Ahorn-Sportpark

The complex sits on land that was once a landfill, a fact that does not show in the light-coloured concrete stands but shapes the setting. It opened in the middle of the 1980s, when the computer business next door was still a local giant. The main building has a sharp, tiered roof that catches the sky, and a red running track curves around the grass. That track is not an afterthought; it runs the full length of the pitch, separating the playing surface from the terraces.

SC Paderborn 07 do not stage their first-team matches here, which keeps the atmosphere away from the noise of a full football crowd. Instead, the ground is used for training and for the youth sides. The U17 and U19 teams play their league games on the main pitch, and the grass is always kept in good condition for them. The 4,000 seats are enough to hold a small gathering of supporters, but the real character comes from the squash courts that sit inside the main building. The Paderborner Squash Club has won the German Championship 17 times here, a record that stands without fanfare.

Things came to a head during the opening years, when the facility was still being fitted out. The first tenants were the squash players, who handed a debut to the complex before the footballers ever arrived. Today, the first team still rents the pitch for pre-season training, when the gates open and thousands of fans press against the railings. The wind goes straight through the open areas of the ground, and the artificial surface does not hold the mud like the old pitches used to. It is a quiet place for a city that once had a different kind of noise, a place where the track and the squash courts sit side by side.