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71-524: UEFA [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Volksparkstadion ( German pronunciation: [ˈfɔlkspaʁkˌʃtaːdi̯ɔn] ) is a football stadium in Hamburg , Germany, with a capacity of 57,000, which makes it the eighth largest stadium in Germany . It has served as the home ground of 2. Bundesliga side Hamburger SV since 1953. The Volksparkstadion has additionally served as

142-592: A Europa League game as a musical element of the competition's opening sequence. The competition's first anthem was composed by Yohann Zveig and recorded by the Paris Opera in early 2009. The theme for the re-branded UEFA Cup competition was first officially unveiled at the Grimaldi Forum on 28 August 2009 before the 2009–10 season group stage draw. A new anthem was composed by Michael Kadelbach and recorded in Berlin and

213-568: A cup winner). Since Gibraltar was accepted as a full UEFA member at the 24 May 2013 UEFA Congress in London, their cup winner also qualified for the Europa League. Although the other teams were the next-highest-ranked in each domestic league (after those qualifying for the UEFA Champions League), France and England continued to use one spot for their league-cup winners. With the abolition of

284-510: A district of Hamburg destroyed under Allied bombing . The new stadium could hold up to 75,000 and continued to be used for the various sporting events of the city. In 1963, when HSV qualified for the newly created Bundesliga , they moved into the Volksparkstadion, a stadium that was both larger and more modern than Rothenbaum . At this time, FC Altona missed the opportunity, and has struggled ever since. HSV then began to see some success in

355-569: A final against fellow Spaniards Espanyol . Zenit Saint Petersburg won in 2008. Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk , won in 2009, the first Ukrainian side to do so. Since the 2009–10 season, the competition was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League. At the same time, the UEFA Intertoto Cup , UEFA's third-tier competition, was discontinued and merged into the new Europa League. Atlético Madrid won twice in three seasons, in 2010 and 2012,

426-561: A greater number of berths in UEFA Cup to the more successful nations. Three nations had four places, five nations had three places, thirteen nations had two places, and eleven nations only one place. Since 1998, a similar system has been used for the UEFA Champions League . Before 1980, the entrance criteria of the last Fairs Cup was used. The competition was traditionally a pure knockout tournament. All ties were two-legged , including

497-502: A low of only 17,000. The next game, with the home side West Germany playing Australia, saw a bounceback with 53,300 in attendance (West Germany won 3–0). The attendance grew even more for the next match to 60,200 as home side West Germany played neighbouring East Germany . East Germany won the close game 1–0 with an 77th-minute goal. In 1988 the European Football Championship came to West Germany. The Volksparkstadion

568-500: A multiple-winner badge. As of 2016–17 , only Sevilla has earned the honour to wear the multiple-winner badge, having achieved both of the prerequisites in 2016 . The trophy was designed and crafted by Silvio Gazzaniga , who also designed the FIFA World Cup Trophy , working for Bertoni , for the 1972 UEFA Cup Final . It weighs 15 kg (33 lb) and is silver on a yellow marble plinth. 67 centimetres (26 in) tall,

639-432: A part of their M72 World Tour ; AC/DC in 2016 for their Rock or Bust World Tour ; Coldplay in 2016 for their A Head Full of Dreams Tour ; Rihanna in 2016 for her Anti World Tour ; P!nk in 2019 for her Beautiful Trauma World Tour , and Harry Styles in 2022 for his Love On Tour . Beyoncé in 2023 for her Renaissance World Tour , following by The Weeknd as part of his After Hours til Dawn Tour will perform at

710-401: A round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (all of the knockout games except the final are played over two legs). The league phase consists of each team playing a total of eight matches, with four at home and four away. The top eight teams from the league phase receive a bye to the round of 16, while the teams ranked 9th to 24th contest the knockout play-offs with the winners advancing to

781-460: A standard number of three berths (across both the Europa League and the Conference League), except: Usually, each country's places are awarded to teams who finish in various runners-up places in its top-flight league and the winner of the main cup competition . Typically the teams qualifying via the league are those in the highest places not eligible for the UEFA Champions League ; however,

