Ruhrstadion

Castroper Straße 145, 44791 Bochum

Today, the Ruhrstadion is the home of the VfL Bochum football club in the Grumme district northeast of the city centre.

As early as 1911, a sports field was built here for the first time, which from 1921 was expanded into a stadium with spectator facilities. In the 1950s, the "Stadion an der Castroper Straße", which originally also included athletics facilities, was given a grandstand with 2,700 seats, some of which were covered.

With VfL's promotion to the Bundesliga, the top German football league, in 1971, the stadium had to be adapted to the new requirements of professional sports. The athletics facilities were removed in favour of a pure football arena, the square was floodlit and the grandstands were gradually roofed over from 1976. The 38 load-bearing concrete girders still shape the image of the large sports facility today. The building construction office (Hochbauamt) of the city of Bochum was responsible for the conversion. On 21 July 1979, the modern sports facility, which has been registered under the name "Ruhrstadion" since 1972, was officially inaugurated.

Over the years, the stadium has been renovated several times and adapted to changing conditions. For example, the former standing-room grandstand is now equipped with seats. The conversions reduced the original capacity of 50,000 spectators to about half.

Since 2016, the Ruhrstadion has also been named after its sponsor, the Vonovia housing company.