Rot-Weiss ErfurtGround: Steigerwaldstadion Visits: 1 Date: 2nd November 2013 Match: Rot-Weiß Erfurt - Chemnitzer FC 1-0 (3. Liga) Attendance: 6 943
For Saturday I had several options. At first I looked at going back to Poland and the match between Legia Warzawa and Zaglebie Lubin. Flight prices from Warsaw were a bit steep though and I looked elsewhere. I found a cheap flight from Frankfurt on Sunday morning and it then made sense to visit Steigerwaldstadion in Erfurt on Saturday afternoon. From Erfurt it is just over 2 h by train to Frankfurt. I woke up in Cottbus on Saturday morning and at 09.04 my train left Cottbus Hbf. Two hours later I was in Leipzig where I changed to a train taking me to Erfurt. Rot-Weiß Erfurt play in 3. Liga and on Saturday afternoon (14.00) they hosted fellow east German side Chemnitzer FC. This is one of Erfurt´s biggest fixtures of the season and that could be noticed at Erfurt Hbf, plenty of police present. Steigerwaldstadion is only a 15-minute walk from the train station and an hour before kick-off I was outside the ground. Steigerwaldstadion is a proper (crap) old-style east German football ground with gigantic flood-lights. The main stand has around 5 000 covered seats but is quite far from the pitch. The other sides are without a roof and also far from the pitch. This must be the worst ground in the top three divisions in Germany. Chemnitz brought 7-800 fans and they were in the terrace in the northeast corner of the ground. I bought a ticket for block E1 which turned out to be somewhat of a mistake. Rot-Weiß Erfurt ultras section was next to where I was and I realized I should move elsewhere. I watched the first 15 minutes from my original seat before moving to the other side of the stand.
On the pitch there was instant joy for Rot-Weiß Erfurt. In the 2nd minute, from a tight angle, they made it 1-0. Chemnitz tried their best to equalize but it was still 1-0 at half-time. In the second half Rot-Weiß Erfurt had a player sent-off and Chemnitz had several good opportunities to equalize but the match finished 1-0. For this match almost 7 000 turned up at Steigerwaldstadion and for Rot-Weiß Erfurt that is a really good attendance. The club could do with a new ground though. I stayed behind for some pictures and at 17.27 (10 min. delayed) my IC-train left Erfurt. At 19.40 I was in Frankfurt. My trip was coming to an end and I will now have a two-month break from (live) football. Next trip abroad will be around New Year when I visit England.
Outside Erfurt Hbf
Proper flood-light
FC Rot-Weiss Erfurt
Ticket-office
Westtribüne
North curve
Osttribüne
Marathon Tor
South curve
Erfurt fans
Westtribüne
Westtribüne
Capo
Erfurt ultras
Erfurt ultras
Chemnitz fans
Chemnitz fans
View of Steigerwaldstadion
Kick-off
View of Steigerwaldstadion
Erfurt fans
South curve
Pano
Pano |