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852-494: A third year in a row beating Liverpool in the 2016 final, making them the most successful team in the history of the competition with five titles. Atlético won their third title in 2018. The 2019 all-London final between Chelsea and Arsenal was the first UEFA Cup/Europa League final between two teams from the same city. Sevilla added a record-extending sixth victory in 2020, after defeating Inter Milan , and won an unprecedented seventh title in 2023. The UEFA Cup, also known as

923-601: Is no longer qualified through the cup berth. These rules became effective for the 2015–16 season. Beginning with the 2018–19 tournament , all domestic champions eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League will transfer to the Europa League, rather than just teams that are eliminated in the third-qualifying and play-off rounds. Europa League qualifying will also provide a separate champions route for these teams, allowing more opportunities for domestic league champions to compete against each other. If

994-513: Is on the S3 and S5 lines of the Hamburg S-Bahn and is also served from Schleswig-Holstein in the north by AKN railways . A free bus shuttle service is provided during football matches or other major events from Stellingen railway station and from Othmarschen railway station to the stadium. There are several large car parks around the stadium. The A7 runs close by and the stadium can be reached via

1065-466: The 2004–05 season a group stage was added before the knockout phase. The competition took on its current name in 2009 , following a change in format. The 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup , producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and a change in qualifying criteria. The winner of the UEFA Europa League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup , for

1136-561: The 2024–25 season, the winner of the Europa League can no longer defend their title as they automatically qualify for the Champions League league phase and teams cannot be transferred from that phase to the Europa League. From 1995 to 2015, three leagues gained one extra place via the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking . The format involves a league phase and a knockout phase consisting of preliminary knockout play-offs, followed by

1207-517: The Belgian league awards one place via a playoff between First A and First B teams. Before its discontinuation in 2020–21, France offered a place to the winners of the Coupe de la Ligue . A team may qualify for European competitions through more than one route. In all cases, if a club is eligible to enter the UEFA Champions League then the Champions League place takes precedence and the club does not enter

1278-521: The Coupe UEFA , is the trophy awarded annually by UEFA to the football club that wins the UEFA Europa League. Before the 2009–10 season , both the competition and the trophy were known as the 'UEFA Cup'. Before the competition was renamed the UEFA Europa League in the 2009–10 season , the UEFA regulations stated that a club could keep the original trophy for a year before returning it to UEFA. After its return,

1349-458: The Intertoto Cup , all participants in the Europa League are qualified through domestic routes. The higher an association is ranked in the UEFA coefficients, the later its members begin the qualification. However, every team except for the title-holder (until the 2014–15 season) and the highest-ranked (the cup winner or the best Europa League-qualified) from the top (six from 2012 to 2015, 12 since

1420-673: The Russo–Ukrainian War . The 1974 FIFA World Cup was held in West Germany and the Volksparkstadion was one of the stadiums used in the tournament. In combination with the 1936 Berlin Olympic Stadium , the two stadiums held all of the Group A games of the first phase. Three of those were played at the Volksparkstadion. The first game played was the match between East Germany and Australia (East Germany won 2–1) where attendance dipped to

1491-657: The UEFA Cup ), abbreviated as UEL , is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the second-tier competition of European club football , ranking below the UEFA Champions League and above the UEFA Conference League . Introduced in 1971 as the UEFA Cup, it replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup . The UEFA Cup

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1562-638: The UEFA Europa League , UEFA Europa Conference League , UEFA Nations League or the UEFA European Championship final tournament. UEFA does not publish lists of stadiums fulfilling the criteria for any of the categories defined in the UEFA Stadium Infrastructure Regulations. If a retractable roof is present, its use will be directed by consultation between the UEFA delegate and the main assigned referee. Although

1633-502: The UEFA Fair Play ranking winners (until 2015–16), and eleven places in the second qualifying round for the UEFA Intertoto Cup winners. Winners of the qualifying rounds then joined teams from the associations ranked 1–13 in the first round proper. In addition, non-qualifiers in the third qualifying round of the Champions League also joined the competition at this point along with the current title-holders (unless they had qualified for

