AFAS Stadion

* Address: Stadionweg 1, Alkmaar
* Country: Netherlands
* Capacity: 17,000
* Opened: 4 August 2006
* Main use: Football
* Tenants: AZ (football)

Extra stadium info – AFAS Stadion

The construction costs of the stadium were €38 million. Part of the roof of the AFAS Stadion collapsed in 2019. No people were harmed because of the collapse. AZ (Alkmaar Zaanstreek) have been tenants of the venue since 2006. They were founded in 1967 and they won the Dutch top-flight football league in 1981 for the first time in their history. The stadium opened with a football match between AZ and the world famous English side Arsenal Football Club. The visitors won the game. Gilberto Silva from Brazil, Emmanuel Adebayor from Togo and Robin van Persie from the Netherlands all scored for Arsenal in the first match at the stadium.

AZ drew an average attendance of 15,000 in 17 home games in their first-ever Dutch top-flight league season at the venue. That league season ended in a disappointment for AZ. When entering the last matchday of that league season, AZ led Ajax and PSV on goal difference at the top of the league table, but they ended up third after losing their last match against Excelsior, who were relegated that year. That football season, PSV from Eindhoven won the Dutch title. AZ won their second top-division title in 2009. The same year, they finished below Arsenal, Olympiacos and Standard de Liège in the group stage of the prestigious UEFA Champions League.

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