The Hardturm
CHAMPIONS
LEAGUE
Hardturm - the home of
Grashopper club
Since, 1909, Grasshopper-Club have played
their home games in the Hardturmstrasse.
The Sportanlage Hardturm, which is used
only for football matches, was opened on
28th April 1929 with a friendly match against
Unione Sportiva Alessandria from Italy,
watched by around 15,000 spectators. The
stadium, which was very modern for the
time, offered considerable comfort and had
an efficient infrastructure.
However, only five years after the inaugura
tion festivities, the grandstand was destroy
ed by fire. Nevertheless, thanks to the deter
mination and generosity of Walter Schoeller,
it was possible to arrange for the construc
tion of a new stand immediately.
At the beginning of the 1950's, it became
imperative to carry out extension work on the
stand. As the necessary resources were not
available, the coach at the time, Willy Treml,
undertook a two-month world tour with his
team, and numerous matches were played to
raise the required funds. This unusual cam
paign enabled the West Stand to be built.
The stand is named after coach Treml, and is
the oldest grandstand section of the stadi
um.
During the 1954 World Cup, five matches
took place at the Hardturm, including the
third-place play-off, which saw Austria defeat
Uruguay 3-1. The first floodlit match in
Switzerland was also staged there in April
1956, in which Switzerland drew 1-1 with
future world champions Brazil.
The grandstand was again destroyed by fire
in 1968. However, this time it was possible to
reconstruct the stand. In the mid- 1980's, a
wide-ranging concept was drawn up which
provided for the renovation and extension of
the Hardturm in four construction phases.
The objective is for the stadium to be turned
into a modern and suitable sporting venue.
The Hardturm's current capacity is 20,046
seated places. Upon completion of the reno
vation work, the over
all capacity will incre
ase to 38,000. Ther is
no doubt that
Grasshopper-Club will
be able to profit in this
respect from the
UEFA Champions
League revenue!
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