The Bundesliga game between Hamburger SV and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the Hanseatic city’s Volksparkstadion was canceled at short notice due to the consequences of winter activity. “Weather-related static risks in the area of the stadium roof” meant that the game could not take place, the German Football League (DFL) announced less than three hours before the game was scheduled to start.
The day before, the club was still optimistic after days of work. “The current status and great hope is that we can play,” said an HSV spokesman. “It is the case that for several days, literally day and night, various colleagues and external service providers have been trying to clear the stadium of ice and snow, which has also been very successful,” added the spokesman at the press conference the day before the game.
Already the third game cancellation in the north
In the stadium, people were busy preparing the stands for the game. Workers had already removed snow and ice from the roof a few days earlier. But the problems remained: On Tuesday afternoon, the club informed fans that there were no parking spaces available at the stadium due to the thaw and the melting snow.
“Condensation water collected under the snow on the roof membrane in some places in the stadium, which could not drain away and led to large point loads,” says the Hamburg press release. “A structural engineer called in to assess the situation assessed the situation as a security risk, whereupon the game had to be canceled in coordination with the DFL and the local security authorities.”
Due to the heavy snowfall and weather-related restrictions, the game between St. Pauli and RB Leipzig and the game between Werder Bremen and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the north had already been canceled at the weekend.
