Sportpark Ronhof | Thomas Sommer

Sportpark Ronhof | Thomas Sommer is an association football stadium in the district of Ronhof in Furth, Bavaria, Germany, and the home ground of Bundesliga team SpVgg Greuther Furth.

The stadium was originally opened on 11 September 1910 under the name Sportplatz am Ronhofer Weg gegenuber dem Zentral-Friedhof (English: Sports ground on Ronhof Lane opposite the central cemetery). It was expanded several times (max. 28,000 capacity) but later reduced to 15,500 and today holds a capacity crowd of 15,606.

History

Early history

On September 11, 1910, the stadium was inaugurated on the territory of the then still independent municipality of Ronhof. A small wooden grandstand, as well as standing walls, provided space for about 8000 people. SpVgg (Greuther) Furth is thus one of the German soccer clubs that have been playing on their current pitch for the longest time.

Just one year later, the grandstand was enlarged and provided with changing rooms and showers. This meant that 10,000 spectators could now watch the games. In 1919, the stadium was enlarged again - higher earthen walls and wider standing-room steps now provided space for 25,000 people.

In April 1945, the grandstand was hit during an air raid and burned out. An unroofed makeshift stand did its work until May 20, 1951, when the new main stand was inaugurated. It stood with few external changes until its demolition in 2016.

The stadium had a record attendance shortly before this inauguration: on April 1, 30,000 spectators came to the derby against 1. FC Nurnberg, causing the barrier to the pitch to collapse. Nevertheless, everything remained peaceful and the match ended 1-0. This record was set again on April 3, 1952, when 32,000 spectators filled the stadium, also against 1. FC Nurnberg. The match ended 3:3.

Financial problems

In 1983, due to the oppressive debt burden of SpVgg, the Sportpark Ronhof was sold to Horst Brandstatter (Playmobil) sold.

In 19

This page also has a version in other languages :  Шпортпарк Ронхоф (russian)