Stade Roi Baudouin (Heysel - Brussels)

The King Baudouin Stadium to give the Stade Roi Baudouin its English translation is the national stadium of Belgium, located in the north west of the capital of Brussels and originally known as Stade du Centenaire; The Jubilee Stadium.

The original structure was opened in 1946, to celebrate Belgium’s one hundredth independence anniversary. Within a year it was renamed Stade du Heysel; Heysel Stadium. 

Owing to Brussel’s location, the stadium became a favourite choice for UEFA to stage its European finals. It was also home to the Belgian national football team and held many prestigious athletics events.

The majority of Belgian Cup Finals; Coupe de Belgique were also held at Stade du Heysel from its reintroduction in 1954.

Over 66,000 spectators attended Heysel’s first European Cup final in 1958 as Real Madrid defeated Milan after extra time. The European Cup Winners Cup final was the next major final to be held in the stadium.

The 3-3 draw between Sporting CP and MTK Budapest led to a replay being staged at Antwerp’s Bosuilstadion. In 1966 Real Madrid lifted the European Cup once again with victory against Partizan at Heysel.

In 1974 Bayern München defeated Atletico Madrid in a replay, with both games being held in the stadium as the German’s became champions of Europe. Brussels club RSC Anderlecht defeated West Ham United in the final of the Cup Winners Cup in 1976 in their home city.

CF Valencia won the same competition in the stadium after a penalty shoot out defeated Arsenal in 1980. Another English club would reach the last European club final to be held at the old stadium in five years later.

Liverpool faced Juventus on the May 29^th 1985, with Heysel a stadium well past its best. It had received very little investment throughout the preceding years. Some of the perimeter walls were made of cinder block.

Hooliganism was rife in the mid 1980’s. Throughout the day the fans had been drinking and many managed to gain access to the wrong areas of the stadium or without tickets. Segregation was poor between the set of supporters.

A disturbance took place on the west end terrace an hour before kick off. Missiles were thrown between fans of both clubs across a small sterile area. Fans in the Liverpool section charged at the Italian section, leading to disaster.

Thirty nine Italians were killed in the crush against the side wall of the section and then when it collapsed. Despite the events and the UEFA representatives knowing of deaths, the game went ahead with Juve winning 1-0.

Fourteen Liverpool fans were found guilty of manslaughter while all English clubs were banned from competing in European competition until the ban was lifted for the 1990-91 season.

Heysel continued to hold the final of the Coupe de Belgique until 1991, with Club Brugge defeating KV Mechelen to lift the trophy for the final time at the old stadium.

Discussions had been held for several years as to what should happen to the stadium. Eventually it was rebuilt with only a renovated gateway near to the main entrance remaining from the old structure.

The new stadium was named after the Belgian monarch who had died two years previously. The King Baudouin Stadium opened on August 23rd 1995 as home to the national football team. The final of Coupe de Belgique returned in 1996 as Club Brugge defeated Cercle Brugge.

The European Cup Winners Cup final returned to the site in 1996 as Paris Saint-Germain defeated Rapid Wien in the fourth last ever holding of the competition.

Stade Roi Baudouin staged the opening game of Euro 2000 as join hosts Belgium defeated Sweden 2-1. The stadium hosted another two group games, as well as a quarter final and the semi-final between France and Portugal.

In the subsequent years the stadium followed the pattern of many other modern arenas by staging huge pop concerts with the likes of U2, The Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay entertaining large crowds.

A dispute over the safety and width of entrances led to the Belgium national team moving out for a few games in 2006 before the dispute was sorted in court. The national rugby union side played Argentina in stadium in 2007.

English rugby side Saracens moved their home Heineken Cup game against Racing Métro 92 in October 2012 to the Stade Roi Baudouin in front of an attendance of 18,212.

The Brussels football club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise moved into the stadium as tenants from the 2016-17 season as their historic Stade Joseph Marien required upgrading.

My visits

Thursday 20th October 2016

My stay in Brussels was to be all too brief, but I was determined to fill every second. I’d arrived the previous evening to enjoy some city centre sightseeing and enjoying the local beers in a few choice establishments.

The following morning gave me a window of opportunity to visit a few stadiums and football clubs that had been on my radar for some time. As ever my pre planning had formulated some kind of plan.

I’d taken the Metro to Heysel with the intention of taking a look at both the Stade Roi Baudouin and its little sister; Heysel II as well as paying my respects to the victims of the 1985 tragedy.

The walk round from the station was none too promising. The stadium entrances were fully locked. I couldn’t even get near the structure because of the plentiful fencing. They’d obviously taken a lesson from the past.

After a brief look at Heysel II from the outside, I tried to work out how to gain access into the grounds of the complex. There were cars inside but no entrance was open. Eventually I worked out that access was from Avenue de Bouchout and then along Avenue de Marathon.

However, there seemed to be strict security at the end of the road. I figured out that access would be very difficult, even if I overcame the language barrier. It was at this point that I had an inspiration and a stroke of luck.

I’d heard cheering and noises coming from inside the stadium. Perhaps it was a recording to accompany a stadium tour? It continued and it was too loud for that. I noted that lots of schoolkids were setting out various sporting activities on the small facility on the approach.

I watched and saw that some were preparing to walk up to the stadium. A gate was open by the changing block where they were getting sorted. I also noted that there was a direct open gate from there to the main complex.

Never one to turn down such opportunities, I decided to keep my head down and walk along and through the gate. Several teachers and parents were around. As I neared the stadium it was apparent that it was a school sports day and events were taking place.

