- Address: Avenue de Marathon, Brussels
- Country: Belgium
- Capacity: 50,000
- Opened: 23 August 1930
- Main use: Football
- Tenants:
Extra stadium info – Stade Roi Baudouin
The stadium opened as the Stade du Centenaire. Between 1945 and 1995, it was known as the Stade du Heysel. The Stade Roi Baudouin became a venue for several events, like athletics, concerts, football, rugby union and tennis. It is named after a former Belgian king. In 2010, the venue hosted a tennis match between Kim Clijsters from Belgium and Serena Williams from the United States. Kim Clijsters won the match in front of 35,000 spectators. It became the best-attended singles tennis game. In 2019, the record was broken when 42,000 people attended a tennis match in the United Mexican States, commonly known as Mexico.
Anderlecht
The stadium’s record attendance was set in 1963, when 64,000 people attended a football game between the Belgian side RSC Anderlecht and the Scottish side Dundee FC. In 1987, Anderlecht became the first Belgian football club with 20 top-flight football league titles. They won the competition which is currently known as the UEFA Super Cup twice in the 1970s.
The national football team of Belgium
The national football team of Belgium, nicknamed Red Devils, use the venue for home games. In 1986, Belgium reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their history. They were defeated by the French Republic, commonly known as France, in the semi-finals. In 2000, the national football team of Belgium won the opening game of the European championship for national football teams at the Stade Roi Baudouin. Belgium won the match against Sweden 2-1 in front of 46,000 fans. The former Belgian football player Bart Goor scored the first goal of the tournament. The national football teams of the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Portuguese Republic, Romania and Türkiye also played at the Stade Roi Baudouin during the European championship in 2000.
A stadium disaster
In 1985, the Stade Roi Baudouin hosted the final of the European championship for football clubs. The game between the Italian side Juventus and the English side Liverpool FC ended in a 1-0 victory for Juventus. Before the football match started, escaping fans were pressed against a wall, which led to 39 deaths and hundreds of injured people. The stadium disaster also led to a five-year ban for English football clubs from European competitions.
