Stade Roi Baudouin – Koning Boudewijnstadion
The Stade Roi Baudouin (French) – Koning Boudewijnstadion (Dutch) is the largest stadium of Belgium, and the stadium where the Belgian national team plays most of its home matches. It has a capacity of 50,093 seats.
In 1927 the Brussels government decided to build a new stadium that could cater for “every sport”. Construction started in 1929 and on the 23rd of August 1930, 100 years after the Belgian independence, the stadium was officially inaugurated. The stadium was named accordingly: Stade du Centenaire.
Three weeks later, on the 14th of September, the first match was played under the eye of king Leopold: the derby between the national teams of Belgium and Holland. The bowl-shaped stadium could hold over 70,000 spectators at that time.
After the Second World War the stadium got renamed Heysel Stadium, after the area and plateau it was built on.
A major redevelopment took place in 1974 with the construction of a new all-seater covered stand. However, the state of the rest of the stadium found itself lacking, which contributed to the Heysel disaster in 1985.
That year the final of the European Cup between Juventus and Liverpool was to be contested at the stadium. An hour before the match rioting started between fans of both sides. When a group of Liverpool supporters charged the Juventus fans, the Juventus fans retreated and were pushed towards a side perimeter wall. Trying to escape by climbing over the wall, the wall collapsed, and 39 people died. Even though the match continued to be played, English teams were subsequently banned from the European competitions for 5 years.
In 1994 the stadium was extensively renovated and renamed to Stade Roi Baudouin – Koning Boudewijnstadion. In the year 2000 it hosted the opening match of Euro 2000 along with two more matches in the group stage, a quarter-final, and the semi-final between France and Portugal (2-1).
Apart from the disaster final in 1985, three more Champions League (European Cup) finals were played at the stadium: the first in 1958 between Real Madrid and AC Milan (3-2), the second in 1966 between Real Madrid and Partizan Belgrade (2-1), and the third in 1974 between FC Bayern and Atlético Madrid (1-1 and 4-0 in the replay).
On top of this the stadium hosted four Cup Winners’ Cup finals: in 1964 (Sporting-MTK Hungária), 1976 (Anderlecht-West Ham United), 1980 (Valencia-Arsenal), and the last in 1996 at the renovated stadium (Paris Saint-Germain-Rapid Wien).
Getting there
The Stade Roi Baudouin – Koning Boudewijnstadion is located in the north of the city of Brussels, about 6 kilomteres from Brussel’s city centre. In the same area lie the famous Atomium, the Parc d’Osseghem, and the Brussels expo.
Three metro stations lie within walking distance of the stadium: stations Heysel, Roi Baudouin, and Houba-Brugmann, of which the first two are the closest. They can be reached with line 6 which circulates the centre of Brussels and furthermore passes railway station Gare du Midi (Zuidstation).
The stadium can be easily reached by car from the Brussels ring road. Take exit 8 (Wemmel) from the northern part of the ring and drive a few hundred metres south. The stadium will be on your left.
Address: Marathonlaan 135/2, 1020 Bruxelles – Brussel.
Stadium tours
The stadium offers two options for stadium tours: a self-guided tour following a route through the stadium, or a group tour with a guide. The group tour lasts about 60 minutes, the estimated duration of the self-guided tour is up to 90 minutes.
The self-guided tour is available Monday to Friday between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. Guided tours are available one Saturday per month (generally the first of the month). The self-guided tours costs €6.00 and the guided ones €8.00.
Bookings are required (for both tours) and can be made online. For more information call +32 (0) 2 474 39 46 or email parcours@prosportevent.be.
Relevant Internet links:
Prosporevent.be – Event manager of the Stade Roi Baudioun – Koning Boudewijnstadion.
Visitbrussels.be – Official website of the tourism bureau of Brussels.
STIB.be - Timetables, network maps and journey planner for the Brussels public transport.
