Olympiastadion (Munich)

The three square kilometer and largely undeveloped Oberwiesenfeld was selected as the centerpiece of the Olympic Games. Due to the proximity to the city center, Munich was able to promote the games with the slogan "Olympia of the short ways", which contributed to the decision-making process. Since the Oberwiesenfeld had served as a parade ground of the Bavarian cavalry regiment and later mainly military purposes, it was – except for armaments works – free of buildings. From 1931 to 1939 the Munich Airport was located on the Oberwiesenfeld. After the World War II, the debris rubble of the bombing of the city was piled up, from which the Olympic Mountain emerged. This was intentionally created in an oval shape, so that it could be used as a tribune foundation for a stadium.

In 1964, Munich opened an architectural competition for the planning of a large stadium, which was won by the offices of Henschker from Brunswick and Deiss from Munich. Their stadium design was integrated into an overall concept.[10] In the planning of 1965, the stadium was planned to hold around 100,000 spectators, although later the capacity was reduced for the purpose of reusability. The plans were integrated into an overall concept, with the addition of a multi-purpose arena and a swimming pool on a large, concrete surface. Under the concrete slabs, supply systems and parking lots were to be built.[10] On 26 April 1966, the IOC announced that Munich had prevailed against the other candidates Detroit, Madrid and Montreal. Thus the stadium construction was decided. The original plans of the Olympic Park and the stadium were criticized because of a lack of unity in the urban planning. In addition, the Association of German Architects suggested to avoid any monumentality at the sports facilities because of the Nazi past. The plans were finally rejected.

In February 1967, an architectural competition was again advertised, in which by the deadline of 3 July 1967 a total of 104 drafts were submitted, one of which came from the architectural firm Behnisch & Partner. The architect Günter Behnisch and his employee Fritz Auer planned to build the stadium, the Olympic Hall and the swimming pool closely adjacent to each other west of the Olympic Tower, for which the base already existed.[11] When a model was built at a scale of 1: 1000, the employee Cordel Wehrse came up with the idea of laying a tent roof construction over the three buildings. He had become aware of Frei Otto's tent roof construction at the World Fair in Montreal through a newspaper article.[11] Together with Carlo Weber and Heinz Isler the model was supplemented with wooden sticks and parts of a women's stocking.[11] The architects thought of the Olympic roof as a circus tent.

Finally, the model was submitted on the deadline. It was already eliminated after the first round by the jury, as it was considered too daring. However, the juror Egon Eiermann intervened and campaigned together with Mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel and NOK President Willi Daume, among others, for the model. Ultimately, the reviewers voted for the plan of Behnisch & Partner, which emerged as the winner of the competition. The decision was announced on 13 October 1967. In addition to the stadium designed for 90,000 spectators, which was then reduced to about 80,000, the model convinced with its surrounding landscape architecture and the tent roof construction. Thus, it fulfilled the leitmotif of the games: human scale, lightness, bold elegance and unity of the landscape with nature. In addition, the possibility of reuse was given.[11] Even with regard to short distances, the model convinced the jury.

Panoramic view of the Münchener Olympiastadion

To make room for the arena, the terminal building of the old airport had to be blown up. On 9 June 1969 work began on the stadium, the multi-purpose Olympic arena and swimming pool. However, it was only on 14 July 1969 with the laying of the cornerstone in a symbolic ceremony that the construction officially begun. In addition to the three buildings emerging on the Oberwiesenfeld, the Werner von Linde Hall, a volleyball hall, the Olympic Radstadion, the Olympic Village and various other buildings such as stations for U-Bahn and S-Bahn were built. During the time of the construction there was a spirit of optimism in Munich. The inner city received a pedestrian zone between Marienplatz and the Stachus and the metro was implemented. on the Oberwiesenfeld alone, there were 60 construction sites. From a total of 1.35 billion German marks, 137 million were used in the construction of the Olympic Stadium and another 170.6 million in the tent roof. About 5,000 construction workers worked at the construction site for more than one million hours. Contrary to the custom of German construction, the Olympic Stadium was built largely without prefabricated parts.

According to Behnisch, the stadium was to be a "democratic sports venue" according to the ideas of the Mayor of Munich Hans-Jochen Vogel and the specifications of the Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt, creating a contrast to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin during the period of National Socialism, the hitherto single summer Olympics in Germany. Since the time of National Socialism, Munich had the reputation of being the "capital of the Nazi movement". The Olympics were intended to help improve Munich's reputation. The foundation's deed stated that the planned games should "bear witness to the spirit of our people in the last third of the 20th century".[11]

Behnisch wanted Frei Otto as a partner architect, whose tent roof construction at the EXPO 1967 in Montreal was a model for the stadium tent roof. Otto had already been involved in numerous construction projects with suspended and membrane structures and became the development consultant for the Olympiastadion tent roof construction. In addition to Behnisch and Otto, an architect team was also formed to realize the roof construction, including Fritz Leonhardt and Wolf Andrä. The planning management was done by Fritz Auer. Otto developed parts of the roof by means of the trial-and-error principle by making larger models of the roof construction, while Andrä and Leonhardt developed the roof with a CAD program elsewhere. Under the direction of civil engineer Jörg Schlaich, the roof over the stadium was completed on 21 April 1972. But the planned flat tent roof to cover an additional 15,000 seats in the eastern stands of the stadium, was never built (in total some 60,000 seats would have been under a tent roof).

