the inside and are self-cleaning, according to Swiss architect company Herzog & de Meuron. Construction began in late 2002 and ended at the end of April 2005.

The evolution

How did this stadium become what it is now? Let us find out in this section of top facts about Allianz Arena.

In connection with the arena development, the subway lines U6's Fröttmaning and Marienplatz stations were enlarged and upgraded. The Autobahn A9 was enlarged to three and four lanes in each direction to accommodate the increased traffic, and another exit was constructed to the A99 north of the arena.

The Allianz Arena hosted the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League final on May 19, 2012. Bayern Munich, who had been assigned as the home club, was poised to face

. After normal and extra time, the game was tied 1–1. Chelsea won on penalties.

Didier Drogba converted the game-winning penalty after Bastian Schweinsteiger's penalty struck

left post. Bayern unveiled the FC Bayern Erlebniswelt, a museum documenting the club's history, inside the Allianz Arena on May 25, 2012.

The FC Bayern emblem is currently displayed on the stand, with the words "FC Bayern München" written on one side and the club's slogan "Mia San Mia" written on the other.

Several additional changes have also been made, including the decoration of walls with photos from the club's history, the addition of redder, and the establishment of the FC Bayern store.

The controversy

This arena has been involved in some corruption which we will soon clarify in this section of

top facts about Allianz Arena

.

Between March 2004 and August 2006, a stadium-related corruption scandal dominated the football world and German courts.

Karl-Heinz Wildmoser, Sr., president of TSV 1860 Munich, his son Karl-Heinz Wildmoser, Jr., chief executive officer of Allianz Arena München Stadion GmbH, and two others were charged with corruption and taken into custody on March 9, 2004, in connection with the awarding of arena construction contracts.

Wildmoser, Sr. was freed on March 12th after agreeing to a plea deal. He vacated the president of the club three days later as part of the plea deal, and the inquiry into his actions was concluded on May 18th.

Karl-Heinz Wildmoser, Jr., his son, remained in detention. The court denied bail on the grounds of the danger of flight and obstruction of justice at a bail hearing on June 29. On August 23, 2004, the District Attorney charged him with fraud, corruption, and tax evasion.

Wildmoser, Jr. was accused of awarding the building contract at an inflated price, providing Alpine, an Austrian constructor, with inside information that helped Alpine obtain the contract, and receiving €2.8 million in exchange.

Karl-Heinz Wildmoser, Jr. was convicted and sentenced to four and a half years in jail by a Munich court on May 13, 2005. He was freed on bail while awaiting the outcome of his appeal. In August 2006, the Federal Court of Justice dismissed the appeal.

Allianz Arena opening

1860 Munich defeated 1. FC Nürnberg 3–2 in an exhibition match on May 30, 2005. The next day, Bayern Munich, the record German champions, faced the German national team in a match. Since early March 2005, both games had been sold out. TSV 1860's Patrick Milchraum scored the stadium's first official goal.

The inaugural "arena derby" between the two tenants took place on June 2, 2005, in response to great demand. TSV 1860 won that game 1-0 thanks to a goal by Paul Agostino.

Prior to the start of the season, both clubs' alumni teams competed in an exhibition game in front of a crowd of 30,000. All stadium features were extensively checked throughout the game.

On July 26, 2005, Roy Makaay of FC Bayern scored the stadium's first competitive goal in the semi-finals of the 2005 DFL-Ligapokal. VfB Stuttgart's Thomas Hitzlsperger scored the first goal in an official game by a visiting team in the same game.

won the game by a score of 2–1.

Owen Hargreaves of FC Bayern scored the first goal in a league game as the home team beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–0 in the 2005–06 Bundesliga season opening on August 5, 2005.

scored the first goal by a visiting team in a league game against 1860 Munich on September 9, 2005, in the 2. Bundesliga.

The game finished with a score of 12–2 in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,000–22,000 spectators who had journeyed to Munich from Dresden for the match. As a result, Dresden became the first visitor to win a league match at Allianz Arena.

Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose scored the opening goal against

in a league game at Allianz Arena on November 5, 2005, in the first minute of play. This would be the visitors' lone goal on the day, as FC Bayern won the game 3–1.

FC Bayern Munich set a new record for consecutive sell-outs by selling out all 10 of its home games at Allianz Arena.

Allianz Arena Construction

The stadium's construction began on October 21, 2002, and was completed on May 30, 2005. Architects Herzog & de Meuron are the major designers.

The stadium is constructed with an elevated esplanade that separates the main entrance from the parking space, which includes Europe's largest subterranean car park. The stadium's roof contains built-in roller blinds that can be pulled back and forth during games to give sun protection.

