In 1991, thousands of tennis fans converged on the newly renovated Center Court – situated between what is now the Deutsche Bank Park and the Mörfelder Landstraße – to watch German tennis star Steffi Graf play Jana Novotna in an exhibition match. Almost exactly 30 years later, and on that same spot, Eintracht’s Fußball AG will be brought together under one roof for the first time.
The ProfiCamp, Eintracht’s flagship project, will accommodate 240 staff members and include a state-of-the-art area for first-team players. If everything goes to plan, the new complex will be ready for occupancy by mid-2021.
The Eintracht family’s new home is being built just a stone’s throw to the south east of the Deutsche Bank Park. The new building is divided into two sections, which are linked on the ground floor by a reception area and a private staff restaurant. The five-story, square-shaped A Section will house the media, office and administrative facilities, while the adjacent, three-storey B Section is exclusively reserved for first- team players. Both sections will have access to a shared underground car park with parking spaces for cars and bicycles, which will be supplemented by a separate, open parking deck in the west of the complex.
The topping out ceremony was scheduled for 1 April 2020 but had to be postponed due to the current pandemic. According to board member Axel Hellmann, the new ProfiCamp will enable Eintracht “to become infrastructurally competitive with other clubs”. All the roofs have now been sealed, allowing the building’s shell to dry and interior work to begin.