NETHERLANDS - Stadium and Arena Development News

[Carter]

Here's a list off the ten biggest Dutch football stadiums, your opinions please.
Amsterdam ArenA Capacity just over 50.000.


De Kuip, Rotterdam Capacity just over 50.000.


Philips Stadium, Eindhoven Capacity 36.500


Gelredome, Arnhem Capacity 26.600


Nieuw Galgenwaard, Utrecht Capacity 21.000


Parkstad Limburg Stadium, Kerkrade Capacity 19.200


Mycom Stadium, Breda Capacity 17.000


Willem II Stadium, Tilburg Capacity 14.700


Abe Lenstra Stadium, Heerenveen Capacity currently expanding to around 25.000 (correct me if I'm wrong)


Arke Stadium, Enschede Capacity 13.500 (plans have been made to give the stadium a second tier wich would double the capacity)


All pictures from stadionwelt.de

Cart,

[CorliCorso]

The Abe Lenstra* Stadion's current capacity is 20,400, and according to this site maximum capacity would be 21,300.

I think the second tier on the Arke Stadion would extend around 3 sides of the ground. According to FC Twente's official site, this'd take capacity up to 22-23,000.

*Pointless fact - my mum went to school with the daughter of Abe (prnoounced 'Arber') Lenstra, one of Holland's greatest ever players. Lovely bloke, apparently!

[Carter]

Heerenveen, who plays in the Abe Lenstra stadium have jerseys of the brand "us Abe" which is Frisian for "Our Abe".
Abe is not pronounced as Arber but in English as Ahbeh, Arber comes close though.

Cart,

[empersouf]

I think holland has bad stadiums, they are very small and ugly compared to stadiums in other sides of the world.

[empersouf]

This stadium swill be in the top ten when finished:
The Euroborg Stadium(20.000 capacity) in Groningen.













Construction update:

[MoreOrLess]

I'v always wondered, why was De Kuip used for the euro 2000 final rather than the Amsterdam ArenA?

[stadiumfuture]

Soufian, dutch stadia are small, but the architecture is verry high. Post me better stadia pix out your country (Marroc).

[ciaobellaxo]

Originally Posted by Carter

This would have to be one of the weirdest stadiums I've seen. Wonder why they didn't build any seats in the corners?

[empersouf]

@ Stadiumfuture

The gelredome has an ugly facade imo. And the tribunes are not looking good too imo.
And the Kuip doesn't have a nice facade too imo. Most dutch stadia don't have facades or are just ugly. Like the Philips stadium, it looks like it's a mix of three stadiums.

And to compare the netherlands with Morocco is also wrong, especially if you know that the Netherlands is a much richer country, so it would have enough money to spend on stadia. Another point is that Morocco not my country is. I was born in the netherlands and I live in the netherlands. I'm dutch. En nog veel meer etc. etc.
But if you really want to some Moroccan stadia, her you go:

Moulay Abdellah stadium, Rabat. 52.000 seats





Mohammed V stadium, Casablanca. 67.000 seats


I don't like these stadiums either but at least they are large
And here are some aproved and already u/c Morocan stadia:

Stade de Meknes, 45.000. Construction just started


Stade de El Jadida, 45.000. Completed 2009


Stade d'Agadir, 45.000. Construction started in 2003, ready in 2007


Here comes the real work:
La Grande Stade de Casablanca, 95.000. Construction started in July 2004
The Grand Stade de Casablanca will serve as Morocco’s national stadium. Upon its completion in march of 2009, the Grand Stade will be the most modern and luxurious stadium in Africa.


Stade de Tangiers, 69.000. Construction started in 2003


Stade de Marakech, 70.000. Constructon started in 2003



I don't think The Netherlands will beat these stadia in the next 20 years . So stadiumfuture, please keep your narrow minded thoughts in your head.

[stadiumfuture]

All stadia has an atletic-track, but the architecture are verry nice

[GASpedal]

@ciaobellaxo:

There's a quite similiar stadium in Bessa, Portugal.


I like the style of Bessa very much and the Arnhem stadium looks very decent, too.

