Profile of the Arena

On April 26, 1996, Ajax beat Willem II 5-1 and secured their third straight Eriedivisie title in the very last competitive game to be played at De Meer Stadium. De Meer had been Ajax's home since 1934, but time and the elements had rendered her unfit to host one of Europe's most successful clubs. In the summer of 1996, Ajax packed up their ponderous collection of trophies and moved into their spectacular new home: the Amsterdam ArenA...

Panoramic view, prior to an Ajax league game. [Photo: Michiel Herpers]

The Arena is a state-of-the-art multi-use facility, generally providing excellent conditions for both playing and watching soccer, and also able to host rock concerts and festivals, although these events have contributed to the facility's well-documented problems with the grass playing surface.

View of the Arena from the road leading to De Toekomst. [Photo: ANP]

The Field

Initially expected to serve as a model for future soccer facilities, the Arena has instead become rather infamous for its poor playing surface. Insufficient sunlight and air circulation has forced the replacement of the pitch almost 30 times. In January 2001, fans protested the poor surface by letting cows loose onto the pitch. However, the pitch has significantly improved in recent years. Nevertheless, there is a persistent rumor that the Arena will someday move to an artificial pitch.

Using a system developed by a company in Miami, Florida, the grass is irrigated from below, which allows it to be automatically watered without any visible sprinklers and without creating any "standing" water on the grass. And the roots of the grass are encouraged to grow down deep to reach the subterranean water, which in theory creates stronger, more resilient turf. This system has been highly successful in Miami's Joe Robbe Stadium, home of the NFL's Dolphins, but did not initially succeed at the Arena.

The Roof

The Arena features the first retracting roof in Europe, consisting of two panels, each measuring 80x120 meters. The panels are offset, allowing air to flow freely even when the roof is closed. (Just hold your hands up over your head like you're spelling out the A in "Y-M-C-A," and slide the fingertips of your right hand down until they're touching your left palm. Now move your hands about one inch apart. That's sort of how the two panels look when they're closed.)

To improve overall air circulation, there are four vents in each corner of the stadium. And to further encourage healthy conditions for the grass, the roof is also transparant.

The roof takes 20 minutes to close under normal circumstances, 5 in an emergency. The retractable section of the roof cost 16 million guilders to build, whereas the fixed part of the roof cost 24 million guilders. The entire surface of the roof is 38,000 square meters.

The "Torches"

The exterior of the Arena is decorated by two sets of tall white columns; each column is comprised of four poles, and there are four columns in all. In a tip of the hat to Olympisch Stadion, Ajax's former home for big games, the columns are capped with "Olympic" torch-like dishes. Instead of actual flames, the dishes can be equipped with cloth streamers which are forced upward by a continuous jet of air and lit up by powerful spotlights. Perhaps not as dramatic as an actual olympic flame, but certainly safer, cleaner, and more cost-effective.

The Seats

The Arena is an all-seater and can hold up to 51,859 spectators. Initial plans were to integrate the home and away fans instead of segregating the away supporters in their own section, but this proved completely untenable. Visiting fans are now contained in a single section in the upper north tier; their section is completely enclosed by netting, and away fans are shepherded in and out of their section via an enclosed footbridge between the stadium and an adjacent train station.

Luxury seating includes 60 VIP boxes which cost EURO 70,000 each per season and are always sold out. Fans in all sections of the stadium benefit from two giant video screens.

Arena seat map. [Image: AmsterdamArena.nl]

The Moat

There are no fences between the fans and the players. Instead, the field is surrounded by a "dry moat", 15 feet deep and 20 feet wide, to prevent pitch invasions and to hide service vehicles for medical and police personnel.

Training Facilities

Adjacent to the stadium are the training facilities used by Ajax 1. The field is four times the size of an ordinary football pitch, allowing for multiple concurrent training activities. The field itself is protected by a high fence, and access to the field is across a footbridge over an irrigation canal. Fans regularly stand outside the fence to greet players as they enter and exit the pitch, and to watch training from a distance.

Ajax 1 trains on a large pitch just outside the Arena. [Photo: Jim McGough]

Just down the road from the Arena is De Toekomst, Ajax's outstanding youth training academy, featuring several natural and artificial training pitches, a full service bar and restaurant, classrooms and a stadium where Young Ajax and the older youth teams play their home matches.

Other Attractions

Ajax fans visiting the Arena can take a guided tour of the facility (in Dutch, English and several other languages), and can also visit the spectacular Ajax Museum and see the team's vast collection of trophies. In addition, the Arena is home to the world's largest Ajax fan shop, and the convivial Soccer World Pub, where you'll often see the former greats of Ajax enjoying beer, coffe or the occasional "De Boer burger".

