The yellow pylons that support the roof of the stadium, gigantic metal wasp legs, are visible from miles around. In Dortmund, they have become an emblem, as the Ruhr city vibrates as much for its stadium and its atmosphere as for the successes of the resident team, the Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund (BVB) and its black and yellow colors. Nowhere else in Germany is a stadium the subject of such devotion.
With 81,000 seats in its maximum configuration, Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park – or Westfalenstadion to purists and old-timers – is the largest stadium in Germany; and consequently Euro 2024. Inaugurated in 1974, “the temple”, as fans call it, does not exclude any symbol of the region: the passageways, the stairs, the stands, the steel beams are painted in dark gray or black, reinforcing the darkness of the place, with a few touches of yellow. A tribute to the colors of the players’ jerseys of course, but it’s impossible not to think of the kilometers of galleries dug in the subsoil of the Ruhr by miners, at the time when coal and steel were the power of the region.
The locker rooms, also dark gray, are supposed to reflect the spirit of simplicity of the people of the Ruhr. “Here, we don’t show manners. The benches are made of wood, the showers are simple, even for a multi-million player”laughs Johannes Brems, a Borussia Dortmund fan who shows us around the place, humorously scratching Bayern Munich, a major national competitor, supposed to have lost this original spirit.
As for the emblematic south stand of the stadium, that of the ultras, with their deafening chants and their impressive choreographies, it is the object of a cult in its own right. Nicknamed the Gelbe Wand, the “yellow wall”, it offers stands unique in Europe, able to accommodate 25,000 people standing. The open space, very close to the pitch, and places costing less than twenty euros are essential conditions for these performances. They allow supporters to be tight against each other and to move more easily. Being in it promises a moment of“ecstasy” and of “collective communion”, in the words of fans.
The reputation of this “wall” – to which some supporters attribute the almost magical power to score goals – weighed heavily in the arrival of the most famous German coach, Jürgen Klopp, in 2008. The latter forged his legend by leading the BVB, then moribund, at the top of European football until 2015.
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