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The area surrounding Germany's Mewa Arena, the home of Bundesliga club Mainz, was evacuated after an active bomb from World War II was discovered on Wednesday during renovations to the stadium. A statement from the city of Mainz identified the device as an 1100-pound American aerial bomb, which is scheduled to be deactivated on Friday. Around 3,500 people will be impacted, according to the city, while traffic and other disruptions are expected until the area is safe for locals to resume normal activity.

The local Bundesliga club rescheduled their usual pre-match press conference from Friday to Thursday because of the discovery. Though the city has placed no timeline on the actual process of deactivating the bomb, Mainz's game against Cologne is still expected to go ahead as expected on Sunday.

Sunday's matchup could be crucial for the Bundesliga's relegation race with four games to go. Mainz currently sit 15th, five points away from automatic relegation but only out of the relegation playoff on goal difference. Cologne, meanwhile, are 17th and in position to automatically drop down to the second division.

A common occurrence

Despite being decades removed from the end of World War II in 1945, the discovery of bombs from the period is still somewhat common in Germany. It has been estimated that the Allied and Soviet forces dropped millions of tons of weapons in the country during the war, and some speculate that thousands of tons of unexploded bombs have yet to be discovered in Germany.

This is not the first time a World War II bomb was found near a soccer stadium, either -- the area around Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park was evacuated in 2015. The phenomenon is also not exclusive to Germany since a device from the war was found near London's Wembley Stadium the same year.

The city of Mainz was severely damaged during World War II with more than 30 air raids performed by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force.