SC Freiburg opened its new Europa Park stadium with a sporting performance, but the name does not suit all fans. Organisationally, there were still a few hiccups and Christian Streich and Co. in particular will need time to get used to the new stadium. Nevertheless, these are minor issues in view of the project’s tough history.
For a short while, one had the impression that these scenes were still part of the choreography of the opening show. Before the kick-off of the first professional match of SC Freiburg in the new Europa Park stadium, dancers and acrobats from the ensemble of the name-giver offered a colourful, finely tuned spectacle on the pitch, including stately firework effects. A few minutes later, Vincenzo Grifo provided such a bang effect with his wonderful shot into the corner. “It couldn’t have gone any better for me,” said the free spirit in Freiburg’s attacking play later, beaming with joy at the honour of having also scored the last Bundesliga goal at the Dreisamstadion in the 3-0 farewell party against Augsburg.
Grifo scores first two goals in new stadium
The generous distance the surrounding St.-Pauli players kept from Grifo seemed rehearsed for a long time. A good ten minutes later, coach Timo Schultz’s professionals set the stage for the Italian international to score his second goal. Nice gifts from Hamburg, who ultimately lost 0:3 and had been chosen as the first opponents because of the friendly ties between some of the people in charge on both sides and common ground in terms of values and club management culture.
St. Pauli’s president Oke Göttlich unceremoniously boarded the speaker’s platform in the new business area before the game and handed SC’s sporting director Jochen Saier a bottle of red wine with the label: “No wine for the fascists.” In addition, Saier’s fellow board member Oliver Leki, honorary president Fritz Keller, head coach Christian Streich, SC record coach Volker Finke and other Freiburg players may now take their places as figures in the model of the Millerntor Stadium. Göttlich praised the completion of the Breisgau club’s new home as a “great achievement” and would certainly not mind travelling to a league match next season.
There is still work to be done before the first competitive match
The Sport-Club’s first competitive match will be against Leipzig the Saturday after next and, despite the successful premiere from a sporting, organisational and atmospheric point of view, there are still a few things to do before then. Tomorrow, Friday, the turf will be replaced at short notice, as the previous one did not provide sufficient grip, with large tufts of grass coming loose after almost every action. The floodlight failure, which lasted barely a minute after just over an hour, will also not have been part of the schedule, nor will the fact that mobile internet reception was severely limited, despite only 15,000 people being present.
These things, however, will probably be remedied quite quickly, but it will understandably be some time before a real home feeling is achieved. “When home games are held in one place for me for 30 years and suddenly they are in another place – how is that supposed to get used to. It’s completely unfamiliar, I feel the same as the spectators who are there for the first time,” Christian Streich described his feelings. These are intensified by the fact that he and his team are still training at the Dreisamstadion and only drove up by bus 75 minutes before the game, almost like an away game.
“We have to stay with ourselves and continue to work well in terms of content. “
SC SPORTING DIRECTOR JOCHEN SAIER
“The stadium is ready to play right on time. We may be able to move completely with the professionals from the coming internationals onwards and use these great new facilities and training pitches every day,” explained Saier, who warned despite this milestone in the club’s history, which may lead to less dependence on transfer revenue in the future economically: “We all know that a great stadium and nice dressing rooms don’t score goals. We have to stay with ourselves and continue to work well in terms of content.” This is the only way to enjoy the new stadium in the long term, he added.
Fans criticise stadium name
At least the outstanding start to the season simplifies the difficult changeover process. “We have a lot of points for matchday seven. That totally helps, I’m god-awful for the players and for us,” Streich revealed, looking ahead: “At some point we’ll have had the second, third and fourth game here and then it won’t be so unfamiliar.” Board member Leki also emphasised: “A stadium is also a social place. This is now to become the new home of the SC, while it is human that it takes time for everyone to find their place.” However, some fans, who generally criticise the marketing of the stadium, do not agree with the name. At the start of the match, for example, a protest banner with the words “This has nothing to do with football. Mooswaldstadion” at the bottom of the fans’ standing tribune.
Nevertheless: The time it takes to feel at home will probably remain manageable for most, compared to the history of this “lighthouse project that will shine far beyond the city limits”, as Leki calls it. He recalled more than ten largely tough years, the preliminary examination of 25 sites in 2013 and the winning referendum two years later. A defeat in the referendum at that time would have blocked SC’s long-term future in professional football, but now the “foundation has been laid for the decades to come”, said Leki, who with all his comrades-in-arms still had to get through the construction phase, which had been complicated and prolonged by the pandemic, since the foundation stone was laid on 19 March 2019. The great relief on the day of the inauguration was clearly evident to all involved.
Freiburg’s Lord Mayor Martin Horn took the opportunity to highlight the sustainable, socially and ecologically valuable elements of the large new building between the airfield and the university’s Faculty of Technology: The world’s largest solar system on a stadium roof, which is scheduled for completion in early 2022, the innovative heating concept using waste heat from neighbouring industrial plants, the emergency generator powered by battery storage instead of diesel fuel, the 144 wheelchair spaces and 3,700 bicycle parking spaces, as well as the promotion of e-mobility in the area around the stadium.
As things stand at present, 20,000 of the 34,700 seats will be available for use against Leipzig. But even the 15,000 visitors against St. Pauli provided a real football feeling in the cramped arena, which was still unusual due to the Corona restrictions. “I walked back into the stadium after my substitution from the showers, it was really great atmosphere, it was mega resounding,” Grifo found: “Against Leipzig, we’ll give full throttle, look forward to the fans and continue where we left off.” After two 3-0 home victories in a row with three goals of his own against the Champions League participants from Saxony, the German-Italian has his work cut out for him. It remains to be seen whether Leipzig will be keen to take part in this Grifo choreography.
