<\/p>\n

One of the most beautiful facades in football, a cosy and modern\u00a0feel, and friendly family vibes from the stands. Het Kasteel is a Dutch icon.<\/p>\n

Key facts<\/h3>\n

Club: Sparta Rotterdam | Opening: 1916 | Capacity: 11,000 seats<\/p>\n

History and description<\/h3>\n

In the early 20th century, Sparta was one of the most successful clubs of the Netherlands when they decided to build a proper new stadium.<\/p>\n

Het Kasteel, officially called Sparta Stadion, opened on 14 October 1916 with a friendly between Sparta and Rangers FC. It was the first club-owned stadium in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

The most characteristic aspect of the new stadium was its pavilion in the shape of a castle (“kasteel”), inspired by a castle that had stood at the site centuries earlier. Due to a lack of building materials, the planned corner towers got replaced by simple wooden entrances.<\/p>\n

The stadium got further developed in the late 1920s with new wooden stands, but then remained more or less the same for the next decades.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, Sparta presented plans for a redeveloped stadium with a capacity of 50,000, but finally had to settle for a more modest redevelopment. Two new stands got built on both sides, resulting in a capacity of 30,000 places.<\/p>\n

In the following decades, the state of the much-too-large stadium slowly deteriorated, though some small renovation works were performed in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

Talk remained of building a new stadium in another part of Rotterdam, possibly to be shared with Excelsior<\/a>, but in the end it was decided to rebuild Het Kasteel at its present site. Works started in 1999.<\/p>\n

The only remaining part of the old stadium is the castle pavilion, the rest got demolished and replaced with\u00a0four new enclosed all-seater stands. As the pitch got turned 90 degrees, the pavilion was moved from one of the ends to the centre of one of the sides.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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(photos of the present Het Kasteel below)<\/p>\n

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