Johan Cruijff ArenA

The roof was the point. When the ground opened in Amsterdam in 1996, no other major football stadium in Europe had one that slid shut, and the idea was to keep the weather out while letting enough light in for the grass. The grass disagreed. In the shade under that roof it refused to take, and the pitch had to be replaced 45 times in the first decade.

That fight has run through everything since. Natural turf gave way to a PlayMaster hybrid in 2020, and in August 2022 the club switched again, to the GrassMaster system.

Queen Beatrix opened the ground on 14 August 1996, and Ajax marked the occasion with a friendly against AC Milan. Tina Turner played the opening concerts; Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Taylor Swift have all followed her onto the pitch since.

The big European nights came early. The 1998 UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus was played here, a semi-final at UEFA Euro 2000 followed, and the 2013 UEFA Europa League final put Chelsea and Benfica on the same grass. Matches at UEFA Euro 2020 brought the tournament back.

It has changed names twice — planned as Stadion Amsterdam, opened and known for two decades as the Amsterdam ArenA.