Euro 2024: the Yellow Wall, the largest stand in Europe, awaits the French team and its supporters in Dortmund
|The famous “Südtribune”, the largest in Europe, will accommodate 22,000 spectators. MAXPPP – CHRISTOPHER NEUNDORF
The France team faces Poland this Tuesday, June 25 (6 p.m.), in Dortmund. In this legendary stadium, the largest in Germany, one of the most impressive stands on the continent sits majestically.
She “Rise to the sky", the players say. In Dortmund, in the heart of the Ruhr, Germany's industrial bastion, football surpasses everything. Like this world-famous grandstand: the famous "Südtribune”, lair of the Yellow Wall, at the foot of which the French team will face Poland, this Tuesday (6 p.m.) at Signal Iduna Park, renamed BVB Stadion Euro time.
The dimensions are enough to make one dizzy: forty meters high, one hundred meters wide and an inclination of 37 degrees. The Gelbe Wand, in the original version, is a monster of black and yellow which engulfs the least reckless of the actors. A real weapon for the local club, Borussia Dortmund, recent finalist in the Champions League.
Nearly 25,000 people in normal configuration
The stands of this extraordinary corner can accommodate exactly 24,454 people standing in total. That is more than the Mosson stadium as a whole (22,000). No stand rivals it in Europe. In Euro configuration, the capacity is increased to 16,000 seats. But the atmosphere remains, as the Turkish supporters demonstrated during the recent match against Portugal.
Built in 1974, the WestfalenStadion – its original name – has since been regularly restored. Without distorting its soul, that of a popular club which peaks at an average attendance of 81,000 spectators.
The Blues already know
Apart from the Parisian players, who came in the C1 semi-final, or those playing in the German championship, the Blues as a whole will not be there in unfamiliar territory this Tuesday. They played there, and lost, in a friendly match against Germany (2-1) last September.
This time, the French supporters should take their place in the South stand. The French team will not walk alone, as Borussia Dortmund fans usually sing, taking over the "You'll never walk alone" of Liverpool in each meeting.