Allianz Arena

The first stadium in the world with a full colour changing exterior.

Allianz Arena (; known as Munich Football Arena for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Munich, Germany, with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely known for its exterior of inflated ETFE plastic panels, it is the first stadium in the world with a full colour changing exterior. Located at Franz-Beckenbauer-Platz 5 at the northern edge of Munich's Schwabing-Freimann borough on the Fröttmaning Heath, it is the second-largest stadium in Germany behind the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

Lore & Background

Bayern Munich have played their home games at the Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season. The club had previously played their home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium since 1972. 1860 Munich previously had a 50 per cent share in the stadium, but, in 2006, sold this to Bayern for €11m to help resolve a serious financial crisis that saw 1860 facing bankruptcy. The arrangement allowed 1860 Munich to play at the stadium while retaining no ownership until 2025.

However, in July 2017 Bayern terminated the rental contract with 1860, making themselves the sole tenants of the stadium. The large locally based financial services provider Allianz purchased the naming rights to the stadium for 30 years. However, this name cannot be used when hosting FIFA and UEFA events, since these governing bodies have policies forbidding corporate sponsorship from companies that are not official tournament partners. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the stadium was referred to as FIFA WM-Stadion München (FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich).

In UEFA club, Nations League and international matches, it is known as the Fußball Arena München (Football Arena Munich), and it hosted the 2012 and the 2025 Champions League Finals, moved from 2023 as well as matches during UEFA Euro 2024. Since 2012, the museum of Bayern Munich, FC Bayern Erlebniswelt, has been located inside the Allianz Arena. In 2022, it hosted a first regular season National Football League (NFL) American football game played in Germany as part of the NFL International Series.

Reader's Guide

The stadium has a capacity of 71,000 for domestic matches and 68,000 for UEFA matches as of the 2012–13 season. The lower tier can seat up to 20,000, the middle tier up to 24,000, and the upper tier up to 22,000. 10,400 of the seats in the lower tier corners can be converted to standing room to allow an additional 3,120 spectators. The total capacity includes 2,000 business seats, 400 seats for the press, 106 luxury boxes with seating for up to 174, and 165 berths for wheelchairs.

The partial roof covers all seats. Allianz Arena also offers three-day-care centres and a fan shop, the FC Bayern Munich Megastore. Merchandise is offered at stands all along the inside of the exterior wall. Numerous restaurants and fast-food establishments are located around the stadium.

There are four team locker rooms, four coaches' locker rooms, and two locker rooms for referees. Two areas are provided where athletes can warm up (approx. 110 m2 each). There are also 550 toilets and 190 monitors in the arena. Patrons may park in Europe's largest parking structure, comprising four four-storey parking garages with 9,800 parking places.

In addition, 1,200 places were built into the first two tiers of the arena, 350 places are available for buses, and 130 more spots are reserved for those with disabilities. The stadium is located next to the Fröttmaning U-Bahn station on the U6 line of the Munich U-Bahn.

Did You Know?

The arena facade is constructed of 2,760 ETFE-foil air panels that are kept inflated with dry air to a differential pressure of 3.5 Pa.
The stadium can be spotted from Austrian mountain tops on clear nights, up to 50 miles (80 km) away.
Total concrete used during stadium construction was 120,000 m3, and total steel used was 22,000 tonnes.