Volkswagen Arena is a multi-purpose stadium

Multi-purpose stadium

Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...

 in Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG...

, Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and serves as the home stadium for 2008/09 Bundesliga

Fußball-Bundesliga

The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

 champions VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

. The Volkswagen Arena replaced the former stadium of VfL Wolfsburg, the VFL Stadion

VFL Stadion

VfL-Stadion am Elsterweg is a multi-use stadium in Wolfsburg, Germany. It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the home matches of VfL Wolfsburg. The stadium was able to hold 21,000 people and opened in 1948. It was closed in 2002 when Volkswagen Arena opened. Now it is used by...

.

History

The Volkswagen Arena finished construction in 2002. Before completion, VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

 played their home games at the 20,500 capacity VFL Stadion

VFL Stadion

VfL-Stadion am Elsterweg is a multi-use stadium in Wolfsburg, Germany. It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the home matches of VfL Wolfsburg. The stadium was able to hold 21,000 people and opened in 1948. It was closed in 2002 when Volkswagen Arena opened. Now it is used by...

, where the amateur squad still plays. Currently the stadium is used mostly for the home games of VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

, and is the site where they won their first Bundesliga

Fußball-Bundesliga

The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

 title in the 2008–2009 season.

Uses

The stadium is mainly used to host Wolfsburg's

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

 home matches in all competitions. The stadium hosted Wolfsburg's

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

 first ever game in the Champions League along with their first win in the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

 when Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian striker Grafite

Grafite

Edinaldo Batista Libânio , commonly known as Grafite is a Brazilian footballer who plays for UAE Football League club Al-Ahli Dubai....

 scored a hat-trick

Hat-trick

A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...

 against CSKA Moscow, beating them 3–1, on 15 September 2009.
The Volkswagen Arena was used also used as one of the host stadiums for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup which was held in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.
The stadium has also been used for concerts and musical acts such as Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

 and Anastacia

Anastacia

Anastacia is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has had only minor success in her native United States...

.

Capacity

Wolfsburg's

VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...

 old VFL Stadion

VFL Stadion

VfL-Stadion am Elsterweg is a multi-use stadium in Wolfsburg, Germany. It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the home matches of VfL Wolfsburg. The stadium was able to hold 21,000 people and opened in 1948. It was closed in 2002 when Volkswagen Arena opened. Now it is used by...

 seated around 20,500 spectators. The new stadium was completed in time for the second half of the 2002–03 Bundesliga campaign. It has a capacity of 30,000 with about 8,000 being standing only and the other 22,000 of these being seated. The stadium also offers amenities such as a restaurant called the Soccer-Café.