Merkur Arena - SK Sturm Graz - The World Stadium Tour

Описание: The Liebenauer Stadium, sponsored as the Merkur-Arena (formerly known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium and UPC-Arena), is in the Liebenau area of Graz, Styria, Austria.
The ground is the home of the football clubs SK Sturm Graz and Grazer AK.
In 1996, construction began on the new stadium, which was to be named after bodybuilder, actor and former governor of the U.S. state of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was born near Graz.
It was built from 1996 to early 1997 and is owned by Stadion Liebenau Betriebs GmbH.
In December 2005, when Schwarzenegger did not stop the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, an intense discussion in his hometown began about what to do with the stadium that bore his name.
After some days, Schwarzenegger revoked the city of Graz's right to the use of his name, ending the debate.
On the night of 26 December 2005 the name was removed from the stadium. The remaining part Stadion Graz-Liebenau was removed on 17 February 2006 and on 18 February 2006 the stadium was renamed to UPC-Arena.
In March 2016 the Austrian insurance company Merkur Versicherung secured the rights to bear a name and the stadium was renamed to Merkur-Arena.
In 2023, the city of Graz renamed the forecourt of the Merkur Arena to Ivica-Osim-Platz ('Ivica-Osim-Square'), a long time player and trainer of SK Sturm Graz, who had died the previous year.
The Merkur-Arena has an official capacity of 15,400 in 27 sectors. At Champions League games of the SK Sturm Graz, some additional platforms were built so that the stadium had a capacity of 16,000 spectators.
Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga.
In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian football championship three times, in 1998, 1999 and 2011, and participated several times in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
Their biggest rivals are Graz neighbours Grazer AK, with whom they share their stadium, the Merkur Arena.

SK Sturm Graz was founded in 1909 as a workers team, as opposed to its neighbours Grazer AK, founded in 1902.
Between 1921 and 1949, the team enjoyed considerable success in winning the regional Styrian championship 11 times.
In 1949, Sturm entered the Austrian national league as the first non-Vienna-based team.
A study published in 2008 by the German market research institute Sport + Markt showed that Sturm have around 360,000 fans across Austria, which is only second to the number of Rapid Wien supporters.
In Europe, there are estimated to be 410,000 fans, which ranks them as the 117th-most supported club.
There are several organised fan groups – the biggest and most well-known are Jewels Sturm and the Brigata Graz, which were both founded in 1994, and Grazer Sturmflut, founded two years later in 1996.
Sturm have a big rivalry with cross-town rivals Grazer AK, with whom they compete the Graz Derby
Landsat / Copernicus, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, IBCAO, U.S. Geological Survey, Maxar Technologies, CNES / Airbus, Geoimage Austria