De Kuip

Stadion Feijenoord, more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (Dutch pronunciation: [də ˈkœy̯p]) (the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands that was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the area "Feijenoord" in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same name (although the club's name was internationalised to Feyenoord in 1973). The stadium's original capacity was 64,000. In 1949 it was expanded to 69,000, and in 1994 it was renovated again for a capacity of 51,117. In 1999, a significant amount of restoration and interior work took place at the stadium prior to its use as a venue in the Euro 2000 tournament, although capacity was largely unaffected.

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. Contemporary examples 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. In fact, "de Kuip" acted as an example for many of the greatest stadia we know today, e.g. Camp Nou. 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 Britain through neutral Netherlands.