THE BUNDESLIGA clash between Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen was postponed after a bulge was spotted in their home ground’s roof.
They were set to clash on Tuesday evening, with Hamburg looking to climb away from relegation and Bayer eyeing a place in top four.
Hamburg’s clash with Bayer Leverkusen was postponed after a bulge in the stadium roof was identifiedCredit: hsv.de/uebersicht
However, organisers postponed the game at the 57,000 capacity Volksparkstadion due to structural safety concerns.
Stadium director Daniel Nolte explained the circumstances for the cancellation came down to a significant amount of meltwater collecting in several places under the remaining from the wintry conditions.
Nolte also said the stadium catwalk, the service walkway suspended beneath the roof, was tilting in several directions.
He said: “The structural engineer we consulted assessed this situation as a clear safety risk.
“Therefore, cancellation was unavoidable for safety reasons.”
Nolte said it was “fortunate” that the bulge was identified as a consequence of efforts to remove snow, ice and meltwater from the roof.
The snow still accumulating means the water is not been draining away as desired despite the use of pumps to assist.
Structural engineers and other experts will work with Hamburg to analyse and assess the areas for potential damage.
It is hoped the stadium will be fit to be reopened against on Saturday.
Hamburg’s match with Bayer was not the only game suspended due to the conditions in nothern .
St Pauli against and Werder Bremen against was also postponed.
No new date has yet been given for the rearrangement of the match.
Hamburg are historically one of the most successful team in Germany.
They have won the league title on six occasions, the DFB-Pokal three times and the once in 1983.
The club were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in history in 2018.
Hamburg spent seven years in the second tier before returning to the top flight of German football this season.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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