De Meer
For over 60 years AFC Ajax played its home matches at stadium De Meer. It opened on the 9th of December 1934 with a match between Ajax and Stade Francais (5-1), and had an initial capacity of 22,000. This later increased to a maximum of 29,500, but in its latter years, due to safety requirements, this decreased again to 19,000.
Due to its limited capacity, most of Ajax’s European matches were played at the Olympisch Stadion (Olympic Stadium) which could house more than double the fans than De Meer. A total of 5 matches of the Dutch national team were played in the stadium, all won by the home side.
In the 80s and 90s of the previous century it however became increasingly clear that Ajax would need a new stadium to be able to compete internationally, and in the early 90s construction of the Amsterdam ArenA began. On the 26th of April 1996 Ajax played its last match at De Meer against Willem II, which it won with 5-1, including a hattrick from Finidi George.
De Meer was located in the south-eastern part of the city, in the Watergraafsmeer area. Following Ajax’s departure the stadium was demolished and replaced by residential housing and a park. No signs of the past stadium remain, however the new streets have been named after famous football stadiums elsewhere. This has, for example, resulted in an Anfieldroad and Wembleylaan.
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