Veltins-Arena

Arena AufSchalke (German pronunciation: [aˈʁeːnaː ʔaʊfˈʃalkə]), currently known as Veltins-Arena (pronounced [ˈfɛltɪnsʔaˌʁeːnaː]) for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium with a retractable roof and slide-out pitch in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It opened on 13 August 2001 as the new home ground of FC Schalke 04. The stadium has a capacity of 62,271 for league matches and 54,740 for international matches. Its naming rights were sold to the German brewery Veltins in July 2005. The arena hosted the 2004 UEFA Champions League final, five matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the opening game of the 2010 IIHF World Championship and four matches at UEFA Euro 2024. It is also used for concerts and other sporting events.