An active bomb from World War II was discovered on Wednesday during renovations of area surrounding Mewa Arena, the home of Mainz, a football club in the German Bundesliga.
According to a statement from the city of Mainz, the device is a 1100-pound American aerial bomb that will be destroyed on Friday. According to the city, approximately 3,500 individuals will be impacted, with traffic and other interruptions likely until the region is safe for residents to resume normal activity.
Due to the discovery, the football club shifted their regular pre-match press conference from Friday to Thursday. Though the city has placed no deadline on the actual procedure of disarming the bomb, Mainz’s game against Cologne is still likely to take place as expected on Sunday.
This isn’t the first time a World War II bomb has been discovered near a soccer stadium; the area surrounding Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park was evacuated in 2015. The phenomena is not limited to Germany, as a war-related gadget was discovered outside London’s Wembley Stadium the same year.
During World War II, the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force carried out over 30 air strikes on Mainz, severely damaging the city.
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