The Ajax Experience. Part Two: Singing sweet songs at the Amsterdam ArenA

By Eric Beard, writing from Barcelona. Still with nostalgia.

In part one of The Ajax Experience I told you a little about the history of the club, their recent fall from Dutch and European dominance, and the unparalleled success of De Toekomst (The Future), the club’s youth academy. Now, we move on to the good stuff: the match. Ajax vs. AZ Alkmaar was the fixture that I saw with my girlfriend and our Dutch friend Babette, who was able to secure the tickets being an Ajax member.

We met up for lunch a little after noon at De Drie Graefjes (close to Dam Square) for a quality sandwich. It has to be said that, especially given the “never really filling” tapas culture in Spain, the Dutch impressed us with their love for food. We all got monstrous portions filled with greens (a surprising scarcity in Spain) and meats (not so much). Delicious. From there we headed to Centraal Station to take a 15 minute train ride to the ArenA. As we approached it Babette said, “A lot of people don’t like the new stadium (opened in 1996, definitely worth checking out the video of the opening ceremony). They think it looks like a spaceship.” Well, it did look like a spaceship. But spaceships are awesome. The Amsterdam ArenA cost 140 million euros to build, but it was done so because the old and cozy stadium, De Meer, was only able to seat 24,000 in its prime (19,000 after modern safety regulations). The ArenA seats 52,960, though for the European matches they add a few more temporary seats closer to the pitch. Anyway, where was I? Right, arriving at the stadium!

(Source: philosofooty)