Embdena-Stadion

Embdena-Stadion is a multi-use stadium in Emden, Germany. It is currently used exclusively for football matches and has been the home stadium of Kickers Emden since 1950.

History

The current name of the stadium was adopted in 2005 and comes from a local real estate and financial services firm under a sponsorship agreement. Between 1998 and 2005, the venue was named after a former president of the club, Dr. Helmut Riedl, and prior to those years it was simply known as "Kickers-Stadion".

The stadium is able to hold 12,000 people, which was the largest crowd during a third-division match between Kickers Emden and Hamburger SV's reserve squad on the final day of the 1993-94 season, but for security reasons its current capacity for competitive matches is limited to 7,200. From the 2007/2008 season onwards, competitive matches can again be played in evening hours, using floodlighting. This had been forbidden in the previous two "Regionalliga" seasons due to the fact that the floodlights were only able to produce 300 lux of light; at least 400 is required for clear television pictures. Thus, new floodlights were installed.

Kickers is planning to build a new stadium, since the Embdena-Stadion in its current shape will neither meet the standards for the coming nationwide "Dritte Bundesliga" (3rd League) from 2008/2009 onwards nor for 2. Bundesliga. If Kickers will not qualify for one of these leagues, no further construction work is necessary.

In the last season in the 4th League (2004/2005), the average attendance was around 1800. It has since increased to about 3600, as of March 2008.

Stands

The stadium is almost all-standing as there are only 400 seats on the main stand. About 3,200 standing places on the West Stand (Main Stand) as well as all seats there are roofed over. This stand hosts the teams, managers and other officials during the matches.

The stand on the opposite side (East Stand) hosts a small tower that is used by the announcer. The stand is known among the supporters as "Prinz-Heinrich-Tribüne" ("Prinz Heinrich stand"), which ironically describes the average age of the fans standing there, many of them wearing a sailor's hat known in North Germany as [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prinz-Heinrich-Mütze "Prinz-Heinrich-Mütze"] .

The North Stand, ironically also known ab "Bushaltestelle" (bus stop) due to its little height, hosts part of the home supporters, the others stand "just around the corner" on the Main Stand.

The South Stand is left for away supporters and capable of holding up to 2000 spectators - a figure which only a few times has been reached by away fans since Kickers' promotion to the 3rd league in 2005. An electronic scoreboard is situated behind this stand.