1704-502: The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 in stadiums reaching 50,000 seats ( Estádio da Luz and Estádio do Dragão ) with none or reduced attendances. 350 E v (lux) vertical illuminance uniformity ratios U1h >0.35 and U2h >0.45 750 E v (lux) vertical illuminance uniformity ratios U1h >0.4 and U2h >0.45 1000 E v (lux) vertical illuminance uniformity ratios U1h >0.4 and U2h >0.5 UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (previously known as

1775-557: The mass media than the Fairs Cup. The title was retained by another English club, Liverpool , in 1973, who defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final. Gladbach won the competition in 1975 and 1979, and reached the final in 1980. Feyenoord won the cup in 1974 after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 4–2 on aggregate (2–2 in London, 2–0 in Rotterdam). Liverpool won the competition for the second time in 1976 after defeating Club Brugge in

1846-453: The (first) group stage of the Champions League. From the 2004–05 season, the competition started with two knockout qualifying rounds held in July and August. Participants from associations ranked 18 and lower entered the first qualifying round with those from associations ranked 9–18 joining them in the second qualifying round. In addition, three places in the first qualifying round were reserved for

1917-421: The 2015–16 season) associations had to play at least one qualification round. Except for the teams mentioned, all teams eliminated in the Champions League preliminary round, qualifying rounds and play-off round were transferred to the Europa League. The 12 winners and runners-up in the group stage advanced to the knockout round, with eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage. The distribution

1988-518: The Bundesliga, and managed to maintain their status for years to come. HSV won titles in 1979, 1982 and 1983. In May 1996, HSV decided to replace the unpopular Volksparkstadion with a brand new stadium, not only to help Germany get ready to host the Football World Cup, but also because it was getting increasingly more difficult to meet the safety standards with such an old facility. The old stadium

2059-419: The Champions League via their national league), for a total of 80 teams in the first round. After the first knockout round, the 40 survivors entered a group stage, with the clubs being drawn into eight groups of five each. Unlike the Champions League group stage, the UEFA Cup group stage was played in a single round-robin format , with each club playing two home and two away games. The top three teams in each of

2130-417: The Champions League, in addition to their other qualifying teams. More recently, clubs that are knocked out of the qualifying round and (prior to 2024–25) the group stage of the Champions League can also join the UEFA Europa League, at different stages (see below). Formerly, the reigning champions qualified for the Europa League to defend their title, but since 2015 they qualify for the Champions League. From

2201-461: The Europa League from 2021 onwards. With a majority of the former entrants into the Europa League now participating solely in the UECL, the Europa League itself would have a greatly reduced format which will focus primarily around its group stage. There would also be an additional knockout round before the knockout phase proper, allowing for third-placed teams in the Champions League group stage to fall into

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2272-515: The Europa League title holders already qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, the following changes to the access list would be made: The announcement of the UEFA Europa Conference League , a tertiary competition which would serve to split off the lower-ranked teams in the Europa League to give them a greater chance to compete, included a document from UEFA listing their intentions for qualification to

2343-470: The Europa League while still keeping the knockout stage itself at only 16 teams total. Changes would be made if the Europa Conference League title holders qualified through their league position: Changes will be made to the access list above if the Europa League or Conference League title holder qualifies for the tournament via their domestic leagues. Similar to the UEFA Champions League,

2414-417: The UEFA Europa League. The UEFA Europa League place is then granted to another club or vacated if the maximum limit of teams qualifying for European competitions is exceeded. If a team qualifies for European competition through both winning a cup and league placing, the "spare" UEFA Europa League place will go to the highest placed league team which has not already qualified for European competition, depending on

2485-492: The Volksparkstadion include those of: Michael Jackson , in 1988 as part of his Bad World Tour and 1992 as part of his Dangerous World Tour ; Tina Turner in 1996 during her " Wildest Dreams Tour " and in 2000 during her " Twenty Four Seven Tour "; Depeche Mode in 2009 during their Tour of the Universe and in 2013 during their Delta Machine Tour ; Metallica in 2014 as a part of their By Request Tour and again in 2023 as

2556-524: The Wednesday ten days before the Champions League final. Qualification changed significantly. Associations ranked 7–9 in the UEFA coefficients sent the cup winners and three (two since the 2015–16 season) other teams to the UEFA Europa League qualification; all other nations sent a cup winner and two other teams, except for Andorra and San Marino (who sent a cup winner and a runner-up) and Liechtenstein (who sent only

