The work started in 1971 but there was a delay in finishing it. The plan was not fully built because it should be cheaper. The new stadium was named "Weststadion" (western stadium) because it lays in the western part of Vienna. It was planned that the two major clubs should play in this new stadium, but Austria Wien was not amused that her rival has got a stadium in its own district, so they went back to their former homeground, the Franz Horr stadium. But till 1992 they often came back because the Horr stadium was not licensed for international matches. In April 1981 it got the name of its architect Gerhard Hanappi, who was player for Rapid Wien.