Het Houten Stadion ( English: ''The Wooden Stadium'') is a former stadium of

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

which served as the team's home stadium from 1907 to 1934.

History

Het Houten Stadion is a former stadium of AFC Ajax. Before Ajax moved to this stadium, they had played on a field in

Amsterdam-Noord Amsterdam-Noord (; ) is a Boroughs of Amsterdam, borough of Amsterdam, Netherlands with a population of about 90,000. The IJ (Amsterdam), IJ, the body of water which separates it from Amsterdam-Centrum and the rest of the city, is situated southwes ...

. Houses had been built on their field in 1907 which sent Ajax searching for a new place to play. The club found two locations in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Watergraafsmeer The Watergraafsmeer () is a polder in North Holland, Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many '' buitenplaatsen'' in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains. It is among t ...

losing their previous pitch to housing development. Both new places were located on the

Polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

, but were closer than the former field in Noord. In the early years of the grounds there was no actual stadium, there were no stands, no water and the players would change and get ready in a bar nearby. The first stands were built in 1911 with covered seating on one side, and standing tribunes on the other. In 1916 the stands were built behind both goal lines. Designed by architect and Ajax-member Daan Roodenburgh, the funding for the stadium came from Wim Eggerman, a local businessman, who was the president of the club at the time. With the success of

in the 1930s the stadium became too small. Every match more people would come to see Ajax play, the last Klassieker match to be played at Het Houten Stadion against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

was so busy, no corners could be taken during that match because there were spectators spilling out on to the pitch. 15,000 spectators attended that match. On 9 December 1934, Ajax moved to their new De Meer Stadion. In 1936, Daan Roodenburgh competed in the

Art competitions at the 1936 Summer Olympics Art competitions were held as part of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Medals were awarded in five categories (architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture), for works inspired by sport-related themes. The art exhibition ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in the Mixed Architecture event for Sports venues with his construction of De Meer Stadion. There is now an

Albert Heijn Albert Heijn (), often abbreviated to AH () and informally to Appie (), is the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands with a market share of 37.7% in 2024. It was founded in 1887, and has been part of Ahold Delhaize since 2016. History Th ...

supermarket situated in the location of the former main entrance to the stadium on Middenweg in the Watergraafsmeer.

References

External links

Het Houten Stadion at Ajax.nl
Defunct football venues in the Netherlands Het Houten Stadion Sports venues in Amsterdam Amsterdam-Oost Sports venues completed in 1907 1907 establishments in the Netherlands 20th-century architecture in the Netherlands {{Netherlands-sports-venue-stub