Stadion Feyenoord

The Feijenoord Stadion, nicknamed de Kuip (the Tub), is a football ground in Rotterdam, completed in 1937. Today it’s called “Stadion Feyenoord”. The name is derived from the area “Feijenoord” in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same name.

Capacity at completion: 64000. Maximum capacity: 69000 (1949). Present day capacity: 51,177.

It is the home stadium of football club Feyenoord, one of the traditional top teams in the Netherlands. It has also long been one of the home grounds of the Dutch national team, having hosted over 150 international matches, with the first one being a match against Belgium on May 2, 1937. Also, a record number of ten European finals has taken place in the Feijenoord stadium. The last one was the 2002 UEFA Cup final in which Feyenoord defeated Borussia Dortmund 3-2.

In 2000, the Feyenoord stadium hosted the final of Euro 2000, played in the Netherlands and Belgium, with France beating Italy in extra time.

History

Leen van Zandvliet, Feyenoord’s president in the 1930s came up with the idea of building an entirely new stadium, unlike any other on the continent, with two free hanging tiers and no obstacles blocking the view. The great examples at that time were Highbury, where the West and East stands had been recently built as a double deck, and Yankee Stadium in New York City. Johannes Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt, the famous designers of the van Nelle factories in Rotterdam were asked to design a stadium out of glass, concrete and steel, cheap materials at that time. They came up with a design that is modern even in this era. In fact, “de Kuip” acted as an example for many of the greatest stadia we know today, eg Nou Camp. The stadium was co-financed by the billionaire Daniël George van Beuningen, who made his fortune in World War I, exporting coal from Germany to England through neutral Netherlands.

In World War II, the stadium nearly got torn down, because the German occupiers needed the materials. Fortunately it didn’t come to that. After the war the stadium got extra seats (1949) and stadium lights (1958).

On 29 October 1991 De Kuip was named as being one of Rotterdam’s monuments. In 1994 the stadium was extensively renovated to its present form. It became an all seater and the roof was extended to cover all the seats. An extra building was constructed for commercial use by Feyenoord, it also houses a restaurant and a museum, The Home of History.

Facilities and related buildings

Adjacent to De Kuip inside the Maasgebouw (Maas building) is a restaurant, Brasserie “de Cuyperij”, which a sporty decoration combined with a cosy atmosphere. The brasserie can host 180 customers during dinner times and 300 customers for business meetings. The brasserie is closed when Feyenoord plays at home. A visit to the brasserie is often combined with a stadium tour in De Kuip, or a visit during a Feyenoord training.

Next to De Kuip and Feyenoord’s training ground there is another, but smaller sports arena, the Topsportcentrum Rotterdam. This arena hosts events in many sports and in various levels of competition. Some examples of sports that can be seen in the topsportcentrum are judo, volleyball and handball.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

[ Anything to add? Spotted an error? Click here to improve this entry ]

Feyenoord Rotterdam official website
Royal Netherlands Football Association (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond or KNVB)
wikipedia entry
Football Ringtones
Bet with Paddy Power
FIFA
UEFA

[ Anything to add? Spotted an error? Click here to improve this entry ]

Leave a comment!