2627-492: The World Cup. The following games were played at the stadium during the World Cup of 2006: The stadium hosted the 2010 UEFA Europa League final , in which Spanish side Atlético Madrid beat English club Fulham 2–1. Volksparkstadion hosted five UEFA Euro 2024 matches, including four group stage matches and a quarter-finals match. The stadium's nearest railway station is Stellingen railway station . The station

2698-400: The club could keep a four-fifths scale replica of the original trophy. Upon their third consecutive win or fifth win overall, a club could retain the trophy permanently. Under the new regulations, the trophy remains in UEFA's keeping at all times. A full-size replica trophy is awarded to each winner of the competition. A club that wins three consecutive times or five times overall will receive

2769-411: The competition is Sevilla , with seven titles. Colombian striker Radamel Falcao holds the record of most goals (17) scored in a single season of the tournament. The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup , which was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The competition grew from 11 teams during the first edition ( 1955–58 ) to 64 teams by the last edition which

2840-673: The coordinates of the Volksparkstadion. In 2001, AOL bought the naming rights to the Volksparkstadion for € 15.3 million, retitling the ground as the AOL Arena. In March 2007, the HSH Nordbank bought the naming rights for €25 million, and the stadium was rebranded as the "HSH Nordbank Arena" in a six-year deal. From July 2010, the arena was called the Imtech Arena, after Imtech bought the naming rights. After Imtech 's sponsorship ended in June 2015,

2911-465: The cup for the third time in only eight years. Parma won the cup in 1999, the last win of the Italian-domination era. It was the last UEFA Cup/Europa League final appearance for any Italian club until Internazionale reached the 2020 final . The era of the 2000s began with victory for Galatasaray , the first Turkish team to win the trophy, defeating Arsenal . Liverpool won the competition for

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2982-450: The cup is formed by a base with two onyx discs in which a band with the flags of the UEFA member nations is inserted. The lower part of the sculpture symbolises the stylised footballers and is surmounted by a hand-embossed slab. A musical theme for the competition, the Anthem, is played before every Europa League game at a stadium hosting such an event and before every television broadcast of

3053-411: The current site they played at Sportplatz at Rothenbaum . Bahrenfelder Stadion was the first stadium to be built on the site of the Volksparkstadion and the AOL Arena. It was inaugurated on 13 September 1925 with a match between FC Altona 93 and HSV. In front a crowd of 25,000, HSV lost 2–3. At the time the stadium was also known as Altonaer Stadion, however it was not the home ground of FC Altona 93 (it

3124-500: The eight groups qualified for the main knockout round along with the eight third-placed teams in the Champions League group stage. From then on a series of two-legged knockout ties were played before a single-legged final, traditionally held on a Wednesday in May, exactly one week before the Champions League final. In the 2009–10 season , the competition was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League to raise its profile. Eight more teams qualified for

3195-549: The exit Hamburg-Volkspark. The stadium hosted the heavyweight unification boxing match between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye on 2 July 2011. Klitschko won by unanimous decision . The stadium sold out. The stadium hosted the German leg of the worldwide concert event Live Earth on 7 July 2007. Among the artists performing in Hamburg were Snoop Dogg , Eminem and Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam . Other musical performances at

3266-545: The final to Ajax on the away goals rule . Juventus won the competition for a third time in 1993. Inter Milan kept the cup in Italy in 1994. 1995 saw a third all-Italian final, with Parma proving their consistency after two consecutive Cup Winners' Cup finals. The only final with no Italians in the 1990s was in 1996. Internazionale reached the final the following two years, losing in 1997 to Schalke 04 on penalties, and winning another all-Italian final in 1998, taking home

3337-487: The final. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg (1982 and 1987) and Real Madrid (1985 and 1986) won the competition twice each, with Anderlecht reaching two consecutive finals, winning in 1983 and losing to Tottenham Hotspur in 1984. 1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs' domination, when Diego Maradona 's Napoli defeated VfB Stuttgart . The 1990s started with two all-Italian finals, and in 1992, Torino lost