Owners and Vendors

The Arena is owned by Stadion Amsterdam C.V.; Ajax leases the facility for football, training and administrative office space. (The facility is also home to the Amsterdam Admirals of the World Football League.) The Arena staff are employed by Randstad, and catering services are provided by Maison van den Boer, Catering Club and other vendors.

Statistics

Length: 235 meters
Height: 85 meters
Width: 165 meters
Altitude: 7 meters above sea level.
Total building cost: 202 million Dutch guilders (US $134 million)

Construction Timeline:

1986:
Amsterdam's first, short-lived new stadium initiative, spurred by the city's unsuccessful bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, which eventually went to Barcelona.

1988:
Ajax and local business leaders began second round of development plans for a new stadium; concurrently, the team picked up ABN-AMRO, Holland's premier bank, as its sponsor. Early, exotic creative plans for the stadium architecture included a soccer ball shaped roof held on by a huge human hand. Luckily, this plan never advanced beyond the "drawing board."

1990:
Stocks were issued for investment in a "private venture" which allowed individuals to invest in the Arena project. Originally, the stadium grounds were to extend -- by a few hundred meters -- beyond the city of Amsterdam into the region of Ouder Amstel. Loans were granted and initial building plans were completed, but Ouder Amstel authorities resisted; they cited fears of traffic and urban crowding, although Amsterdam locals believe Ouder Amstel's resistance was related to a former dispute between the two districts involving another failed business park development years earlier.

Original plans for the new Arena included an athletic track and did not include the retractable roof.

1991:
Plans for the Arena were changed. The entire site was moved several hundred meters so as to no longer include any part of Ouder Amstel. The athletic track was dropped, and the retractable roof was added to the plan.

Additionally, since both a highway and public rail systems run directly past the stadium, the Arena would now include a subterranean "transferium," where daily commuters can leave their cars and catch a train or tram into the city center. On match days, this subterranean structure will provide "executive" parking. The construction of this "transferium" meant the allotment of 70 million guilders from the state to assist with the financing of the stadium.

The Arena during final stages of construction in 1996. [Photo: Michiel Herpers]

Oct. 1993:
Final approval of the construction plan was given by the Dutch Supreme Court, settling once and for all the dispute between Amsterdam and Ouder Amstel. Details of the Arena's funding were revealed.

Major investments came from the following sources: 5 multinational corporate sponsors chipped in: Philips (owners of PSV!) - 10 million; Coca-Cola - 5 million; PTT Dutch Telecom - 5 million; Grolsch - 5 million; ABN-AMRO Bank - 5 million.

AFC Ajax provided 20 million, money raised wholly by the transfer of title of the old grounds, De Meer, to the city for urban housing development.

The Amsterdam community provided 20 million, and the state provided 10 million as a subsidy for "recreational facility in the national interest."

Arena individual investors, known as the Shareholders (mostly individual Ajax fans) raised 45 million. The remaining 80 million has been financed by banks...

March 94:
The first pole was struck on a cold, foggy morning. (Most major structures in Holland are built on long poles, due to the soft ground.) Buried underneath the eventual location of the center spot is a large green cement "Amsterdammertje," the familiar traffic poles with triple X's which line the streets of the city.

An interesting side-note: Most of the Arena's early construction was done by companies from the province of South-Holland, which means many of the building-site workers were Feyenoord supporters, who initially made obscene anti-Ajax graffiti at the building site. This behavior was quickly stifled by the authorities, however.

January, 1996:
As construction progressed, the public was permitted to don hard-hats and take guided tours of the Arena, for a price. Millions of visitors passed through the work-in-progress, and many millions of Dutch guilders were raised to assist in the construction effort.

August 1996:
Opening ceremonies, including a dinner on the pitch of De Meer for all current and former Ajax players; a family fun-run event from De Meer to the Arena; a 2-day kids' festival at the Arena.

August 14, 1996:
First Ajax match: Ajax v. AC Milan

August 18, 1996:
First competitive Ajax match: Dutch Supercup: Ajax (Eredivisie champions) v. PSV (KNVB cup winners)

August 21, 1996:
First Ajax league match: Ajax v. NAC

August 31:
First Holland match: Holland v. Brazil

September 11-13:
First concerts: Tina Turner

About The Authors

Michiel Herpers is an acknowledged Ajax guru and publisher of the very first Ajax web site, Ajax Cyberside.

Jim McGough is founder and president of Ajax USA.

Michiel looks on in admiration as I proudly display my genuine bit of concrete from the Arena construction site. More rare and beautiful than a rock from the moon, this lovely piece of agregate now sits among my most prized possessions in my office in California.