Rotterdam football club Feyenoord is to get a new, state-of-the-art, 80,000 capacity stadium on the southern edge of the Meuse river which runs through the city.

The new stadium is scheduled for completion in 2017, one year before the Netherlands and Belgium hope to stage the World Cup. And other clubs are also sprucing up their stadiums ahead of 2018.
Feyenoord’s current stadium, the Kuip, is a listed building and will be given a new lease of life as part of a luxury housing complex. City council planners say they have been inspired by the redevelopment of the old Arsenal Highbury stadium in north London.
The new stadium is being developed as the central feature in a 127 hectare sports park, which will include a covered skating track and facilities for cricket, baseball and amateur football. It will be the biggest stadium in the country.
ADO stadium
Meanwhile, the Hague city council and entrepreneur Mark van der Kallen have worked out a plan to end the financial problems surrounding the city’s football club ADO, which was promoted to the premier division this year. ADO has debts of €6m.
The proposal will be put to the city council on Thursday, news agency ANP says. As well as getting the club’s finances in order, the city council also plans to take over ownership of the club’s stadium for €10m.
‘ADO is at a crucial phase in its recovery. The Netherlands’ third biggest city deserves a football club which can play at the highest level,’ city council executive Sander Dekker told news agency ANP.
The city council already owns some of the stadium complex, which was completed last year.
Breda renovations
And in Breda, the city council is to spend €11.5m modernising the stadium of its premier division club NAC. The council already owns the stadium.
Capacity is to be expanded by 3,500 seats to 20,500. In addition, the area around the stadium is to be redeveloped by the club and two local developers. The deal will eradicate NAC’s €5.2m loss, ANP says.
Many of the smaller premier clubs are in financial difficulty. In May this year, Arnhem city council voted to bail out its home team Vitesse which was on the verge of bankruptcy.