Eredivisie
First home match 16 Aug
Last season
2nd place — 65 points
Coach
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
About the stadium
De Kuip — "the tub" in Dutch — opened in 1937, and the nickname was born from the shape itself: a closed, steep bowl where every seat faces inward toward the pitch. It's one of the most famous football stadiums in Europe, and it has hosted ten European cup finals — more than any other stadium on the continent — including the 2002 UEFA Cup final in which Feyenoord itself lifted the trophy on its own turf. The capacity the stadium operator publishes for football is 47,500 seats (and for bigger events, about 50,000). The stadium sits in south Rotterdam, by the riverbank, and until 2026 it wasn't even owned by the club — Feyenoord bought and merged into itself the company that held it only this year. For two decades the question of replacing it hung over it: plans for a new 63,000-seat stadium were approved by Rotterdam's city council in 2017, and then shelved in 2022 when the club announced it wasn't building new and wasn't renovating. The result is that De Kuip remains exactly what it is — a structure from the 1930s, steep, close, and loud in a way that barely exists in the new stadiums. A former player of the club described it in one sentence: every time you walk onto the pitch, you're walking into a lions' den.
FAQ
How do you get tickets to a Feyenoord match?
Tickets to a Feyenoord match are sold in the official ticket shop, but for the top matches only to club members and season-ticket holders. There's a sharp difference here between two kinds of matches, and it's worth understanding before planning a flight. In regular matches, sales are open to all fans through the club's official ticket shop. But for the top matches the club states explicitly that fans without club membership and without a season ticket cannot buy a ticket at all — the right is reserved for season-ticket holders, members of "the Legion," youth-membership holders and holders of club certificates and shares. That means a tourist without Dutch membership is simply blocked from the big matches. Even for those who are members, the limit is one ticket per membership or season ticket, and sales open in waves by priority order of several days. Two technical details that trip up groups: the ticket is registered to a specific person's name already at the moment of purchase, and every visitor — not just the one who ordered — must enter with their own mobile ticket in the club's app. You can't bring five people in on one phone. The club also makes clear that it doesn't work with any resale marketplace, that it doesn't guarantee entry for a ticket bought through such a channel, and that it bears no responsibility. That's exactly why TikTik obtains tickets to Feyenoord home matches — without Dutch club membership and without a waiting list.
How do you get to De Kuip?
De Kuip is reached by train to Rotterdam Stadion station, right by the stadium, which operates only on match days. The address is Van Zandvlietplein 1, 3077 AA Rotterdam. The best way is by train: the stadium has a station right next to it, Rotterdam Stadion, and it operates on match days and events only — not on a regular day. When it's closed, get off at Rotterdam Zuid or Rotterdam Lombardijen stations, from which it's about a quarter-hour walk. In addition, the club runs a dedicated match-day tram with the local transport operator from central Rotterdam. We're deliberately not naming the line number, and that's not excessive caution: the club's official directions page points to a tram line that doesn't appear at all in the transport operator's live disruption feed, and in the same breath the club's own match-day notice states that there's no tram service to and from the north car park until the end of August. Check the operator's live feed on match day. A point worth knowing in advance: with a match ticket, travel on Rotterdam trams and buses is free, from three hours before the match until three hours after. And there's also a particularly Rotterdam option — a water taxi, whose jetty is less than a five-minute walk from the stadium.
Is there parking at De Kuip?
De Kuip does have parking, but almost all of it is by advance booking and the amount around the stadium is very limited. The adjacent car parks are reserved for business-club guests; the parking sold to the general public is bought in advance through the official ticket shop and opens four hours before the match starts. Anyone who hasn't booked parking in advance is directed by the club to shop at outlying park-and-ride lots outside the center and continue in about a quarter-hour by public transport or water taxi; one of these car parks costs 6 euros and the others are free. Note the seasonality: one of the main outlying car parks suffered a tram service suspension until the end of August, so in August the train route is preferable. Disabled-badge holders have dedicated free parking on presentation of a valid European badge together with a match ticket. The main road facing the stadium is closed at the entrance square; passenger drop-off and taxis are handled on the car park side near the fan services point, and that's also where the official taxi rank is. Bicycles and scooters park free and supervised from three hours before until an hour after.
How do you get from Israel to a Feyenoord match?
