Olympic Stadium (Wrocław)

Olympic Stadium
Stadion Olimpijski
Full name	Olympic Stadium in Wrocław
Former names	Schlesierkampfbahn (1928–1935); Hermann-Göring-Stadion (1935–1939)
Location	Wrocław, Poland
Coordinates	51°7′10″N 17°5′48″E / 51.11944°N 17.09667°E
Owner	City of Wrocław
Capacity	11,000
Surface	Artificial Grass (football); Shale (speedway)
Construction
Built	1926–1928
Opened	1928
Renovated	1935–1939
Architect	Richard Konwiarz
Tenants
	Sparta Wrocław (Speedway Ekstraliga); Panthers Wrocław (ELF)

The Olympic Stadium (Polish: Stadion Olimpijski) is a multi-purpose stadium in Wrocław, Poland. It is the home stadium of speedway team Sparta Wrocław and American football team Panthers Wrocław.

The stadium has a capacity now of 11,000 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

Gymnastics performances at the stadium in 1967

The stadium was built from 1926 to 1928 as Schlesierkampfbahn (Silesian Arena) according to a design by Richard Konwiarz. It was part of a larger sports complex in the city district of Zalesie (then Leerbeutel), again extended from 1935 to 1939 and renamed Hermann-Göring-Stadion under the Nazi German 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.

Covered stand

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. The stadium has hosted american football competition and motorcycle speedway competition at 2017 World Games.

Speedway World Finals

* 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

2001 – Australia (Jason Crump / Leigh Adams / Ryan Sullivan / Todd Wiltshire / Craig Boyce) – 68pts
2005 – Poland (Tomasz Gollob / Piotr Protasiewicz / Jarosław Hampel / Rune Holta / Grzegorz Walasek) – 62pts

Speedway Grand Prix

National football team matches

No	Date	Host	–	Opponent	Result
1.	2 November 1930	Germany	–	Norway	1:1
2.	15 September 1935	Germany	–	Poland	1:0
3.	16 May 1937	Germany	–	Denmark	8:0
4.	12 November 1939	Germany	–	Czech Republic	4:4
5.	7 December 1941	Germany	–	Slovakia	4:0
6.	14 May 1950	Poland	–	Romania	3:3
7.	10 May 1953	Poland	–	Czechoslovakia	1:1
8.	26 August 1956	Poland	–	Bulgaria	1:2
9.	21 June 1959	Poland	–	Israel	7:2
10.	22 October 1961	Poland	–	East Germany	3:1
11.	18 May 1966	Poland	–	Sweden	1:1
12.	28 July 1967	Poland	–	Soviet Union	0:1
13.	16 May 1973	Poland	–	Republic of Ireland	2:0
14.	7 September 1974	Poland	–	France	0:2
15.	12 November 1977	Poland	–	Sweden	2:1
16.	15 November 1978	Poland	–	Switzerland	2:0
17.	15 November 1981	Poland	–	Malta	6:0
18.	28 October 1983	Poland	–	Portugal	0:1
19.	24 March 1987	Poland	–	Norway	4:1