De Grolsch Veste Stadium

De Grolsch Veste (Dutch pronunciation: [də ˈɣrɔls ˌfɛstə], English: The Grolsch Fortress, previously known as Arke Stadion [ˈɑrkə ˌstaːdijɔn]) is the stadium of football club FC Twente. It is located in Enschede, Netherlands, at the Business & Science Park, near the University of Twente. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of 30,205 with a standard pitch heating system and has a promenade instead of fences around the stands. It hosted the final of the UEFA Women's Euro 2017.

History

De Grolsch Veste replaced the old Diekman Stadion as FC Twente's home ground on 22 March 1998. Plans had been afoot to expand and to renovate the old and now demolished Diekman Stadion. However, with a growing fan capacity and with arguments that the location of the Diekman stadium was not strategic enough, the idea was conceived to build a new arena for the FC Twente fans. The Diekman ground also faced problems with its seating plans as a result of previous FIFA regulations which imposed a necessity to construct a seating tribune behind each goal post.

The cost of the construction is estimated to have been around 33 million guilders and it took fourteen months to complete, with its foundation stone having been laid on 31 January 1997. Due to the tight budget available, the layout of the stadium was constructed in such a way that future expansions would be possible without the necessity to tear down entire stands.

The first match played at the stadium was a 3–0 victory by the home team against PSV on 10 May 1998 in an Eredivisie match. The first goal in the new stadium was scored in the 14th minute by FC Twente player Chris De Witte.

On 1 October 2006, the stadium was updated with two big flatscreen video-walls.

In May 2008, the Arke Stadion was renamed to De Grolsch Veste with beer brewery Grolsch as sponsor. The brewery is located in the club's hometown Enschede. The name "Veste" (fortress) is a reference to Groenlo, a former fortified town that was often besieged and where Grolsch