For a Feyenoord match you fly to Amsterdam, and from Schiphol a direct train to Rotterdam in about 25 minutes. You fly to Amsterdam, not to Rotterdam — and that's a point that saves disappointment: we checked the destination boards of the airports themselves, and Rotterdam airport and Eindhoven airport have no direct line from Israel at all. To Schiphol in Amsterdam there's an old and busy direct line: El Al operates about 13 flights a week, two to three a day Sunday to Friday and none on Saturday; Arkia and Blue Bird each add about three weekly flights; and KLM returned to the route with its own aircraft, on a daily flight. Flight time is about four and a half hours. From Schiphol to Rotterdam you continue by direct train — the fast line does it in about 25 minutes with no changes and no stops in between, roughly every half hour, and requires a supplement; there's also a direct regular train in about 50 minutes with no supplement. From Rotterdam Centraal you continue to Rotterdam Stadion station, right by the stadium, which operates on match days. A seasonal warning worth its weight in gold: the Dutch rail authority publishes planned works, and in August 2026 there were several days when the slow train that passes through Leiden was cancelled — the fast line wasn't affected, but check the rail website on the day of travel, not what you printed out in advance.
Does an Israeli need a visa to fly to the match?
No. Israelis enter Schengen-area countries visa-free for stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and all that's required is a valid passport. Worth knowing what's coming: the European Union is launching the ETIAS authorization system in the last quarter of 2026. Once it takes effect, an online authorization will be required in advance, at a cost of €7, valid for three years or until the passport expires — whichever comes first. As of today the system is not active and no action is required from you. Important warning: the EU warns that many sites impersonate the official site, use the EU logo and charge inflated fees or steal passport and credit card details. There is only one official site — europa.eu/etias — and any address not on the europa.eu domain is not official.
Where's the best place to sit at De Kuip?
At De Kuip every seat faces inward in a closed, steep bowl, so there's no bad stand. Let's start with what we don't know, because it's more useful than guessing: the official stadium map is published as an image only, with no text explaining which stand is the atmosphere stand and which is the away stand. There are answers to that on fan sites, and we don't publish them as fact. What the club does state officially, and this is actually the most important rule here: entry is through your stand and through the gate printed on your ticket, so the stand is chosen at purchase, not on site. De Kuip's shape does some of the work for you — it's a closed, steep bowl in two tiers, and even the high seats face inward and are relatively close to the pitch, so there's no "bad stand" in the sense there is in stadiums with an athletics track. The club officially runs dedicated stands for those 67 and over, marked seats for disabled fans in two tiers, and the children's club activity takes place in the outer tier on one side of the stadium. If you're coming with kids — that's the side worth asking about at the time of purchase.
What's special about Feyenoord's 2026/27 season?
Feyenoord's 2026/27 season is two fronts — Eredivisie and the Champions League — and a coach who's returned. Two fronts and one big name. Giovanni van Bronckhorst returned to Feyenoord's bench in June 2026 — the coach who led the club to the 2016/17 title — and appears as head coach on the official squad page. Beyond the Eredivisie, Feyenoord is playing in the Champions League this season, and UEFA has a dedicated club page for Feyenoord for the 2026/27 season; the exact entry stage hasn't yet been published on the club's site, so we're not stating it here. The official squad has 30 players, including two Japan internationals — Ayase Ueda and Tsuyoshi Watanabe — alongside Sam Steijn, Luciano Valente, Anel Ahmedhodžić, Jordan Bos and Mika Marmol. The practical angle for tourists: the season opens early, the first Eredivisie home match is held as early as 16 August 2026 at 14:30 against Go Ahead Eagles, and the midweek European matches add further home dates beyond the 17 home league matches.
What's Feyenoord's big game in the 2026/27 season?
Feyenoord's big game is "De Klassieker" against Ajax at De Kuip — the date hasn't been set yet. "De Klassieker" against Ajax — the big game of Dutch football, and at De Kuip it's the event of the season. Feyenoord's official fixture list marks this match as "date to be confirmed," and the Dutch federation has set that matchdays 13 to 21 will only be finalized at the start of September 2026; based on the matchday schedule, it's expected in late November 2026. So we're giving a month and not a date — anyone planning a flight around this match should wait for the September announcement. Two more things worth knowing about it: for many years away fans haven't been allowed into the Klassieker, by a joint decision of the mayors and the federation, and as of 7 August 2026 the decision for the current season hasn't yet been published; and on this match's ticket page there's no allocation at all for away fans. The city rivalry with Sparta Rotterdam is the local derby, and its home match at De Kuip also still has no date.
