The City of Jena purchased the stadium from the Ernst-Abbe-Stiftung (The Ernst Abbe Foundation) in 1991.

The soccer and track stadium in the Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld is the home field of FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

It was homestead for famous sprints, javelin throw and long jump athletes like Petra Felke and Heike Drechsler, when Sport-Club Motor Jena still existed, and it has a capacity of over 12,990.

1997 saw the replacement of the original wooden bleachers from 1924 (which could seat only 420 people) with the new, modern stands to accommodate more spectators.

The stadium's lights were mounted on four massive, hollow steel towers and were the result of the 1974 and 1994 renovations of the facility.