The Red Bull Arena is located in the immediate vicinity of the Arena Leipzig, which was inaugurated in 2002, the festival grounds and smaller sports facilities. In the years 1954 - 1956, the "Stadium of a Hundred Thousand" was built using rubble and took 15 months to build. This central stadium served as an athletics and football stadium in the decades that followed. Major athletics events, the Leipzig gymnastics and sports festivals and more than 23 international football matches took place in its 50-meter-high ramparts.
In 1994, the stadium was closed due to its poor structural condition. The foundation stone was laid for the construction of a new, modern football arena with around 43.000 spectator seats in the old wall of the central stadium in 2000. The arena then hosted matches during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Since 2010, the stadium has officially been called the Red Bull Arena and is now the home stadium of the first division club RB Leipzig.