Sportforum Hohenschönhausen

Sportforum Hohenschönhausen is a multi-purpose sports complex in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. The Sportforum was named Dynamo-Sportforum during the East German era.

The Sportforum athletics hall in 2006.

Sportforum Hohenschönhausen covers an area between 45 and 50 hectares, and comprises 35 sports facilities, including three ice rinks, two gymnasiums, a football stadium, as well as eight halls and open spaces for athletics, swimming, handball, volleyball, judo, fencing, archery, beach volleyball and football. The entire building ensemble (including the Dynamo-Sporthalle, built from 1956 to 1958), which was built from 1956 to designs by an architectural collective led by Walter Schmidt, is a protected building of cultural heritage. The Sportforum is the second largest sports complex in Berlin as of 2019.[1]

One of the main users of the Sportforum is the Olympiastützpunkt Berlin (OSB). More than 300 national team athletes regularly train on the grounds. The Sportforum is the largest Olympic training center in Germany. In addition, there are eleven recognized regional service centers with around 800 national team athletes, a location for the Berlin School and Competitive Sports Center (formerly known as the sports school "Werner Seelenbinder"), the "House of Athletes" with around 200 boarding school places, and the Institute for Sports Science of the Humboldt University of Berlin, with approximately 500 students, and about 20 other sports clubs. More than 3,000 athletes use the Sportforum every day.

Among other main users are BFC Dynamo, Eisbären Berlin junior teams, SC Berlin and SSG Humboldt zu Berlin, but also other clubs use the Sportforum as a training ground, such as Berlin TSC, Füchse Berlin, ALBA Berlin junior teams, SC Charlottenburg, SV Preußen Berlin or SG Weißensee. In total, players from around 30 clubs use the Sportforum.[1]

Ice sports arenas
Main article: Wellblechpalast

The Wellblechpalast opened on the sports complex in 1963. It was the home arena of the ice hockey department of SC Dynamo Berlin, and served as the home arena of its continuation, the Eisbären Berlin, until 2008. The arena has a seating capacity for 4,695 people.

A 400 m speed skating indoor arena opened on 17 November 1986, and was the first covered speed skating oval in the world, one day prior to Thialf in Heerenveen which hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men later that season.

Speed skating track records

Football stadium
Stadion im Sportforum
Stadion im Sportforum in 2006.
Former namesDynamo-Stadion im Sportforum
AddressWeißenseer Weg 53,
13053 Berlin Weißensee
Public transitSportforum (M13), Sandinostraße (M5)
OwnerState of Berlin
Capacity13,500
Record attendance20,000 (BFC Dynamo-Liverpool F.C., 29 November 1972)[2]
Construction
Opened1970
Renovated2005-2006
Construction cost1 million Mark
Tenants
BFC Dynamo

The current stadium was completed in 1970 and initially held a capacity of 20,000 spectators. It replaced the Sportplatz Steffenstraße, which had previously occupied the site and which had already been used by BFC Dynamo and its predecessor, the football department of SC Dynamo Berlin. The first match of SC Dynamo Berlin in 1954 took place at the site.[3] The team played its first seasons at the Walter-Ulbricht-Stadion, but moved to the Sportplatz Steffenstraße in 1960.

A match between SC Dynamo Berlin and SC Leipzig at the Sportplatz Steffenstraße in the Dynamo-Sportforum in 1965.

After the opening of the new stadium, BFC Dynamo played only one league season at the site, before the club moved its home matches to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Prenzlauer Berg in 1971, which became vacant when FC Vortwärts Berlin was relocated to Frankfurt an der Oder. From then, BFC Dynamo used the Sportforum primarily as a training facility.

As a result, the stadium was rarely used for larger matches. However, BFC Dynamo played its 1972-73 UEFA Cup matches against SCO Angers, Levski Sofia and Liverpool F.C. at the stadium. The attendance of 20,000 spectators during the match against Liverpool F.C. on 29 November 1972 is still the record attendance for the stadium as of 2019. First division football returned to the stadium in 1986, as the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark was under renovation during the 1986–87 season. BFC Dynamo also played its 1986-87 European Cup match against Swedish champion Örgryte IS at the stadium.

BFC Dynamo, under the interim name FC Berlin since February 1990, returned to the Sportforum in 1992. The club used the stadium for its Oberliga Nordost home matches. The stadium now had a capacity of 11,000 standing places and 2,500 seated places, of which 400 were roofed. Subsequently, BFC Dynamo also made plans to buy the stadium, but which eventually failed due to lack of financial resources.

The stadium was renovated during the 2005–06 season, to include new fences and player tunnels required to meet security standards. Following its advance to the Regionalliga Nordost in 2014, and the subsequent higher media and spectator interest, BFC Dynamo returned permanently to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark from the 2014–15 season. However, BFC Dynamo played matches at the Stadion im Sportforum in 2019 due to the deteriorating state of the floodlights at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, which resulted in a temporary closure of the stadium, and are set to return to the Stadion im Sportforum for the 2020–21 season, as the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is planned to be demolished in 2020 and then completely redeveloped.[4][5] The DFB has classified the Stadion im Sportforum with a possible third division standard, if only a few small requirements are met, such as new press seats and a better separated press block.

  • Inside the Dynamo-Sporthalle during an Atheltics Festival in 1958.
  • Athlete Ingrid Föst of SC Dynamo Berlin during the Werner-Seelenbinder-Gedenkturnier in the Dynamo-Sporthalle in 1963.
  • Inside the swimming hall during the East German Swimming Championship in 1976.
  • Michael Schulz of BFC Dynamo and defending Mario Roth of FC Vorwärts Frankfurt, during a match at the Dynamo-Stadion im Sportforum 1986.
  • The Dynamo-Sporthalle in 2006.
  • The Wellblechpalast in 2006.
  • The speed skating oval during 2008–09 ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Berlin in 2008.
  • A match between BFC Dynamo and Türkspor Futbol Kulübü at the Stadion im Sportforum in the 2017-18 Berlin Cup.

See also

References
  1. "Sportforum Berlin". www.berlin.de (in German). Berlin: State of Berlin. n.d. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  2. "Europa League - Spielinfo - Europa League 1972/73, Achtelfinale - BFC Dynamo - Liverpool 0:0". Kicker Online (in German). Nuremberg: Olympia Verlag GmbH. n.d. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  3. "Auf eigenem Platz ist Motor Ob Favorit". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Berlin: Berliner Verlag GmbH. 9 January 1954. p. 4.
  4. Brandbeck, Leonard (4 May 2019). "Absturzgefahr - Das Licht bleibt aus". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Berlin: Verlag Der Tagesspiegel GmbH. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  5. Mohren, Johannes (18 July 2019). "Mit neuem Stil die Fans begeistern". www.rbb24.de (in German). Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. Retrieved 6 August 2019.


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