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Vfb Stuttgart’s home stadium has come a long way since it’s construction in 1933 and unfortunate moniker, Adolf-Hitler-Kampbahn. Built by architects Paul Bonatz and Friedrich Eugen Scholer, the stadium originally held 35,000 spectators but was expanded to 70,000 a few years later following a period of interest in competitive spots following on from the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin. After the war ended and the U.S occupation began, the ground was used for baseball gamed and was known as Century Stadium until 1949 when it began to be referred to by it’s longest serving name, Neckarstadion. Named after Neckar Park which the stadium is situated within, the ground began to host large International matches such as Germany Vs Switzerland where a record attendance of 103,000 was set. In 1959, Neckerstadion hosted European Champions Cup between Real Madrid and Stade Reims, as the European Cup Winners Cup a few years later in 1962. The Stadium proceed to host further events such as the 1974 World Cup Euro 1988 and the World Athletics Championship in 1993. Once again the 2006 Fifa World Cup provided Stuttgart’s ground with a financial imperative to redevelop, and adjustments were made throughout, bringing the stadium down to an all seating capacity of around 53,198. The most recent and significant redevelopments came after the World Cup when it was agreed that Neckerstadion should become a pure footballing arena, meaning that the athletics track should be removed. Starting on May 18t 2009, the work was completed in time for the 2009/2010 season much to the delight of fans ever since.

DRIVING As we’re in Germany, of course the stadium is going to have excellent road links with the Mercedes-Benz Arena accessible from the sections of motorway around Stuttgart such as the B10 and the B14. From there follow signs to Neckar Park and/or the stadium. Address: Mercedesstraße 87, 70372 Stuttgart (Bad Cannstatt) Car Parks Driving isn’t recommended due to the lack of on-site parking which is why those who drive often leave their cars west of the river and then walk the remaining distance. TRAIN The main train station of Stuttgart is known as Hauptbahnhof often listed as Stuttgart Hbf and it has excellent transport links to the rest of Germany with a new ICE high speed traffic line built in 1991 connecting the city to Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich. To get to the Mercedes-Benz-Arena on matchdays you can take an overground metro service (S1) known as S-Bahn in the direction of Kirchheim which will take you to a convenient stop named Neckarpark where it it less than a 5 minute saunter to the stadium. TRAM The tram or subway is another decent way to get to the stadion and it is often referred to as the U-Bahn. On matchdays a Stadtbahn line U11 will take you from the main railway station to the NeckarPark (Stadion) stop which is will drop you off on the opposite side of the stadium compared to the S-Bahn line listed above. AIRPORTS Stuttgart International Airport is located approximately 12km South, essentially opposite to the city centre in a straight line. Serving over 10 million passengers a year since 2006, Flughafen Stuttgart, is the 6th busiest airport in the country and has numerous flights to both Europe and far flung global destinations. Once you have landed and want to travel into the city, you can do using the Suburban railway line S2 or S3 from Stuttgart Flughafen/Messe Station or one of the many coach services.