Already in the summer of 1970 the shell of the buildings was finished and on 23 July 1970 the topping-out ceremony was celebrated. The plans for the stadium had forgotten to allocate cabins for football teams in the stadium interior. For this reason, from 24 May 1972 to the official opening of the stadium on 26 May 1972, two medical rooms were provisionally converted into changing rooms. There was enough room to set up a room for paramedics and referees as well. Later, the cabins were further equipped and remained in place. At the turn of the year 1971/1972 the main works were finished and at the end of June 1972 the finished buildings were handed over to the organizing committee. The planning, construction and financing of the buildings were controlled by the 1967 founded Olympia-Baugesellschaft mbH Munich, which was founded by the Federal Republic of Germany, the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Munich. The stadium is property of the Olympiapark München GmbH, a society wholly owned by the City of Munich's Referat für Arbeit und Wirtschaft.

TSV 1860 München football match

Following the Olympics, the stadium became the home of FC Bayern Munich. In 1979 the ground was host to the 1979 European Cup Final in which Nottingham Forest won the first of their consecutive European Cups.

In the 1990s Bayern Munich's rivals TSV 1860 Munich moved into the stadium. The two teams coexisted in the Olympiastadion until 2005, when both clubs moved to the purpose built Allianz Arena.

Borussia Dortmund won the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final at the Olympiastadion.

In 2011 and 2012, there were non-championship DTM events hosted in the Olympiastadion

On 6 to 11 August 2002 the 18th European Athletics Championships were held at the Olympiastadion and the event will repeat in 15–21 August 2022.

Since 2005, it is the host of the yearly air and style snowboard event.

On 31 December 2006, the stadium made history as being the first venue to host the Tour de Ski cross-country skiing competition. The individual sprint events, held at 1100 m, were won by Norway's Marit Bjørgen (women) and Switzerland's Christoph Eigenmann (men). The snow was made in the stadium by combining the hot air with the cold refrigerated water that causes the snow to act like the icy type one would see in the Alps.

It was not used in the 2006 FIFA World Cup due to the Allianz Arena being the host stadium in Munich.

On 23 to 24 June 2007, the stadium was host to the Spar European Cup 2007, a yearly athletics event featuring the top 8 countries from around Europe.

The DTM touring car series held its first stadium event there in 2011: a Race of Champions-style event which took part over a two-day period, although it was not a championship scoring round.[12] Edoardo Mortara won the first day, and Bruno Spengler the second.[13][14] The event was repeated in 2012, but the stadium withdrew in 2013 because it proved impossible to turn it into a points-scoring event.[15]

On 17 May 2012, the ground played host to the 2012 UEFA Women's Champions League Final in which Olympique Lyonnais won their second consecutive trophy. The attendance of that game was a record for a UEFA Women's Champions League Final. On 19 May 2012 it hosted the "Public Viewing" of the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final which took place at Allianz Arena in Munich.

In August 2020, it was announced that Türkgücü München who have been promoted into third division will be playing a couple of their home matches on the ground. On 10 October 2020, after more than eight years, Olympiastadion was due to host a professional football match of Türkgücü München against SV Wehen Wiesbaden.

The 2022 European Athletics Championships are taking place at the stadium.

The stadium was one of the venues for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

The following games were played at the stadium during the World Cup of 1974:

Date	Time (CEST)	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Round	Spectators
15 June 1974	18.00	Italy	3–1	Haiti	Group 4	53,000
19 June 1974	19.30	Haiti	0–7	Poland		25,300
23 June 1974	16.00	Argentina	4–1	Haiti		25,900
6 July 1974	16.00	Brazil	0–1	Poland	Third place match	74,100
7 July 1974	16.00	Netherlands	1–2	West Germany	Final	75,200

The stadium was one of the venues for the UEFA Euro 1988.

The following games were played at the stadium during the Euro 1988:

Date	Time (CEST)	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Round	Spectators
17 June 1988	20.15	West Germany	2–0	Spain	Group A	63,802
25 June 1988	15.30	Soviet Union	0–2	Netherlands	Final	72,770

[16]

• 26 May 1972 West Germany – USSR 4–1 (Friendly, stadium opener)
• 9 May 1973 West Germany – Yugoslavia 0–1 (Friendly)
• 7 July 1974 West Germany – Netherlands 2–1 (1974 World Cup Final)
• 22 May 1976 West Germany – Spain 2–0 (Euro 1976 Qualifier)
• 22 February 1978 West Germany – England 2–1 (Friendly)
• 2 April 1980 West Germany – Austria 1–0 (Friendly)
• 22 September 1982 West Germany – Belgium 0–0 (Friendly)
• 17 November 1985 West Germany – Czechoslovakia 2–2 (1986 World Cup qualifier)
• 17 June 1988 West Germany – Spain 2–0 (Euro 1988 Group match)
• 19 October 1988 West Germany – Netherlands 0–0 (1990 World Cup qualifier)
• 26 March 1996 Germany – Denmark 2–0 (Friendly)
• 9 October 1999 Germany – Turkey 0–0 (Euro 2000 qualifier)
• 1 September 2001 Germany – England 1–5 (2002 World Cup qualifier)