BayArena: Bayer Leverkusen

Fynn Korsen / Flickr.com

Though the BayArena has been home to Bayer Leverkusen since 1958, it’s slightly misleading to suggest that the ground that exists now is the same one that opened all those years ago. Back then it was called Ulrich Haberland Stadium and was named after one of the former chairmen of Bayer AG - the pharmaceutical company that founded and owns the club. It used to have a capacity of 20,000.

In the 1980s a remodeling project was undertaken that developed different parts of the stadium at different times. Nowadays the ground is considered to have a very modern and contemporary feel, but in actual fact that was purely coincidental. The demands of a modern football stadium change from decade to decade and in the 1990s, in the middle of construction, they changed once more and so the design plan of the new ground changed too.

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BayArena Photos

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• View from pitch level View from pitch level
• View of the stands View of the stands
• BayArena backdrop BayArena backdrop
• Exterior View Exterior View
• View from stands View from stands
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BayArena Seating Plan & Where to Sit

Three sides of the stadium are two-tiered sections separated by a row of executive boxes. These are called Nordbereich, Ostbereich, and Westbereich thanks to their geographical location. There is one other section of the ground, the Sudbereich, that does not match up with the rest of the stadium. That’s because it is where a hotel is located, with a number of the rooms overlooking the pitch.

Bayer Leverkusen Ticket Prices

To be totally honest, the ticket pricing at the BayArena is a complicated affair, but at least they give you the information unlike most other European teams. Tickets are broken into four different categories with different prices available depending on your age. There are further prices for disabled supporters. We have done our best to simplify it a little below:

• Adults: Cat .I = €50 / Cat .II = €40 / Cat .III = €30 / Cat .IV = €15
• Concessions: Cat .I = €43 / Cat .II = €34 / Cat .III = €25 / Cat .IV = €11

How To Get Bayer Leverkusen Tickets

As with most major football clubs, Leverkusen’s official website is the best place to start for tickets. After that you can call the ticket office directly or pick up tickets from official retailers throughout the city.

Where to Buy

Getting To BayArena

Leverkusen is in the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Germany. Here are some of the usual transportation options you’ll want to consider using to get to the ground:

Train - The journey from London to Leverkusen takes around five hours by train. You’ll want to get the Eurostar from St. Pancras International to Bruxelles-Midi before changing onto an ICE train to Koln. From there you’ll get an internal train to Leverkusen Mitte and you’ll be able to see the stadium from the train station.

Bus - Most local buses in Leverkusen will stop on Bismarckstraße near to the ground. Bus numbers 201, 233 and 255 are the ones to look out for.

Car - BayArena is pretty much in the middle of Leverkusen and can be found next to where the A1 and A3 motorways come together. There’s no exit for the ground on the A1, so take the A3 and leave at exit 24 before following the signs.

By Air - Cologne/Bonn airport is about an hour away from Leverkusen by train, whilst Dusseldorf Airport is more like an hour and a half away and also has train connections.

Taxi - A taxi from Leverkusen Mitte to BayArena will take just over five minutes and should cost in the region of €9.

Parking Near BayArena

There are a number of different parking options at and around the stadium.

• See Available Parking Near BayArena

Useful Resources

BayArena Hotels

Leverkusen isn’t one of Germany’s more popular cities to visit, but they’ve still got more than a few hotels. Here are some of our favoured options:

RheinRiver Guesthouse - £60+

Rheinstraße 54, Hitdorf, Leverkusen, 51371

As the name suggests, this boutique hotel is located on the river about six miles away from the stadium. It’s got a garden, a meeting room, twenty six guest rooms and free Wi-Fi. More details.

Lindner Hotel BayArena - £70+

Bismarckstr. 118, Leverkusen, NW, 51373

This hotel is actually part of the BayArena, with some of the rooms having views of the pitch. There’s a fitness centre, self-parking, a conference space and free Wi-Fi. More details.

Kasino Hotel - £80+

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee 3, Leverkusen, NW, 51373

This hotel is about a half hour walk away from the ground. There’s a restaurant, a bar, self-parking, a terrace and garden area, a conference space and free Wi-Fi. More details.

Pubs & Bars Near BayArena

Leverkusen is something of an industrial city as far as its origins are concerned, so there are a number of decent boozers you might want to pop into before you go to see a match:

Facilities

The modernity of the ground means that the facilities here are excellent. There are all of the usual places you’d expect to be able to buy food and drinks in the ground, plus the views are great from pretty much everywhere.

Hospitality

There are 7 match day hospitality experiences on offer at BayArena, but unless you want to sign up for the year then the one that will be most appropriate for you is probably the Event Box North, which can be booked along with accommodation at the hotel which adjoins it. It comes with a dedicated member of service staff to look after you, hot and cold buffet food, four car parking spaces for up to 14 guests and brilliant views. If there are more of you then the Event Lodge East offers pretty much the same deal but can accommodate between 30-60 guests, minus the hotel connection.

Private Hire

There are no less than 11 suites and executive boxes that are available for use for things like conferences, product launches and business meetings. If you’re interested then drop the club a line and they’ll let you know what exactly you can do. They can cater for anything up to 800 people.

Stadium Tours & Museum

Tours of the BayArena operate on a regular basis and you can do numerous different types of tour. There’s the Public Tour that takes you to all of the places you’d expect, such as the subs’ bench and the dressing rooms. There’s also a Private Tour option on offer when you can see things like the hospitality areas with a more exclusive feel. There are also tours on match days where you can see preparations getting underway. Tours last between 45 minutes to an hour and a half and cost upwards of €10 for adults, €8 for concessions and €6 for kids. At the time of writing there is no museum but the tour does take you to areas containing Bayer Leverkusen memorabilia.

About Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer AG aren’t just Bayer Leverkusen’s owners, they’re also the main reason the club even exists. The team was formed in 1904 by employees of the pharmaceutical company who wrote to the managers and requested support for a sports team. They got it, and Turn- und Spielverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen was formed. In 1999 the football part was separated from the athletics, basketball and gymnastics departments of TSV Bayer 04 and became simply Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Bayer have never won the Bundesliga, though they have finished as runners-up in the top-flight on five occasions, including four seasons in a row from 1996-1997 to 2001-2002. They’ve won the DFB Pokal/German Cup once, the UEFA Cup once and lost in the Champions League final once. Leverkusen have a clean-cut image and the BayArena is considered to be the most family friendly stadium in the Bundesliga. This has led Bayer’s rivals to refer to them as a ‘plastic club’ that exists purely as a plaything of their sponsors and owners.

BayArena History

Opened in 1958 with a 20,000 seat capacity, a rebuilding of the stadium to change it into a more modern facility began in 1986 and was finally completed eleven years later. the original design was based on the same design as the Ruhrstadion in Bochum, home of VfL Bochum. They wanted a steep, single-tier stadium without a running track. The idea was that the club would build the East section in 1986, the Western part in 1989 and the Northern area in 1991.

The relative success of the World Cup in the USA in 1994 led to the idea of adding what was called a ‘Family Street’ to the ground. It was the first such family friendly area in German football. It was considered to be a huge success and in the 1996-1997 season the area was moved to a larger part of the ground. The BayArena was also the first ground in the country to become all-seater.

Future Developments

In 2009 the ground underwent more refurbishment, and new scoreboards were added in 2020 along with a few other updates, meaning there are no immediate plans to change anything any further.