<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: DSC Arminia Bielefeld | Opening: 1926 | Capacity: 26,515 (8,005 standing)<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

The Sch\u00fccoArena, originally called Melanchthon Alm, officially opened on 1 May 1926 with a match between Arminia Bielefeld and Viktoria Hamburg (1-5).<\/p>\n

The stadium initially only consisted of earth banking, and remained like this for the next three decades. In 1954, the earth banking finally got replaced with concrete stands, and capacity rose to about 20,000 places.<\/p>\n

When Arminia started to flirt with promotion to the Bundesliga in the 1960s, first a new south stand got built, and when the club finally promoted in 1970, a new west stand and temporary structures on the other sides followed. Capacity increased to over 30,000 places.<\/p>\n

In the following two decades, Arminia\u2019s fortunes declined again, and the \u201cAlm\u201d slowly fell into disrepair.<\/p>\n

In the mid 1990s, Arminia\u2019s successes returned and plans were made for a complete redevelopment of the stadium. A new main and north stand opened in 1999, and a new south stand followed two years later. The project was completed in 2008 when a new east stand opened.<\/p>\n

In 2004, the \u201cAlm\u201d was renamed Sch\u00fccoArena following a sponsorship deal.<\/p>\n

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