The most Bundesliga clubs, the oldest clubs, the most emotional derbies: football is traditionally loved and lived in North Rhine-Westphalia. A visit to one of the big stadiums here is an unforgettable experience. Guided tours past the pitch and into the dressing rooms bring the unique atmosphere to life even after the final whistle. Various museums bring the club's history to life and bring national team players up close and personal. Even when the ball is not in play, the footballing state of NRW has plenty of experiences to offer.
Stadiums and club histories
Dortmund
The Westfalen-Stadion in Dortmund, now known as the Signal-Iduna-Park, is Germany's largest stadium. Professional footballers rave about the special atmosphere here and the London Times even voted the football temple the best stadium in the world a few years ago. And the competition venue in the eastern Ruhr region offers yet another superlative: BVB's home stadium has the largest standing-room-only stage in Europe.
The stadium is also home to the Borusseum, BVB's club museum - a hands-on museum with club song karaoke and the opportunity to commentate on a match yourself.
www.bvb.de/Borusseum
"Auf Schalke" in Gelsenkirchen
There is of course also a club museum "at Schalke", as they say in Gelsenkirchen. Real fans can even get married in the adjoining chapel and have their children or themselves baptised. There is now even a cemetery especially for Schalke fans.
Stadium tours offer insights behind the scenes of the Veltins Arena, which is considered the most modern stadium in Europe, not least thanks to its closable roof and retractable pitch.
Oliver Kuschinski, who is not only a fan of the club but also a Schalke fan through and through, provides very personal insights on his Mythos tours and takes visitors on a personally coloured journey through royal blue history.
www.veltins-arena.de | www.schalke04.de
Mönchengladbach
Fans can also spend the night at Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach: The H4 Hotel offers 125 rooms and six suites with sporty design and comfort. Depending on the room category, access to the Executive Lounge is also included.
Like the hotel, the fan shop and club museum can also be found in the "Borussia-8-Grad" building complex. "Fohlenwelt" is the name of Borussia Mönchengladbach's club museum, which tells the story of the club in pictures, large-scale projections and films across 1,150 square metres. Visitors can choose one of eight guides, all Borussia insiders of course, who will tell them about the club's history from a very personal perspective.
Anyone wanting to find out more about the "Borussia myth", which has been shaped by greats such as Günter Netzer and Berti Vogts, can join a bus tour of the same name on certain dates and search for traces of Borussia throughout the city.
www.borussia.de | https://museum.borussia.de | www.deinmg.de
Düsseldorf
Whilst Fortuna, who play here, are constantly oscillating between first and second division, their venue has long been established in the top league. Not only has the German national football team been a guest at the Merkur Spiel-Arena on several occasions, but concerts by international superstars and other events also take place here regularly. Stadium tours here include the players' dressing room and the press conference room.
www.merkur-spiel-arena.de | www.f95.de/home
Cologne
A good dozen different stadium tours guide visitors through the RheinEnergieStadion of 1. FC Köln. Whether it's the Offside Tour with Walter Eschweiler, Team Quiz Tour, Jecke Stadium Tour or "On Lukas Podolski's Tours" - they all offer insights into areas that are otherwise reserved for VIPs or players.
www.rheinenergiestadion.de
Leverkusen
In Leverkusen, football fans don't even have to sleep away from the stadium, because the Bayarena includes Germany's first stadium hotel - embedded in the north curve, where Leverkusen fans also stand. The entire stadium can of course also be viewed on guided tours, on certain dates even with former professionals. Bayer 04 players Rüdiger Vollborn and Kevin Bormacher not only tell anecdotes about Bayer 04 on the legends tour, but are also available for souvenir photos.
www.bayarena.de
Bielefeld
It's hard to say why the Bielefeld stadium, officially known as the SchücoArena, is traditionally referred to by fans as "the Alm". In any case, the home ground of DSC Arminia Bielefeld is not located on the slopes of the Teutoburg Forest, but in the middle of a residential area. Guided tours of the stadium give visitors a glimpse into otherwise closed areas and provide information about the "Anfield Road of East Westphalia".
www.arminia-bielefeld.de
Paderborn
The home of SC Paderborn is small but mighty: every single one of the 15,000 seats in the Home Deluxe Arena was built with heart and soul, with the city and club planning the home ground themselves. The club has been welcoming its opponents here since 2008, sometimes from the first, sometimes from the second Bundesliga. Guided tours of the stadium offer a glimpse behind the scenes, especially for children.
www.scp07.de
Football and other sports
German Football Museum
It is one of the top attractions in the sporting state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a true paradise for football fans: on their way to the permanent exhibition at the German Football Museum in Dortmund, visitors become players themselves, entering through the players' tunnel accompanied by fan chants. Even the catering area of the football museum fits perfectly into the concept, as the former chef of the German national team, star chef Holger Stromberg, had a hand in it. And so what the German national team has already brought to the table is in world champion form.
German Sports and Olympic Museum
There's even more football in the museum at the German Sports and Olympic Museum in Cologne, where everything revolves around the history of sport from antiquity to the present day. As the Germans' favourite sport, football naturally also has its own section in the permanent exhibition. Excerpts from the legendary radio report on the 1954 World Cup final by Herbert Zimmermann, which can be heard in the background, create the right atmosphere.
German football route
Whether by car or by bike - football fans can travel through North Rhine-Westphalia on the German Football Route and explore football cult sites, monuments and sights from the Eifel to the Lower Rhine and from the Ruhr region to the Teutoburg Forest. The curious can learn all sorts of curious and interesting facts about football and discover very special places, such as the football pitch in Bergheim where Lukas Podolski learnt to score goals.
www.deutsche-fussballroute.de
