Detail

Jan Breydel is a municipality owned stadium first built in 1975 and named after a fourteenth century Flemish Folk hero. Originally opening as the Olympiastadion, it began life as a multi-purpose sports arena but with football proving to be the most popular sport and Belgium being awarded the right to co-host the Euro 2000 tournament with Netherlands, the running track was eventually removed to make the ground more intimate for soccer fans. With a few high-profile stadium disasters across Europe. UEFA encouraged stadiums to become all-seaters and in 1993 Jan Breydel was largely converted which reduced the capacity down to 18,000. A few years later in 1995 when Brugge found out that it would be a host city for the Euros, this downsize was immediately irrelevant and the Jan Breydel Stadion was expanded to 30,000 in time for the tournament, albeit all seating. During the tournament Jan Breydel hosted thee group matches in addition to the quarter final match between Spain and eventual tournament winners France, who had just come off hosting and winning the 1998 World Cup. The stadium was famous in Belgium at the time for being the first football ground in the country to have its name displayed within the stands via use of contrasting coloured seats, which were arranged within the North Stand. After the success of the tournament the new larger capacity remained unlike in the Stade du Pays de Charleroi which also hosted matches, with further renovations driven by both resident clubs rather than the local council as was the case prior to Euro 2000. Improvements include under-soil heating, two new LED screens and better corporate match day hospitality facilities.

TRAIN Brugge Railway Station sits south-west of the city centre around 3.2 km from the stadium. Whilst it is great for travelling around Flanders, Belgium and Europe, there aren’t any services which will take you to Jan Breydel as the city is deemed too small. BUS Outside the main train station you can catch buses 5 and 15 to Sint-Andries stop. The journey costs a few euros for a return and takes approximately 15 minutes. TAXI With a bit of luck you should be able to get a taxi to the stadium in the hours leading up to the match for around €10.00. Afterwards you might struggle however. DRIVING The Stadium’s address for satnav is as follows: Koning Leopold III-laan 50, 8200 Bruges, Belgium Car Parks Although located out of town parking at Jan Breytdelstadion remains very limited which means you may wish to ditch you car in the city centre, and take the bus. AIRPORTS AND FLYING As Belgium is a very compact country you might not be surprised to find that Bruges lacks its own airport. Instead most of the country’s flights come in and out of Brussels International Airport, which can be accessed via a purpose built train station in no more than 1 hour and 20 minutes from Bruges.