Heinz-von-Heiden-Arena
Hannover, Germany
Formerly: Niedersachsenstadion, AWD-Arena, HDI-Arena
The address says most of what needs saying about how this ground carries its past: Robert-Enke-Straße 1, in the west of Hannover. The name on the roof has changed four times over.
It opened as the Niedersachsenstadion in 1954, drawn up by Richard Konwiarz and Heinz Goesmann from an idea of Rudolf Hillebrecht's, and it was built to hold athletics as much as football. In that configuration it took crowds that today's arena could not: 79,124 came for Germany against England in 1968.
The conversion in 2003–2004, handled by Schulitz + Partner Architects, closed that distance deliberately. The pitch was shifted west, the tracks lifted out, a roof carried over every stand, the lighting and the video boards replaced. The work cost €63.04m, with €21.47m committed in public support and €23.17m actually paid out. What came back was a football ground of 49,000 seats — all seated, all covered — where before there had been a multi-purpose bowl of far greater reach.
Then the sponsors arrived. It became the AWD-Arena in 2002, the HDI-Arena in 2013, and since 2022 the Heinz-von-Heiden-Arena, under a deal running to 2027. Hannover 96 have played through all of it. During the 2006 World Cup the ground was licensed for 44,652.
The playing surface is hybrid grass, laid in the summer of 2023 and ready for the season that followed.
Who plays here
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Hannover 96
143 matches
Recent matches here
| Date | Match | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Sep | Hannover 96 — Karlsruher SC | 2:2 |
| 16 Aug | Hannover 96 — VfL Wolfsburg | 0:1 |
| 1 Aug | Hannover 96 — PEC Zwolle | 3:0 |
| 7 Jul | Hannover 96 — Phönix Lübeck | 3:1 |
| 17 May | Hannover 96 — FC Nurnberg | 3:3 |
| 3 May | Hannover 96 — Preussen Munster | 3:3 |
| 18 Apr | Hannover 96 — SC Paderborn 07 | 1:1 |
| 5 Apr | Hannover 96 — SV Elversberg | 1:1 |