3408-441: The final. Starting with the 1997–98 season , the final became a one-off match, but all other ties remained two-legged. Before the 2004–05 season , the tournament consisted of one qualifying round, followed by a series of knockout rounds. The sixteen non-qualifiers from the final qualifying round of the Champions League entered at the first round proper; later in the tournament, the survivors were joined by third-place finishers from

3479-445: The finals between 2008 and 2023 ( Luzhniki Stadium , Stadio Olimpico , Santiago Bernabéu , Wembley Stadium , Allianz Arena , Olympiastadion , San Siro , Millennium Stadium , Olimpiyskiy Stadium , Stade de France , Atatürk Stadium ) all had capacities of at least 70,000 seats—with the exceptions of 2014 and 2019 finals ( Estádio da Luz and Metropolitano Stadium ) held with capacities of 65,000 seats. Two finals were played during

3550-694: The following season's UEFA Champions League since the 2014–15 season, entering at the group stage, as well as for the UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge — a friendly cup against the winners of the CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana — since 2023. In the 2024–25 season, the group stage was replaced with an expanded league phase. Spanish clubs have the highest number of victories (14 wins), followed by teams from Italy (10 wins) and England (9 wins). The title has been won by 30 clubs, 14 of which have won it more than once. The most successful club in

3621-412: The group stage, which consisted of 12 groups with four teams each (in a double round-robin); the top two teams in each group advanced. The competition was then similar to the previous format, with four rounds of two-legged knockout rounds and a one-off final held at a neutral ground which met UEFA's Category Four stadium criteria . Matches are generally played on Thursdays. The final was played in May, on

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3692-499: The home ground for FC Shakhtar Donetsk in continental competition during the Russian invasion of Ukraine , and as a stadium for the Germany national football team . Recently, it has served as a host stadium for both the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024 . HSV do not have anything to do with the origins of the stadium, even though they own the current arena. Before the club moved to

3763-501: The knock-out stage triggered additional bonuses: €500,000 for the round of 32, €1,200,000 for the round of 16, €1,800,000 for the quarter-finals and €2,800,000 for the semi-finals. The losing finalists received €4,600,000 and the champions received €8,600,000. The UEFA Europa League is sponsored by seven multinational corporations, which share the same partners as the UEFA Conference League. The tournament's main sponsors for

3834-465: The latter in another all-Spanish final between them and Athletic Bilbao . In 2013, Chelsea became the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League the following year. In 2014, Sevilla won their third cup in eight years after defeating Benfica on penalties. In 2015, Sevilla won their fourth UEFA Cup/Europa League and, in an unprecedented feat, they defended their title

3905-774: The minimum stadium capacity for category four is 8,000, it is required to host the UEFA Europa Conference League final, and only one stadium with a capacity less than 60,000 has been selected to host a UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Euro finals and 30,000 for the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Nations League finals, since these regulations were introduced in 2006. After the 2007 Champions League final , UEFA President Michel Platini stated that he wanted European Cup finals to be held at stadiums with an average capacity of 70,000 to solve security issues. The hosts for

3976-462: The north grandstand are converted into seated areas. The record attendance was attained in Hamburger SV 's victory over Bayern Munich (1–0) on 30 January 2009, when 57,000 paying spectators were counted. The building permit for the new arena was issued on 30 April 1998. The new stadium removed the track and field facilities that increased the distance between the pitch and the stands. The stadium

4047-411: The prize money received by the clubs is divided into fixed payments based on participation and results, and variable amounts that depend of the value of their TV market. For the 2021–22 season , group stage participation in the Europa League awarded a base fee of €3,630,000. A victory in the group pays €630,000 and a draw €210,000. Each group winner earns €1,100,000 and each runner-up €550,000. Reaching

4118-432: The round of 16. The teams ranked 25th to 36th in the league phase and the losers of the play-offs are eliminated from the competition. The final is played at a neutral venue. The winner of the competition is entitled to participate in the UEFA Champions League league phase the following season. The competition's matches are usually played on Thursdays. UEFA coefficients were introduced in 1980 and, until 1999, they gave

