Stade de Suisse Wankdorf - Berne

// March 4th, 2008

Stade de Suisse Stadium Information

Name: Stade de Suisse Wankdorf ( built on the grounds of the former Wankdorf Stadium, which had been demolished in 2001)
Inauguration: July 30th 2005
First match: Young Boys Berne - Olympique Marseille
Capacity: 32,000

Club Information:

Club: BSC Young Boys
Inauguration: 1896
Performances:

- won the Swiss Super League 11 times ( last time in 1986 )

- won the Schweizer Cup 6 times

- reached the 1959 European Cup semi-final against Stade Reims( the highest performence of the Swiss football yet )

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 6 – Netherlands - Italy Mon. 9th June 20:45

Match 14 – Netherlands - France, Fri 13th June 20:45

Match 21 – Netherlands - Romania, Sun 17th June 20:45

Stade de Suisse Wankdorf :

Stade de Suisse is the stadium where the swiss team BSC Young Boys plays and with a capacity of 32,000 is currently the second biggest all-seater stadium in Switzerland. It was built on the grounds of the former Wankdorf Stadium, which was demolished in 2001 and cost nearly 350 million euros. It has an artificial turf surface called Polytan Ligaturf 240.

A peculiar feature of the Stade de Suisse is the presence of a single, red seat (the other seats are black and yellow). It was the first seat installed on the stadium and is usually occupied by a very important personality. In 2005, FC Thun played its Uefa Champions League home matches on Stade de Suisse.

Berne

The Swiss capital, Berne (German spelling Bern), is also capital of the country’s second largest canton and a university town. The old town, dominated by the Minster (or basilica), is built on a sandstone ridge encircled on three sides by the Aare, flowing in a valley 35-40 m/115-131ft deep. High-level bridges link it with the high ground on the right bank and with the newer parts of the city. The charming older part of Berne still preserves its original layout.

The houses, with their arcades on street level (6km/ 4mi of arcades altogether) and their projecting roofs, reflect the prosperity of the citizens of Berne in the 18th C. Most of the attractive fountains, painted in lively colors, were the work of Hans Gieng (1540-45).

The industries of Berne include textiles, machinery, chocolate, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, the graphic trades and electrical equipment, and it also has a considerable trade in agricultural produce. Over 12% of its working population are employed in administration, the highest proportion of all Swiss towns.

The town is believed to have been founded on its excellent defensive site by Berchtold V of Zähringen in 1191. The bear on the Bernese coat-of-arms, together with the bear-pit, commemorate the legend according to which a bear was the first animal to be killed by Berthold V in the year in which the city was founded.

After the Zähringen dynasty died out the Emperor Frederick II granted Berne self-government and its own law court. In the Battle of Laupen (1339) the Bernese, led by Rudolf von Erlach, defeated the Burgundian nobility.

In 1353 Berne became a member of the young Confederation, in which the military prowess of its citizens enabled it to play a leading role.
In 1528 the Reformation came to the town and by 1536 Berne was the largest city state north of the Alps. Since 1848 Berne has been the seat of the Federal Council and Federal Assembly; it is also the headquarters of important organizations including the Universal Postal Union (since 1874) and the international copyright and railroad unions, and of an institute attached to the University for research into tourism.

Notable people born in Berne include the 18th C. scholar Albrecht von Haller, the writer Jeremias Gotthelf (1797-1854) and the painters Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) and Paul Klee (1879-1940). The famous physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published his Theory of Relativity in Berne. Berne was awarded the honor of being judged the best European City in Bloom by “Entente Florale” and accepted by UNESCO as a world cultural center.

Category: Euro 2008 Stadiums
Teams in this article: France, Italy, Netherlands, Romania.