Eisstadion am Kobelhang

The Eisstadion am Kobelhang is a structure born from the community in 1949 when local donations built Germany’s first club-owned ice arena. The old rink held natural ice and crowds of 16,000, a capacity that shrank to 7,000 after a roof was added in 1963. The current facility, with its artificial surface and 3,691 seats, is a federal training centre, a quiet place for development rather than a roaring cathedral of memory.

The venue hosted an Olympic qualification match in 1963, where East Germany lost to West Germany 3:4. Two years later, it saw the first leg of the inaugural 1965/66 European Cup final, where EV Füssen suffered a 4:6 defeat to TJ ZKL Brno. That crowd watched a match against a Canadian team. Today, the arena stands in the Füssen-West district, at Am Eisstadion 2. It is a functional building, stripped of the grandeur that once defined it. The wind blows through the town, and the ice stays cold. The name changed from Kobelstadion to Eisstadion am Kobelhang, and later to BLZ Arena, but the location remains the same.