Feyenoord and De Kuip

Rotterdam is the only city in the Netherlands that has three professional football clubs: Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam and SBV Excelsior. The only other city that has more than one professional football club is Eindhoven (PSV and FC Eindhoven). Even though Sparta Rotterdam (1888) is the oldest professional club of the Netherlands, is Feyenoord of the three clubs, the most well-known. Next to that is Feyenoord part of the original top three clubs of the Netherlands.

Feyenoord was established on the 19^th of july 1908 and has as home base Stadion Feyenoord, or better known as De Kuip (the Tub). It took the club16 years for its first real success. Three years after the promotion to the highest league the club won the Dutch national championship. After this another 13 national championships were won, next to the 11x KNVB cup, the 1 time victory of the Europacup I (The precursor of the Champions League), twice a victory of the UEFA Cup and one time winner of the worldcup. On the UEFA-ranking of the best clubs of Europe Feyenoord is positioned on the 131^st place with 11.862 points. Six other Dutch clubs are higher ranked (PSV, Ajax, FC Twente, AZ, sc Heerenveen and FC Utrecht).  

It’s not the club alone that has an important place in the city, the club stadion has also taken a fixed place in the heart of the citizens in Rotterdam. The construction of the stadion began in 1935 from the designs of the architect Leendert van der Vlugt. However, the real big name behind the construction is Leen van Zandvliet, the chairman of the club in the 1930’s. He wanted a stadium with a ‘loose’ second ring, so that the view of the spectators wouldn’t be hampered. The opening was on the 27^th of March 1937, the official opening took place on 23^rd of that same year.

The Tub was groundbreaking in its architecture. The second tribune that hangs like a balcony above the first ring is the first of its kind. Before that there was no other stadium that had a second ring without pillars in the view. Also the continuous, circular tribune was new. Next to that the use of steel and glass makes the stadium fresh and airy, an effect that they couldn’t achieve with the use of concrete.

The Tub has been on the verge of its destruction. During the Second World War there was a need for steel. Since the main material of the stadium is steel, the Germans wanted to take it apart. According to popular stories the chairman lied about the amount of steel it would yield. This took away the interest in the demolish.

In 1984 the second threat occurred, when the municipalities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam wanted to bring the Olympic games of 1992 to the Netherlands. They made plans for an Olympic stadium that would be placed on the place of the Feyenoord Stadium. These plans were fortunately never realized.

In the 90’s they found carbonation and erosion in the Stadium. Even though demolishing was an option, the choice came on renovation. Because of this the stadium is largely covered and is open for other events as well.

You can, for example, enjoy a guided tour through the Stadium, or you can organize a drink with your company or even a sports clinic. But foremost you can obviously enjoy one of the home games of Feyenoord. 

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