PHILIPS STADION

'Philips Stadion' is the 35,000 seater stadium of football club, PSV Eindhoven. It was first inaugurated on 31 August 1913. The neighbourhood where the stadium is located is the Philipsdorp ('Philips village'), in the Eindhoven borough of Strijp, not that far away from Eindhoven city centre.
As late as 1933, its capacity was only 300, and remained that size until its expansion in 1941 to 18,000 spectators.
The final days of World War II witnessed great destruction in the city of Eindhoven and also to the stadium itself. Repairs were duly made, culminating in the expansion of the stadium to 22,000 capacity in 1958. Further expansions of the North stand (1995) and the four quadrants (in 2000 and 2002) of the stadium led to its current capacity. Plans to extend the capacity of the ground to 40,000 seats have been put on hold.
The stadium is sometimes used for matches of the Dutch national football team, the first one being on November 17, 1971: a qualifying match for the 1972 UEFA European Championship against Luxembourg (8-0). The stadium's official record attendance is 34,700, set on 23 October 2005 for the Eredivisie match between PSV Eindhoven and AFC Ajax.
While not a large stadium by European standards, Philips Stadion was also one of the four Dutch venues during the Euro 2000 tournament co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, and is rated a four-star stadium by UEFA, which means that it can be used as the host venue for a UEFA Cup final. UEFA indeed chose to bring the UEFA Cup final to the facility in 2006 where Sevilla FC beat Middlesbrough F.C. 4-0.
In the summer of 2005, the board of the club decided to remove the tall fences around the pitch, replacing them with 35 inches (90 cm) high railings keeping the spectators off the grass. Unauthorized persons who do invade the pitch will receive a 15,000 euro penalty and a ten-year-ban from visiting the Philips Stadion.

Contents

Average Attendances

Trivia

External link

Average Attendances

(Eredivisie):

★ 2003-04: 32,852

★ 2004-05: 31,688

★ 2005-06: 33,164

Trivia

★ One specific seat in the stadium — Section D, Row 22, Seat 43 — is kept permanently empty. This was the seat occupied by former Philips chairman Frits Philips during the latter part of his life, as he chose not to use any of the stadium's hospitality facilities and instead took his place in the general crowd. After his death (at the age of 100) in 2005, the PSV administration chose to keep his seat empty as a tribute.

External link

★ WorldStadiums.com entry

★ Philips Stadium photo by Tvw