The story of Naturarena Hohe Warte: Stadium of Superlatives
Record-attendance in continental Europe’s largest stadium
The imposing stadium and its large capacity attracted the Austrian national team, which before played on alternating pitches. From 1922 until 1936, 35 national games were played in Döbling. In total, 1,587,125 visitors witnessed 22 victories, 5 draws and 8 losses. Before the construction of the Wiener Stadion in the Prater, today called Ernst-Happel stadium, the bulk of the national team’s more important games took place at Hohe Warte. One of these games led to the since unbeaten record capacity of the stadium. On April 15th, 1923, 85,000 people saw Italy play against Austria: it was the first game on Austrian soil for the Italian national team since the first world war. And while the game ended in a goalless draw, the explosive nature of the fixture gathered massive public interest, which pushed the significance of this day out of sporting proportions into our history books.
You can find further information in Alexander Juraske’s book „Blau-Gelb ist mein Herz“
