<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: none | Opening: 1931 | Capacity: 50,865 seats<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

Ernst Happel Stadion, initially called Prater Stadion, got built between 1929 and 1931. A new large\u00a0omni-sports stadium had been a longstanding wish of the city of Vienna.<\/p>\n

Construction of the stadium took 23 months, and it officially opened on 11 June 1931 with the Workers Olympiad. The stadium consisted of two bowl-shaped tiers that could hold about 60,000 spectators.<\/p>\n

However, with the increasing popularity of football after the war, the Prater Stadion was soon in need of expansion. In 1956 therefore a third tier was added to bring capacity to 91,150.<\/p>\n

A few years later, in 1960, a record\u00a0attendance of 90,726 was set\u00a0during an international between the Austrian and USSR national teams.<\/p>\n

By the 1980s, several standing areas had already been converted into seats, hereby reducing capacity to just over 70,000, when in 1984 a grand redevelopment was announced. The works included the construction of a roof and the conversion of the stadium into an all-seater. Capacity was further reduced to under 60,000.<\/p>\n

In 1993, the name of the stadium was changed to\u00a0Ernst Happel Stadion in honour of the legendary Austrian player and manager.<\/p>\n

Ernst Happel Stadion was further refurbished for the Euro 2008<\/a> tournament, which included the placement of temporary bleachers in front of the permanent stands. During the tournament, it hosted three group matches, a quarter-final, a semi-final, and the final between Spain and Germany (1-0).<\/p>\n

Over the years, the stadium hosted four Champions League and European Cup finals<\/a>, starting in 1964 with the final between Internazionale and Real Madrid (3-1), followed by Porto versus FC Bayern (2-1) in 1987, AC Milan versus Benfica (1-0) in 1990, and Ajax versus AC Milan (1-0) in 1995.<\/p>\n

Ernst Happel Stadion furthermore hosted the 1970 Cup Winners\u2019 Cup final between Manchester City and Gornik Zabrze (2-1).<\/p>\n

Between 2014 and 2016 the stadium was the home of Rapid Wien while they built the new Allianz Stadion<\/a> in place of their old Gerhard Hanappi Stadion<\/a>. In 2016, it was the turn of Austria Wien to move into the stadium when they started works on rebuilding their Generali-Arena<\/a>, which will be finished in 2018.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Ernst Happel Stadion has significantly aged, and the Austrian FA has therefore expressed the desire to build a new national stadium. However, at the moment there seems little appetite from the city to build an expensive new stadium that would only get used a few times per year.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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(photos of the present Ernst Happel Stadion below)<\/p>\n

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