The soccer stadium of Bochum is known as the Ruhrstadion or Stadion an der Castroper Straße and is home to the traditional club VfL Bochum (the VfL stands for ‘Verein für Leibesübungen‘ which translates to ‘association for physical exercise‘). The club was created in 1848, the stadium was opened in 1911 – but it was altered and extended several times since then. The Ruhrstadion is pretty close to the city center of Bochum which is pretty much unusual these days; many German stadiums have been shifted out in the past.
‘Du bist das Himmelbett für Tauben
– Herbert Grönemeyer, Bochum
Und ständig auf Koks
Hast im Schrebergarten deine Laube
Machst mit ‘nem Doppelpass
Jeden Gegner nass
Du und dein VfL’
The Ruhrstadion is a pure soccer stadium with a capacity for 26,000 spectators. It is therefore one of the smaller stadiums in the Bundesliga and hasn’t seen many international matches so far. But it is also sometimes used for concerts; by artists like David Bowie, Marius Müller-Westerhagen, Die Toten Hosen and of course Herbert Grönemeyer who was born at Göttingen but spent his youth at Bochum. He is considered as the most important VIP supporter of the VfL Bochum.
I came to the Ruhrstadion for a match of the VfL Bochum against the SV Werder Bremen. Freezing cold temperatures, only light beer, (pretty unusual!), but good bratwurst – that were the circumstances for a match located in the lower region of the scoreboard. I wouldn’t say it was a boring match, but one with few highlights. Good that in the end Niklas Stark at least scored the 1:1 equalizing goal at 90+3′.
Ruhrstadion
Castroper Straße 145
44791 Bochum
Germany
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