No, you won't find Wolfsburg on the UNESCO World Heritage List, so for a vibrant weekend you'd better go somewhere else. But purely for football it's a good city, VfL Wolfsburg is a stable club in the Bundesliga and we think the Volkswagen Arena is an underrated stadium.
Take a look around while waiting at the traffic lights, practically everyone in Wolfsburg drives in a Volkswagen. Not so strange though, because the city only was founded 80 years ago by the nazi's for the car factory here: Volkswagen, of course. Everything in Wolfsburg is Volkswagen, also VfL Wolfsburg: the car brand is already years shirt sponsor, namesake of the stadium and 100% owner of the club.
The in 2002 opened Volkswagen Arena is from the outside a bit like a giant office - or car showroom. Not something you're really blown away by as a football romantic, although at even games the stadium is beautifully lit up. It has place for 30.000 spectators, for VfL Wolfsburg exactly right: not too small, not too big. From the inside, the Volkswagen Arena is surprisingly cool. Even though the shape and design of the stadium doesn't really differ from the German standards (right-squared, two tiers) they succeeded to make something of it in Wolfsburg. The green seats match with the white, tent-like roof, a combination that does justice to the club's colors.
When you cross the Berliner Brücke at the Volkswagen Arena you can't miss it. Across the water lays the old VfL-Stadion am Elsterweg, the home of VfL Wolfsburg until 2002. Special is the seater stand which surrounds exactly one long side and one short side. It has been declared as a monument, so we don't have to be afraid that this stadium will disappear.
Right next to the Volkswagen Arena lays the AOK Stadion, a small but brand-new stadium with place for 5000 spectators. A lot of youth matches are played here, but most of all it's the home of the women's team of VfL Wolfsburg, an absolute world class team. Some of the biggest stars in women's football play at Wolfsburg, the team who manages to win back-to-back Women's Champions Leagues in 2013 and 2014.
In the main stand of the AOK Stadion you'll find ‘VfL Fussballwelt’, an interactive museum dedicated to the club. The youth can kick a ball by themselves and there's a lot to see from the history of VfL Wolfsburg, with some of the trophies won by the club. Our favorite is the shirt wall from the champion's team in 2009, with super trio Dzeko, Grafite and Misimovic.
Apart from matches against Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund you can quite easily buy tickets for VfL Wolfsburg. Even for Champions League matches you can buy tickets here for less than 20 euros. You can order them on the website of the club, after you've created an account.
Of course, in car city Wolfsburg you can easily park your car around the Volkswagen Arena. P3 until P6 lay at the Oebisfelder Straße, a 10 to 15 minute walk from the stadium.
Wolfsburg is a relatively compact city. In just 15 minutes you walk from train station Wolfsburg Hauptbahnhof to the Volkswagen Arena.
Images: Shutterstock, BSR Agency
