King Baudouin Stadium

The King Baudouin Stadium (French: Stade Roi Baudouin, Dutch: Koning Boudewijnstadion) is a sports ground in north-west Brussels, Belgium. It was inaugurated on 23 August 1930 (days after Belgium's 100th anniversary) as Jubilee Stadium (French: Stade du Jubilé, Dutch: Jubelstadion). Located in the Heysel section of the Brussels municipality, it was built to embellish the Heysel plateau in view of the Brussels International Exposition (1935). The stadium hosted 70,000 at the time. A wooden track for cycling races was later added around the pitch.

In 1946 the stadium was renamed Heysel Stadium (French: Stade du Heysel, Dutch: Heizelstadion ). It hosted European Cup finals in 1958, 1966, 1974, and 1985 and Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1964, 1976 and 1980.

Despite its status as Belgium's national stadium, Heysel was not well maintained. By the time of the 1985 European Cup Final, it was literally crumbling. For example, the outer wall had been made of cinder block, and fans who didn't have tickets were seen kicking holes in it to get in. The abject stadium conditions, along with poor crowd control procedures, are widely considered to have contributed to the Heysel Stadium disaster before the 1985 European match. Following the disaster, the ground was only used for athletics and it still hosts the Memorial Van Damme every year.

A decade after the disaster the ground was rebuilt, at a cost of BEF 1,500 million (around $50 million in 1995), and renamed King Baudouin Stadium. All that remains of the old stadium is a renovated gateway near the main entrance. The new structure combined the football ground with a running track and facilities for field events. It was re-opened on 23 August 1995 as the home of the national football team and is the largest stadium in Belgium; it can seat 60,024 spectators. The remodeled stadium hosted the 1996 European Cup final, as well as the opening game for Euro 2000.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the stadium (and the 100th anniversary of Derby's team) the Belgian state released a commemorative coin: the 10 euro 75 years of Heysel Stadium commemorative coin. The obverse depicts an image of a footballer with the stadium in the background. The flags of Belgium and the Netherlands can be seen on top of the stadium as well as the year that the stadium was built.