Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf
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The Stade de Suisse is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. It is the home ground of the Swiss football team BSC Young Boys, and is currently the biggest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland. The Stade de Suisse is one of the venues for the Euro 2008.
History
The Stade de Suisse was built on the grounds of the former Wankdorf Stadium, which had been demolished in 2001. The new stadium has a capacity of 31,784 spectators, all covered seats. Integrated into the roof are solar panels with a yearly production of 700,000 kWh. The stadium was officially opened on July 30 2005, although the first match in the new stadium had already taken place on July 16 2005. Young Boys played against Olympique Marseille and lost 2-3 with 14,000 spectators watching. The match was considered an "infrastructure test", which is why no more than 14,000 tickets were sold.The stadium was used by FC Thun for three Champions League home matches in 2005, and for one home match in the UEFA Cup Round of 32 this year.
The Hot Seat
A peculiar feature of the Stade de Suisse is the presence of a single, red seat (the other seats are black and yellow). This was the first seat installed at the new stadium, on January 20 2005, and the honour of unveiling it was given to former Young Boys player and manager Walter Eich. There are no tickets available for this seat; every game the seat is occupied by a notable personality, often with ties to Young Boys.External links
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