Now, let us get into the details for the next part of

top facts about Allianz Arena

.

Façade

The arena facade is made up of 2,874 ETFE-foil air panels that are inflated to a differential pressure of 3.5 Pa with dry air. Here is an impressive fact of top facts about Allianz Arena: When viewed from afar, the panels look white, but closer inspection reveals little dots.

The eye mixes the dots and perceives white when viewed from afar. However, when examined closely, it is easy to see through the foil. The foil is 0.2 millimeters thick. Each panel may be lighted in one of three colors: white, red, or blue.

For each game, the panels are lighted in the colors of the home team—red for Bayern Munich, blue for TSV, and white for the German national team. When the stadium is a neutral location, such as the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, white is also utilized.

Although other colors, multicolor, or changing lighting systems are theoretically feasible, the Munich Police Department insists on employing a single-color lighting scheme owing to a number of automobile accidents on the neighboring A9 Autobahn caused by drivers distracted by the changing lights.

The revolutionary stadium-facade lighting design pioneered by Allianz Arena has since been emulated by other newly-constructed venues, such as MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which is lit in blue for the National Football League's Giants and green for the Jets.

With light expenses of around €50 (USD$75) per hour, the structure generates enough light that, on clear nights, the stadium can be seen from Austrian mountain tops, for example, from a distance of 50 miles (80 km).

Surroundings

Another beautiful fact of top facts about Allianz Arena has hidden itself in this section.

Visitors approach the stadium through a park meant to detangle and direct them to the entrance from the metro station immediately south of the arena. An esplanade rises gradually from ground level at the subway station entrance to the stadium's entry-level, effectively forming the parking garage's cover.

The Fröttmaning Hill, with its windmill on the other side of the Autobahn, provides a fantastic perspective of the stadium.

The Romanesque Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, the city of Munich's oldest edifice constructed for religious reasons, is also located there, along with its replica, a concrete artwork that serves as a memorial to the village of Fröttmaning, which vanished with the construction of the Autobahn.

Allianz Arena Capacity

Let us talk about the Allianz Arena capacity for this section of the article as it is one of the most important sections of a stadium.

One of the top facts about Allianz Arena is that the stadium's authorized capacity grew from 69,000 to 71,000 people as a result of the city's approval of improvements on January 16, 2006. (including standing room). Up to 20,000 people can sit on the bottom tier, 24,000 in the middle tier, and 22,000 in the upper tier.

An extra 3,120 spectators can be accommodated by converting 10,400 seats in the lower tier corners to standing rooms. There are 2,000 business seats, 400 press seats, 106 luxury boxes with seating for up to 174 people, and 165 berths for wheelchairs and other special needs.

Seat fill-up statistics

The venue has been able to hold 69,901 people during league and DFB-Pokal games since the second part of the 2005–06 Bundesliga season, but due to UEFA restrictions, the capacity has remained at 66,000 seats for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup games.

Bayern Munich's league and cup games are limited to 69,000 spectators. Although the partial roof covers all seats, rain can still fall on some of them due to strong gusts. Bayern Munich stated before the 2012–13 season that capacity had been expanded to 71,000 for domestic matches and 68,000 for UEFA matches, with 2,000 seats added to the upper tier of the arena.

Other facilities and rooms

The FC Bayern Munich Megastore and three day-care centers are also available at the Allianz Arena. Merchandise is sold at stands that run the length of the interior of the external wall, behind the seats. Around the stadium, there are several eateries and fast-food shops.

There are four team locker rooms (one for each of the two host teams and their opponents), four coach locker rooms, and two referee locker rooms. Warm-up places are available in two locations (approx. 110 m2 each). In addition, the arena has 550 bathrooms and 190 monitors.

Future plans

For the last section of top facts about Allianz Arena let us take a look at the future plans that the owners have for this stadium.

FC Bayern stated on April 28, 2013, that beginning with the 2013–14 Bundesliga season, it will sell 300 extra seats in the Südkurve.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stated on January 21, 2014, that FC Bayern is considering expanding the Allianz Arena. In the upper tier, around 2,000 more seats will be built, and approximately 2,000 additional tickets will be offered in the Nord- and Südkurve.

The capacity extension was completed in August 2014, resulting in a new maximum capacity of 75,024 for Bundesliga matches and 69,334 for foreign matches. The stadium's capacity was increased to 75,000 for Bundesliga games and 70,000 for Champions League games after an expansion was granted in January 2015.

Thank you for reading our top facts about Allianz Arena.

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