Stadion Feijenoord – stadium description

Work on new stadium for the growing fanbase of Feijenoord started in 1935. Cofinanced from private money by billionaire van Beuningen, this venue proved to be a model used for decades in other cities, to name just Camp Nou in Barcelona. Club president Leen van Zandvliet used best examples from London and New York and was determined to make use of the in Rotterdam. His vision was brought to life by architect Leendert van der Vlugt who used – then cheap – steel, concrete and glass to create a functionalistic venue.

Two years after groundbreaking Feijenoord Stadion was ready and could accommodate up to 64,000 people on two-tiered stands with no obstructed view for spectators, then a unique feature. During WWII it was close to being dismantled as the Germans needed steel for their campaign, but thankfully this didn’t happen. This would have been ironic as the private founder of the ground got his fortune from exporting materials from Germany during WWI.

Despite several redevelopments ‘De Kuip’ (The Bathtub – due to its oval shape) retained the 1937 form. Floodlight masts (mounted in 1958) stand around the stadium and the roof (1994) does not intrude facades almost at all. These were among reasons for naming Feijenoord Stadion one of Rotterdam’s monuments. The ground’s value is hard to question as Dutch national team played nearly 150 games here, Euro 2000 had this stadium as main venue and a record of 10 European club competition cup finals were played here.