This meant that the gate between the main stand and curve to the stadium was open to allow the competitors, teachers, parents and stadium workers access. Best of all it appeared that nobody seemed to know who was who.

I’d never done any real acting in my life, but for ten the next thirty minutes or so I took on the role of a Belgian who was either a teacher, parent or stadium worker. I just walked confidently and smiled.

While I wasn’t doing anything criminal, I don’t suppose that they’d have been particularly amused to find that their security had been breeched so easily. I was also wary of what the teachers may have thought that I was up to?

Nevertheless, I took my photos from inside the stadium before walking round the back of the main stand to take a look at the memorial plaque to remember those who lost their lives in the 1985 disaster.

While I was winning I also wandered across to the gates to Heysel II, where lo and behold I found access in one corner so I could take a look and grab some snaps of that excellent little old school arena.

While happy with myself, I still had to get out the same way I’d entered. I noticed I got a few looks as I walked past the changing block, like “where’s he going?” but I kept my head down and returned out onto the main drag to catch a tram and train towards the Edmond Machtens Stadion.

Union Saint-Gilloise 3 KVC Westerlo 0 (Saturday 19^th August 2017) Belgian First Division B (att: c1,300)

Although I really liked Union’s Stade Joseph Marien on my previous visit to Brussels, I was going to have to return a year or so later if I wanted to see any competitive league action being played there.

The league regulations stipulated that each venue needed a minimum capacity of 8,000. Work was ongoing, but in the meantime the first team had decamped across the city to Stade Roi Baudouin.

The 5pm kick off time left options for other matches afterwards, and I had my eye on a couple in the league. I’d posted on the Facebook ‘European Football Weekends’ site asking for advice. Anthony Vargas; a fellow hopper, was also attending the Union game so we arrtanged to meet up.

We were both eager on heading off to the KV Mechelen v Royal Antwerp local derby, but tickets were scarce. Anthony managed to get hold of one, but I had seen another alternative in the Coupe de Belgique; which you can read about here.

I’d arrived in the capital from Liège that morning and had been to a couple of smaller venues before checking into the Hotel Sabina. After a nap I headed out again, towards Heysel but also checking out more venues.

I’d taken the Metro and then bus to Ganshoren and then Jette while keeping in touch with Anthony regarding our 4pm meet. I was a little later than intended after been drenched in a storm, but we met up at the ticket office in good time.

After a thorough frisk I showed my new pal the Heysel II smaller stadium and the monument to the disaster of 1985 before we entered the Main Stand. At this point there were more stewards than fans outside.

The huge building was hardly occupied; with absolutely no signage as to where to gain entry to the seats. We ended up entering towards the back of the lower tier. Even though it was obvious that there would be lots of space, the stewards were most diligent in ensuring we entered the correct block.

A couple of fans appeared to have drinks, so we walked down the steps and out an entrance lower down, which led to a concourse with a couple of basic concessions and a limited souvenir stand.

Refreshments were obtained by pre purchased vouchers as in many European grounds. Beers or soft drinks were €2, but there appeared to be no food for sale. This was not good as I’d hardly eaten all day.

A couple of rather aesthetic young ladies wearing scant clothing in club colours easily caught the attention while we enjoyed our drinks. It was just a shame that the stadium authorities didn’t make a bit more effort.

We took up position towards the front of the seating as Union’s regulars started taking up their positions. They were obviously wise to the sparse facilities and only turned up near to kick off time.

A couple of camera crews were filming in the aisles. We weren’t sure if it was for the live TV coverage or for club materials. It was good to see that Union had plenty of vibrant young support who made plenty of noise to rally their troops.

The Westerlo fans were to our right in the corner section on the curve, with a decent view. They also made some noise, which echoed around the stadium. Union entered the game having not scored in their opening two defeats.

It was good to meet up with Anthony, as we went through the usual conversations of ground hoppers. We both enjoyed the opening exchanges as both sides were eager to attack. Koen Van Langendonck in the visitor’s goal denied Union forward Serge Tabekou and Mathias Fixelles.

However, he could do nothing to stop USG going ahead six minutes before the break, as former Westerlo midfielder Julien Vercauteren fired in a fine shot from twenty five yards that dipped over the custodian and into the net.

I went down for the drinks right on the interval before we took up a position towards the rear, just behind the most vocal fans. Our view was massively improved; as was the atmosphere.

Union came out of the blocks flying at the start of the second half. Tabekou had a shot that came back off the foot of the post, and though Westerlo had plenty of play, they didn’t really look like scoring.

Just before the hour mark Vercauteren turned provider as his excellent free kick was pushed onto the frame of the goal by Van Langendonck before Roman Faber swooped to nod in the rebound.

Westerlo had a guilt edged chance to reduce the arrears as Konstantinos Rougalas beat the offside trap from a free kick to find himself alone in the penalty area. However, his weak effort was saved by the feet of Union goalie Nicaise Kudimbana.

The final goal came on the seventy fourth minute, as the impressive Tabekou beat his man for strength and pace before whipping in a low cross, which Vercauteren flicked home with nonchalance across the goal.

Westerlo’s players didn’t take their beating too well, as some silly challenges were put in to test the patience of both the referee and the home players. They’d had plenty of possession throughout; but they didn’t do too much with it. That was their own faults.

The atmosphere had been brilliant where we were located. It even sounded decent on the TV highlights later. It just seemed such a shame that Union had to play in such a large arena across the city from their traditional home.

Anthony headed off for Mechelen soon after the third goal; while I headed for the exits with five minutes remaining to head to Molenbeek for some cup action. The Union match had certainly put me in the right frame of mind.