With renovation work in the Stadion Rote Erde taking much longer than originally planned, fixture clashes at Signal Iduna Park in the next few weeks will see Borussia Dortmund II on the move again - this time to Wuppertal's Stadion am Zoo.
Home to Regionalliga side Wuppertaler SV, the Stadion am Zoo was where BVB II secured their promotion to the 3.Liga in June 2021 and will make a return to the ground for home games against MSV Duisburg (16 October), SC Verl (29 October) and Viktoria Köln (8 November) before returning to Signal Iduna Park for the last home game of the year against Erzgebirge Aue on 11 November. The Stadion am Zoo doesn't meet 3.Liga criteria and so a special permit has been granted by the DFB (German FA).
BVB II were expected to be back in their Stadion Rote Erde home for the start of the season after work to fill old coal mines shafts under the pitch with concrete had began last April. However, because there are significantly more cavities and the mining damage is much greater than expected, the backfilling is taking significantly more time. Only when this work has been done can the rest of the renovation - including installation of undersoil heating at the Rote Erde for the first time - be carried out.
According to the current schedule, BVB II should be back in their home in time to play SpVgg Bayreuth (mid-January). In addition to the 'Zoo', venues in Duisburg, Paderborn, Essen, Münster, Osnabrück and Lotte had also been considered as alternative stadiums before being ruled out for various reasons.