4189-411: The rules of the national association, or vacated, if the described limit is reached. The top three ranked associations may qualify for a fourth berth if both the Champions League and Europa League champions are from that association and do not qualify for European competition through their domestic performance. In that case, the fourth-placed team in that association will join the Europa League instead of

4260-403: The stadium on 2 July 2023. Taylor Swift performed at the stadium on 23 and 24 July 2024 as part of her The Eras Tour . UEFA Elite stadium A stadium must be rated as category four in order to host games in the playoffs of the qualifying stage for the UEFA Champions League , or any game in the main competition. Category four is also required to host any game in the main competition of

4331-468: The stadium reverted to its original name of Volksparkstadion. Due to UEFA regulations, when the stadium had a sponsored name, it was referred to as the Hamburg Arena [ˈhambʊʁk ʔaˌʁeːnaː] for European matches. In the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League , the Volksparkstadion served as the home stadium for Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk , who are unable to play at their normal home stadium due to

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4402-411: The third time in 2001. In 2002, Feyenoord became winners for the second time, defeating Borussia Dortmund . Porto triumphed in the 2003 and 2011 tournaments, with the latter victory against fellow Portuguese side Braga . In 2004, the cup returned to Spain with Valencia being victorious. CSKA Moscow won in 2005. Sevilla succeeded on two consecutive occasions in 2006 and 2007, the latter in

4473-417: Was Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn). Altona was a large club of Germany that has long been surpassed by HSV. After a long break the stadium was finally renovated. Between 1951 and 1953 the stadium was rebuilt. On 12 July the stadium was opened as Volksparkstadion (The People's Park Stadium), named after its location at Altona Volkspark (People's Park). Most of the building materials came from the ruins of Eimsbüttel ,

4544-430: Was added to the northwest corner in 2001 to commemorate HSV's status as the only club to have played continuously in the Bundesliga since its foundation. The clock marked the time, down to the second, since the league was founded on 24 August 1963. However, after Hamburg's relegation to the 2nd tier, it was updated to reflect HSV's foundation. After the 2018–19 season though, the clock was ultimately taken down, replaced with

4615-406: Was changed in 2014 to broaden the competition's appeal, giving the Europa League champions a Champions League qualification berth, more teams automatically qualified for the group stage. If cup winners had already qualified for European competition through league performance, their place in the league is vacated and goes to the best-ranked teams not qualified for European competition; the cup runner-up

4686-457: Was chosen to be one of the host stadia. At the time the stadium could hold 61,200 spectators. The only game of the tournament that was played at the stadium was a semi-final that saw hosts West Germany lose to the Netherlands 1–2. The stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup . However, due to sponsorship contracts, the arena was known as FIFA World Cup Stadium Hamburg during

4757-417: Was demolished, and the new arena was rotated 90° to provide an equal viewing experience for all the stands and to take advantage of sunlight. The estimated cost of the new stadium was € 90-100 million. The new arena serves both as a football ground and a concert hall. The capacity of the stadium during club matches is 57,000, which is reduced to 51,500 during international matches when the standing sections in

4828-437: Was inaugurated on 2 September 2000 when Germany played Greece ; the home team won 2–0. With the new stadium, HSV has managed to attain an average attendance of 50,000. In 2004, a museum dedicated to the history of HSV was opened. The stadium is a UEFA category 4 stadium , the highest level of stadium under UEFA regulations, which makes it eligible to host UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League finals. A large clock

4899-414: Was launched as part of the competition's rebranding at the start of the 2015–16 season . A new anthem created by MassiveMusic was composed for the start of the 2018–19 season . It is also used for UEFA Conference League matches. Qualification for the competition is based on UEFA coefficients , with better entrance rounds being offered to the more successful nations. In practice, each association has

4970-419: Was played in 1970–71 . It was replaced by the UEFA Cup, a new seasonal confederation competition with different regulations, format and disciplinary committee. The UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, and ended with an all-English final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur , with Spurs taking the first honours. The competition has since gained greater prestige and interest from

5041-530: Was the third-tier European club competition from 1971 to 1999 before the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was discontinued, and it is still often referred to as the "C3" in reference to this. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions. In 1999 , the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was merged with the UEFA Cup and discontinued as a separate competition. From

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