HSV were not involved with the origins of the stadium, even though they own the current arena. Before the club moved to the current site they played at
Sportplatz at Rothenbaum. Bahrenfelder Stadion was the first stadium to be built on the site of the Volksparkstadion and the AOL Arena. It was inaugurated on 13 September 1925 with a match between FC Altona 93 and HSV. In front a crowd of 25,000, HSV lost 2–3. At the time the stadium was also known as Altonaer Stadion, however it was not the home ground of
FC Altona 93 (it was Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn). Altona was a large club of Germany that has long been surpassed by HSV. After a long break the stadium was finally renovated. Between 1951 and 1953 the stadium was rebuilt. On 12 July the stadium was opened as Volksparkstadion (The People's Park Stadium), named after its location at
Altona Volkspark (People's Park). Most of the building materials came from the ruins of
Eimsbüttel, a district of Hamburg destroyed under
Allied bombing. The new stadium could hold up to 75,000 and continued to be used for the various sporting events of the city. In 1963, when HSV qualified for the newly created
Bundesliga, they moved into the Volksparkstadion, a stadium that was both larger and more modern than
Rothenbaum. At this time, FC Altona missed the opportunity, and has struggled ever since. HSV then began to see some success in the Bundesliga, and managed to maintain their status for years to come. HSV won titles in 1979, 1982 and 1983. , May 2004 In May 1996, HSV decided to replace the unpopular Volksparkstadion with a brand new stadium, not only to help Germany get ready to host the Football World Cup, but also because it was getting increasingly more difficult to meet the safety standards with such an old facility. The old stadium was demolished, and the new arena was rotated 90° to provide an equal viewing experience for all the stands and to take advantage of sunlight. The estimated cost of the new stadium was
€90-100 million. The new arena serves both as a football ground and a concert hall. The capacity of the stadium during club matches is 57,000, which is reduced to 51,500 during international matches when the
standing sections in the north grandstand are converted into seated areas. The record attendance was attained in
Hamburger SV's victory over
Bayern Munich (1–0) on 30 January 2009, when 57,000 paying spectators were counted. The building permit for the new arena was issued on 30 April 1998. The new stadium removed the
track and field facilities that increased the distance between the pitch and the stands. The stadium was inaugurated on 2 September 2000 when
Germany played
Greece; the home team won 2–0. With the new stadium, HSV has managed to attain an average attendance of 50,000. In 2004, a museum dedicated to the history of HSV was opened. The stadium is a
UEFA category 4 stadium, the highest level of stadium under UEFA regulations, which makes it eligible to host
UEFA Europa League and
UEFA Champions League finals. A large clock was added to the northwest corner in 2001 to commemorate HSV's status as the only club to have played continuously in the Bundesliga since its foundation. The clock marked the time, down to the second, since the league was founded on 24 August 1963. However, after Hamburg's relegation to the 2nd tier, it was updated to reflect HSV's foundation. After the 2018–19 season though, the clock was ultimately taken down, replaced with the coordinates of the Volksparkstadion. In 2001,
AOL bought the naming rights to the Volksparkstadion for
€15.3 million, retitling the ground as the AOL Arena. In March 2007, the
HSH Nordbank bought the naming rights for €25 million, and the stadium was rebranded as the "HSH Nordbank Arena" in a six-year deal. From July 2010, the arena was called the Imtech Arena, after
Imtech bought the naming rights. After
Imtech's sponsorship ended in June 2015, the stadium reverted to its original name of Volksparkstadion. Due to
UEFA regulations, when the stadium had a sponsored name, it was referred to as the
Hamburg Arena for European matches. In the
2023–24 UEFA Champions League, the Volksparkstadion served as the home stadium for Ukrainian club
Shakhtar Donetsk, who are unable to play at their normal home stadium due to the
Russo–Ukrainian War. ==Tournaments hosted==