Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion

The floodlight masts at the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion fold away when they are not in use. They have to: the ground sits beside Babelsberg Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the sightlines across it are protected.

Football has been played on this patch since 1924, when the Sportplatz an der Priesterstraße was laid out. The name changed in the 1950s to Karl-Liebknecht-Sportplatz, and the stadium standing there now opened on 10 July 1976 with a friendly between BSG Motor Babelsberg and the GDR Olympic side, which the national team won 5-0. It held 15,000 then. The record crowd came the following year, for a 1978 World Cup qualifier in which the GDR beat Malta 9-0.

Everything since has pointed downwards. A 2002 refurbishment brought new lighting and cut the ground to 9,254, of which only 1,482 were seats, once segregation and safety requirements were applied. The rebuild of 2010-11, paid for from the federal Konjunkturpaket II and the city budget, lifted it back to roughly 10,800, the bulk of that still terracing.

Two clubs share it. SV Babelsberg 03 play their men's football here in the Regionalliga, the fourth tier, and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam their women's football in the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga.