Amsterdam Arena Amsterdam Arena ( , officially stylised as A ArenA ) is a stadium in Amsterdam , Netherlands . It is the largest stadium in the country and it was built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost of €140 million , and was officially opened on 14 August 1996 . It has been used for association football , American football , concerts , and other events . The stadium has a retractable roof combined with a grass surface . It has a capacity of 53 , 052 seats during football matches and 68 , 000 places during concerts if a centre - stage setup is used ( the stage in the middle of the pitch ) ; for end - stage concerts , the capacity is 50 , 000 , and for concerts where the stage is located in the east side of the stadium , the capacity is 35 , 000 . It held UEFA five - star stadium status which was superseded by a new system of classification . It has been announced that the Amsterdam Arena will host the 2013 UEFA Europa League Final . The stadium is the home of the association football club AFC Ajax ( 1996 – " present " ) and was the home of the now - defunct American football club Amsterdam Admirals ( 1996 – 2007 ) . It was one of the stadiums used during Euro 2000 . Both international and Dutch artists gave concerts in the ArenA , including Celine Dion , Madonna , Michael Jackson , André Hazes and The Rolling Stones . Dance event Sensation is held in the stadium every year . History . Amsterdam was one of six cities that bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics . In 1986 , a new Olympic stadium was designed , with a football field and an athletics track . It was to be built in the area of Strandvliet in Amsterdam Zuidoost . After Amsterdam lost the bid to Barcelona in October 1986 , the plans for the new stadium were abandoned . In 1987 , the Stichting Amsterdam Sportstad ( English : " Amsterdam Sports City Foundation " ) was established , which made new plans for a sports stadium with an all - seated capacity of 55 , 000 . In 1990 , a new design was made based on both previous designs , with a football field , an athletics track , and completely covered by a roof . By this time , AFC Ajax needed a new stadium , because their old stadium , De Meer , no longer had sufficient capacity . Once more , the design was altered – the athletics track was removed , the capacity was reduced to 50 , 000 seats , and the fixed roof was replaced by a retractable roof . In 1992 , the Government of Amsterdam authorised the plans for the stadium with a " Transferium " where people could transfer from their car to various forms of public transportation . In 1993 , the Government of Amsterdam changed the development plan of the location and gave a permit to build the stadium . The first pile of the deep foundation of the stadium was placed on 26 November 1993 . The construction work , undertaken by Ballast Nedam and Royal BAM Group , would take almost three years . The highest point of the building was reached on 24 February 1995 , after the roof construction was raised . The fly - over from the public road to the parking facilities was opened on 13 March 1996 . The Amsterdam Arena received 180 , 000 visitors during the construction work , until the stadium was closed from 1 July 1996 until the opening ceremony . The Amsterdam Arena was officially opened on 14 August 1996 by Queen Beatrix . The Queen opened the Amsterdam Arena by making a curtain fall inside the stadium . This revealed the world ' s largest painting " De Zee " ( English : " The Sea " ) of 80 × 126 metres . Two - dimensional ships were placed on the sea representing the clubs in the " Eredivisie " . Tina Turner opened the stadium with three concerts with 160 , 000 people in the arena , from her world breaking Wildest Dreams Tour . Trijntje Oosterhuis sang the hymn " De Zee " , composed for the opening ceremony by John Ewbank . An eight - day torch relay with 375 runners over 1400 kilometre through the Netherlands reached the stadium . The first runner was Johan Cruijff starting in the old stadium De Meer , the last runner was Frank Rijkaard arriving in the new stadium Amsterdam Arena . After the grass was revealed and the roof opened , an inaugural football match was played between AFC Ajax and Milan . The construction of the Amsterdam Arena cost €140 million . The stadium combines a retractable roof with a grass surface . This caused some problems in the beginning : the grass rolls would not grow in the shade of the open roof and had to be replaced up to four times a year . Building and facilities . The architect is Rob Schuurman ( Holland ) . Its all - seated capacity is 53 , 052 . During music concerts , the stadium has a maximum capacity of 68 , 000 visitors . The parking capacity of the " Transferium " is 500 cars ( inside ) ; there are an additional 12 , 000 spots outside . The Amsterdam Arena is one of two stadiums in the Netherlands that is rated with five stars by UEFA , the other being the Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam . The Ajax Museum is located in the stadium , which shows the more than 100 years of history of Ajax . The nearest train station is Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena . Sport events . Association football . The inaugural match was between the home team Ajax and Milan , which ended with a 3 – 0 win by Milan . The first goal was scored by Dejan Savićević . The stadium is the home of AFC Ajax in the " Eredivisie " . The 1998 UEFA Champions League Final where Real Madrid defeated Juventus FC , was played in the Arena . It was also one of the stadiums in UEFA Euro 2000 . After the death of Rinus Michels in 2005 , Ajax fans tried to convince the stadium ' s board to rebrand the stadium as the Rinus Michels Stadium . The board refused . At every Ajax home game , however , fans bring a large banner displaying the words ' Rinus Michels Stadion ' . American football . The stadium was also the home of the American football team Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe , until the National Football League ( NFL ) ended its European competition in June 2007 . They played over 50 matches in the stadium from 1997 to 2007 . World Bowl IX was played at the Arena in 2001 , when the Berlin Thunder defeated the Barcelona Dragons . Kickboxing . As kickboxing is the most popular combat sport in the Netherlands , the It ' s Showtime and K - 1 promotions have held a number of fight cards at the arena . Many of the sport ' s biggest stars such as Peter Aerts , Semmy Schilt , Badr Hari and Ernesto Hoost have fought there . Music events . Despite frequent complaints about the acoustics of the Arena , concerts are often held in the stadium . Tina Turner was the first to perform at the arena during her " Wildest Dreams Tour " , with more than 157 , 000 people attending the three sold - out concerts on 6 – 8 September 1996 . The King of Pop Michael Jackson performed at the arena during his " HIStory World Tour " in five sold - out concerts , on 28 , 30 September ; 2 October 1996 and 8 & 10 June 1997 , for a total audience of 250 , 000 fans ( 50 , 000 people per show ) . The Rolling Stones performed five shows in the arena during their 1998 Bridges to Babylon Tour and returned to the arena on three more occasions ; twice in 2003 during the Licks Tour and once in 2006 during the A Bigger Bang Tour . Bon Jovi performed at four different dates in the arena ; twice in 2001 during the One Wild Night Tour , once in 2003 during the Bounce Tour and once in 2008 during the Lost Highway Tour . U2 used the arena for two of their tours ; they gave three concert in 2005 during the Vertigo Tour and two in 2009 during the U2 360 Tour . Madonna has performed at three different dates , with all tickets sold out . There were two presentations by the Confessions Tour in 2006 and one presentation by Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2008 . In October 2008 , the stadium was home to Dutch children ' s group Kinderen voor Kinderen . The Arena was selected because of the seating requirement for the groups new format of concert called the " Mega Spektakel " . The group had two concerts in the stadium on the same day due to high volume of people , mostly children that attended . The stadium is also host to dance event Sensation .