Top 10 Amazing Facts About Johan Cruyff Arena

The Arena from outside (1996) Photo by Floria K Wikimedia

Top 10 Amazing Facts About Johan Cruyff Arena (AFC AJAX)

The Johan Cruyff Arena is the main stadium of Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands, and the home stadium of the football club AFC Ajax since its inaugural in 1996. It was built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost of about 140 million euros. It is the biggest stadium in the Netherlands.

Initially, it was known as Amsterdam Arena until the 2018-19 football season. It was renamed in honour of legendary Dutch football player Johan Cruyff who died in March 2016. Johan Cruyff Arena Was one of the stadiums used during UEFA Euro 2000, and also held the 1998 UEFA Champions League Final match and 2013 UEFA Europa League Final match.

1. Johan Cruyff Arena Opening Ceremony

The Johan Cruyff Arena with the retractable roof opened and closed Photo by Tijs Teulings Wikimedia

Queen Beatrix opened the stadium by making a curtain fall inside the stadium. De Zee(The sea) revealed it was the world’s largest painting measuring 80 by 126 meters. Two-dimensional ships were located on the sea, demonstrating the teams in the Eredivisie.

De Zee’s hymn was composed by John Ewbank for the event’s opening, which Trijntje Oosterhuis sang. An eight-day torch relay with 375 runners over 1400 Kilometers from the side of the Netherlands reached the stadium. Johan Cruyff was the first runner who started in the old stadium of Ajax De Meer, and Frank Rijkaard was the last runner who arrived in the new stadium.

The opening football match was played between AFC Ajax and A.C. Milan after the roof opened and the grass was shown, and the first singer who opened the stadium was Tina Turner. Construction of the stadium cost a large amount of money, and it is said about 140 million Euros was used.

2. Exterior Renovation

Plans to renovate the stadium were revealed in September 2015. The reason for the renovation was to provide better features and good service to visitors by widening the pathway rings around the Johan Cruyff Arena and creating more space for visitors and new facilities.

The exterior of the stadium was transformed from a bowl-shaped to a U-shaped design. The construction works began in June 2017, the first stage was to modernize the east side of the stadium, and the building of the new façade was completed in April 2018.

3. The Change of Johan Cruyff Arena Name

On April 25, 2017, was proclaimed that the former Amsterdam Arena would be given a new name in remembrance of Ajax Legend Johan Cruyff. On August, 9, it was announced the name change would take place officially on October 25, 2017.

However, the date set for the name change proved to be impossible and it was postponed due to some problems which needed to be solved such as; Transferring part of the shares from the municipality of Amsterdam to Ajax, having a dialogue with the Cruyff family, and arranging reparation for possible loss of income. On April, 5,2018, it was proclaimed that the stadium would formally change its name at the start of the 2018-19football season. Finally, the 2018-19 football season began in August 2018 and the name was changed to Johan Cruyff Arena.

4. Johan Cruyff Arena Sporting Events

The Johan Cruyff Arena is the home of AFC Ajax in the Eredivisie and European competitions. The opening game took place on August 14, 1996, and was a friendly match between the home team Ajax and AC Milan, which ended with a 3-0 A.C Milan emerging victorious.

In 1998 UEFA Champions League Final was one of the most important club matches held in the Stadium when Real Madrid overcome Juventus by 1-0. The stadium also hosted the 2013 UEFA Europa League Final when Chelsea defeated Benfica 2-1 among others. It hosts most of the international matches of the Dutch national team.

5. Kickboxing

Kickboxing is the most popular combat sport in Netherland, and many kickboxing has taken place in the Johan Cruyff Arena. K-1 promotions have held several fight cards at the Stadium. Most of the sport’s greatest stars of the sport have fought in the Arena. Some of these sports stars are; Peter Aerts, Semmy Schilt, Ernesto Hoost, and Badr Hari.

6. Music Events

One of the Amazing facts about Johan Cruyff Arena is that despite common complaints about the acoustics of the stadium, concerts are often held in the venue. The first singer to perform at the Arena was Tina Turner during her Wildest Dreams Tour, with over 157,000 People attending the three sold-out live concerts on 6-8 September 1996.

Michael Jackson was another person who performed at Arena during History World Tour in five sold-out concerts, on 28,30 September, 2 October 1996, and 8,10 June 1997, for a total audience of 250,000 audiences.

7. American Football at the Johan Cruyff Arena

The stadium was home to the American football team Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe, until the National Football League (NFL) ended its European tournament in June 2007. From 1997 -2007, the team played more than 50 games in the Johan Cruyff Arena. Even World Bowl IX was played at the stadium in 2001 when the Berlin Thunder beat the Barcelona Dragons.

8. Johan Cruyff Arena History

Photographed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands Photo by Alf van Been Wikimedia

The city of Amsterdam was one of six cities that was the candidate for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics. A new Olympic stadium was planned in 1986, with a football pitch and an athletics track. It was supposed to be constructed in the region of Strandvliet in Amsterdam Zuidoost.

Barcelona won the competition for Hosting Olympics in October 1986, after Amsterdam lost the competition the ideas for the new stadium were abandoned. The Stichting Amsterdam Sports was founded, which proosed new plans for a sports stadium with an all-seated capacity of 55,000 people.

In 1992, the Government of Amsterdam certified the procedures for the stadium with a Transferium where people could transfer from their car to several forms of public transportation. The Government also changed the development plan of the location and gave a license to construct the Johan Cruyff Arena

9. Building and Facilities

Rob Schuurman was the original architect of Johan Cruyff Arena of the Netherlands. Before the end of the 2019-20 season, capacity increased to about 56,000 seats from 54,990 seats. The stadium can host a maximum capacity of 68,000 attendees during music concerts and the parking capacity of the Transferium is 500 cars inside the complex and also there are additional 12,000 spots outside.

10. Ajax Museum in the Johan Cruyff Arena

The Arena in Ajax’s Champions League game in 2019 Photo by @cfcunofficial Wikimedia

The Ajax Museum is Located in the Johan Cruyff Arena stadium. It exhibits Ajax’s more than 120 years of history. It’s a museum with unique items from the most beautiful club of all. A museum that breathes nostalgia, without getting too dusty. Because collection never stops