Jan Breydel Stadium: Club Brugge KV
By Paghi (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Jan Breydel Stadium has been the home of Club Brugge since it opened in 1975. It was originally known as Olympiastadion but was named after Jan Breydel in 1998. Breydel was a butcher who is credited as leading the uprising against Philip the Fair in the 13th Century. The stadium is shared between Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge.
Club Brugge is one of the most successful football clubs in all of Belgium. They have won the Belgian top-flight on seventeen occasions and have also competed in Europe numerous times. They are perhaps best known in England as the team that Liverpool defeated to win the European Cup in 1978. But probably only if you are a Liverpool fan. Cercle Brugge, meanwhile, play in the second division of Belgian football.
Stats
| Jan Breydel Stadium Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 1975 |
| Capacity | 29062 |
| Average Attendance | 26129 |
| Record Attendance | 28728 () |
| Pitch Size | 105 x 68 (7140) |
| Former Name | Olympiastadion |
| Owner | City of Bruges |
| Clubs Hosted | Club Brugge, Cercle Brugge |
| Club Brugge KV Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1895 |
| Nickname | Blauw-Zwart, Club, FCB |
| Club Mascot | Belle, Bene, Bibi |
| Rivals | Anderlecht, Gent |
| Previous Stadiums | De Klokke |
| Kit | Blue & Black (Home) / Yellow (Away) |
| Training Ground | Club Brugge Training Ground |
| Shirt Sponsor | Unibet |
| Team Owner | Bart Verhaeghe |
Jan Breydel Stadium Photos
By Paghi (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0]
By V&A Dudush (Panoramio) [CC BY 3.0]
By V&A Dudush (Panoramio) [CC BY 3.0]
Jan Breydel Stadium Seating Plan and Where to Sit
The most vocal Club Brugge fans sit in The North Stand, behind the goal. The East Stand runs along the side of the pitch, as does The West Stand, with the latter considered to be the main stand in the ground as it contains the dugouts, the players’ tunnel and the changing rooms. The South Stand contains the section where the away fans sit.
Club Brugge KV Ticket Prices
Club Brugge operate a reasonably simple to understand ticketing procedure. There are two categories of matches: Regular and Higher. The Higher matches are against the club’s chief rivals, Anderlecht, Racing Genk, AA Gent, Standard and Cercle Brugge. The Regular matches are against everyone else.
There are two tiers to the stadium that they refer to as ‘rings’, with the Upper Ring being more expensive to sit in than the Lower Ring’. The highest priced ticket is €60 and the lowest is €15. The club also offers youth tickets for €10 for all Regular games as long as they are not sold out.
How To Get Club Brugge KV Tickets
You can get tickets online, over the phone or from the ticket office in person.
Where to Buy
Getting To Jan Breydel Stadium
Brugge is one of Belgium’s most popular cities, so there are loads of good transport options to help you get there. Here are some of the most popular:
Train – Getting to Brugge from London on train is reasonably easy. You get the Eurostar to Bruxelles-Midi and then change for Brugge itself. It should take just under four hours. Once there you’ll be about 3 kilometres from the ground.
Bus – Buses 5 and 15 will both take you close to the stadium.
Car – Driving to the stadium shouldn’t be too difficult, but your best bet is to get a sat-nav with European maps on it and use that.
By Air – Brussels International Airport serves pretty much the whole of Belgium, so that’s where you’ll want to fly in to. It’s about an hour or so from Bruges by train.
Taxi – A taxi from the train station to the ground will cost you about €15 and take around ten minutes.
Parking Near Jan Breydel Stadium
There is limited parking at the stadium itself, so you might want to look for a public car park nearby or investigate on-street parking.
Useful Resources
Jan Breydel Stadium Hotels
As one of Belgium’s most popular cities for a visit, Bruges has a number of excellent hotel options you might want to consider:
Leonardo Hotel Brugge - £40+
Hotel Bla Bla - £65+
Vakantie Logies Hollywood - £85+
Pubs and Bars Near Jan Breydel Stadium
Belgian lager is one of the best and most respected in the world, so it’s only right that there are a few decent places that serve it in Bruges. Here are some good ones in the city centre:
't Brugs Beertje
Delaney's Irish Pub
Herberg Vlissinghe
Facilities
Though Jan Breydel Stadium was built in 1975 it was expanded and updated in 1998, so there are plenty of excellent facilities available.
Hospitality
There are two main hospitality options at Jan Breydel Stadium, Outdoor VIP and Indoor VIP. Both include match tickets, with the Outdoor VIP option having seats in the stand and the Indoor VIP has, unsurprisingly indoor seats on offer. Both choices promise decent catering on two levels, in either a buffet or a sit-down style.
Private Hire
With a number of hospitality lounges it’s fair to say that there will be private hire options available at Jan Breydel Stadium, so your best bet if you want to hire them is to contact the club directly.
Stadium Tours & Museum
Tours of the stadium are available for just €5 per person aged 12+, and free for those younger. Whole tours can also be arranged for free for youth groups, sports groups, and those with complex needs. Isn’t that nice? It’s an 11 point tour taking in everything from the security tower to the players tunnel, and you can even get a look at the silverware in the club museum.
About Club Brugge KV
Club Brugge Koninklijke Voetbalvereniging was formed in 1890 as Brugsche Football Club then re-formed in 1891. In 1894 Football Club Brugeois was formed by former members of Brugsche, then in 1895 Vlaamsche Football Club de Bruges was also formed in the city. In 1897 FC Brugeois and Brugsche FC unite under the former’s name, then in 1902 Vlaamsche FC join the project. It wasn’t until 1972 that the name change to FC Brugge KV took place.
Despite that chequered history FC Brugge have enjoyed huge success over the years. As well as winning the Belgian First Division seventeen times they have also finished as runners-up on a further twenty-three occasions. They’ve won the Belgian Cup eleven times and the Belgian Supercup sixteen times. They’ve been unfortunate in Europe, losing to Liverpool in the final of the UEFA Cup in 1976 and then losing in the European Cup final at Wembley to the same team two years later.
Jan Breydel Stadium History
Brugge played in a stadium named De Klokke from 1913 until the Jan Breydel Stadium opened in 1975. When it opened it was called Olympiastadion – Olympic Stadium in Dutch – and, because it is the home of both Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge, it is owned by the city of Bruges rather than any one club. In 2015 the grass in the stadium was changed to a mix of real and artificial grass.
When UEFA confirmed that the European Championships of 2000 would be the first to be co-hosted by two different nations and that those nations would be Belgium and the Netherlands, it was clear that Jan Breydel Stadium would play a big part. It was used for two Group D matches, one Group C match and the quarter final game between Spain and France. More importantly, though, it underwent significant improvements ahead of the Championships in order to get it up to the right standard.
Future Developments
The pitch was updated in 2015, but a brand new stadium is set to be built on the current site in 2023. It will be state of the art, boost the capacity to 40,000 despite the stadium itself being more compact, and have a pressure ring device that supports the roof allowing it to be lower and fit in better with the surroundings. The impact of noise has also been considered in the plans, with the acoustics designed to contain as much of the sound as possible inside the stadium.