Amsterdam ArenA

The Johan Cruyff Arena has been the home ground of Ajax and the primary stadium of Amsterdam since it opened. Construction ran from 1993 to 1996, with a final cost of about €140 million, making it the largest stadium in the Netherlands. Originally called the Amsterdam Arena, it was renamed ahead of the 2018–19 season to honor Johan Cruyff, the Dutch footballer who passed away in 2016.

The stadium has hosted major football events, including the 1998 UEFA Champions League final, matches during UEFA Euro 2000 (among them a semi-final), three group-stage games and a round-of-16 match at UEFA Euro 2020, and the 2013 UEFA Europa League final. It has also been a venue for concerts by international and Dutch artists such as Tina Turner, Coldplay, U2, Take That, Celine Dion, Madonna, Michael Jackson, André Hazes, David Bowie, AC/DC, Justin Timberlake, One Direction, the Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Armin van Buuren. The dance event Sensation was held there annually until its final edition in 2017.

The stadium features a retractable roof and a grass pitch. Since 2022, its football-match capacity is 55,865, up from 54,990. For concerts, capacity varies: 71,000 with a center-stage setup, 50,000 for end-stage concerts, and 35,000 when the stage is on the east side. It once held UEFA five-star stadium status, later replaced by a new classification system.

Amsterdam was among six cities bidding for the 1992 Summer Olympics. In 1986, a new Olympic stadium was designed with a football field and athletics track, planned for the Strandvliet area in Amsterdam Zuidoost. After Amsterdam lost the bid to Barcelona in October 1986, those plans were scrapped. In 1987, the Stichting Amsterdam Sportstad (Amsterdam Sports City Foundation) was formed, proposing a 55,000-seat all-seated stadium. A 1990 design combined earlier ideas, including a football field, athletics track, and a full roof. At the time, Ajax needed a new stadium because their home ground, De Meer, was too small for most matches; since the late 1960s, they had moved important games to the Olympisch Stadion, where they had also played most European fixtures and midweek night games since the 1930s.

The design was revised again: the athletics track was removed, capacity reduced to 50,000 seats, and the fixed roof replaced with a retractable one. In 1992, the Amsterdam government approved plans that included a Transferium for switching from cars to public transport. In 1993, the government changed the location’s development plan and granted a building permit. The first pile for the deep foundation was driven on 26 November 1993. Construction, carried out by Ballast Nedam and Royal BAM Group, took nearly three years. The highest point was reached on 24 February 1995 when the roof structure was raised. A fly-over from the public road to parking opened on 13 March 1996. During construction, 180,000 visitors toured the site until it closed on 1 July 1996. The stadium officially opened on 14 August 1996, with Queen Beatrix presiding.

At the opening ceremony, the queen caused a curtain to fall, revealing the world’s largest painting, De Zee (The Sea), measuring 80 units. Two-dimensional ships on the sea represented Eredivisie clubs. Trijntje Oosterhuis sang the hymn "De Zee," composed by John Ewbank for the event. An eight-day torch relay with 375 runners covered 1,400 km across the Netherlands, starting with Johan Cruyff at the old De Meer stadium and ending with Frank Rijkaard at the new venue. After the grass was revealed and the roof opened, Ajax played a friendly against Milan, losing 0–3. Tina Turner opened the stadium with three concerts for 160,000 people as part of her Wildest Dreams Tour.

The combination of a retractable roof and grass surface initially caused problems: the turf struggled to grow in the shade of the open roof, requiring replacement 45 times in the first ten years.

In September 2015, plans were announced to renovate the stadium’s facade. The goal was to improve quality and service by widening the walkway rings around the stadium, creating more space for visitors and new facilities while keeping the same number of seats. This changed the exterior from a concave to a convex shape, drastically altering its appearance. By 2020, only the east side had been renovated, in time for four UEFA Euro 2020 matches held there. Construction began in June 2017, and the first phase—renovating the east side—was completed in April 2018.

On 25 April 2017, it was announced that the Amsterdam Arena would be renamed the Johan Cruijff Arena in memory of Ajax legend Johan Cruyff. Later that year, on 9 August, it was stated the name change would take effect on 25 October 2017, though this was postponed.