[Joop20]

Dutch stadiums aren't small when compared to the population of their cities really:

Amsterdam: 740,000
Rotterdam: 600,000
Eindhoven: 210,000
Arnhem: 140,000
Utrecht: 275,000
Kerkrade: 50,000
Breda: 170,000
Tilburg: 200,000
Heerenveen: 42,000
Enschede: 150,000

Alot of cities these sizes could only dream of stadiums like that in other countries! Look at france, Italy, Spain, Germany, England.. Almost all the clubs in the 1st divisions are from big cities (with a few exceptions like villareal, kaiserslautern, monaco, auxerre etc.)!

And i don't think most of those stadiums in Morroco will actually be build now that South Africa got the 2010 world cup. Correct me if i'm wrong though, i'd like to see some u/c photo's if i'm wrong!

[Soundwave]

Originally Posted by Soufian

So stadiumfuture, please keep your narrow minded thoughts in your head.

All these stadums have an athletic track field. Which I think is ugly for Football Matches.

[empersouf]

I know, that's just your opinion. Everyone thinks different about everything. But the point was that Stadiumfuture tought that a poor country like Morocco would have badder stadia than the Netherlands, you can judge youurself.

[Soundwave]

Originally Posted by Soufian

I know, that's just your opinion. Everyone thinks different about everything. But the point was that Stadiumfuture tought that a poor country like Morocco would have badder stadia than the Netherlands, you can judge youurself.

I see Soufian, but I don't think Morocco is a really poor country. Things could be worser and with stadiums over the 40.000 spectators, Morocco is on the brink to organize a future World Cup Tournament, when the continent of Africa will get it.

[Spotter]

Originally Posted by MoreOrLess

I'v always wondered, why was De Kuip used for the euro 2000 final rather than the Amsterdam ArenA?

That's what I always ask myself when I hear about it! I think it's a pitty! We should organise the Worldcup as soon as posible, and have the final in Amsterdam!
But otherwise we are lucky to have a decentralised country where this is possible! In France it would be impossible to see such a happening outside Paris.

[de flatneuroot]

Originally Posted by MoreOrLess

I'v always wondered, why was De Kuip used for the euro 2000 final rather than the Amsterdam ArenA?

Because De Kuip is a real football stadion and the ArenA is not more than a functional sporting hall

[Mojito]

Originally Posted by de flatneuroot

Because De Kuip is a real football stadion and the ArenA is not more than a functional sporting hall

Although I agree on that one, this is not the reason for UEFA to choose Rotterdam as venue for the final. In Rotterdam, they like to tell so, but it is not true.

UEFA was very interested in modern stadia like the Arena and Gelredome (and still is) , and it was commonly expected that the final would come to Amsterdam, but Rotterdam simply offered a higher bid than Amsterdam. An offer they could not refuse...

[Carter]

Rotterdam was used because it just is the best football stadium, the ArenA is nice as well but the Kuijp breathes football. The ArenA does not.

I think holland has bad stadiums, they are very small and ugly compared to stadiums in other sides of the world.

I know, that's just your opinion. Everyone thinks different about everything. But the point was that Stadiumfuture tought that a poor country like Morocco would have badder stadia than the Netherlands, you can judge youurself.

You are only thinking in quantity not quality, For example Tilburg, Breda, Eindhoven and Rotterdam are all very close to each other so one can not expect stadia with capacities over 50.000 every 30 to 40 kilometres, it just doesn't work that way.
For example New York has the Yankee stadium in a city of millions, Paris has the Stade de France in a city of millions, Milan has San Siro (or Guisseppe Meazza) in a city of millions.

And I personally really hate a track in football stadiums, the crowd has to sit meters away from the pitch which is not good for the football atmosphere.
So most of them are small, but very goodlooking. Especially if you compare them to bigger stadiums in other countries.

As for morocco it seems they are making the same mistake as Portugal did, building use stadiums which only get used for big events but the rest of the year stay empty. Waste of money if you ask me.

Cart,

[empersouf]

The Moroccan football leauge is very vibrant. There are many fans and stadia ar too small now, so they need bigger stadia. And these stadia are not build for big events, because the next chance for Morocco to host a big event is maybe in 2034 or something.