AUDIO
JAN BREYDEL STADIUM Bruges, Belgium
Images: Koen Galle
O
pened in 1975, Jan Breydel Stadium was built for the city of Bruges to provide a shared home for the two local football clubs - Club Brugge KV and Cercle Brugge KSV.
Back then, the venue had the capacity for around 30,000 fans, though this was mostly standing only. In the 1990s, the terraces were equipped with seating, which saw the capacity reduce to under 20,000, however, following its selection as a venue for Euro 2000, plans were put in place to expand two stands and refurbish the other two. The work was completed in 1999, leaving the stadium with a seated capacity of 29,042. Interestingly, the ground was originally called Olympiastadion, however, in order to qualify for subsidies from the Flanders government, a more Flemish name was required, which led to the decision to change the name to Jan Breydel Stadium – named after a folk hero from 14th Century Bruges. During the Euro 2000 tournament, Jan Breydel Stadium hosted three group matches and the quarter-final between France and Spain. Nowadays, it is still home to both Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge, however, it was due an upgrade, with the audio system being first on the agenda. Kirsten Willem, Head of Communications at Club Brugge, spoke to MONDO | STADIA to explain further: “The audio in our stadium was very poor – and, more than ever, we realise the importance of the pre-match build up and how that affects the atmosphere for the games. Just simple things like playing the right music and announcing players’ names, for example. It’s really important. “So, at the beginning of 2019, we had some internal discussions about the audio after receiving some negative feedback – the system simply wasn’t capable of achieving what we wanted. We decided to look for a new solution that we wanted to have in place by the playoffs in April.” From there, Club Brugge contacted Belgium-based audio experts, Soundsystem.be, with the task to help improve the audio experience throughout the stadium for the fans. Having already installed a new audio system in one of KV Kortrijk’s Guldensporen Stadium a few years ago, the Soundsystem.be team were well placed to provide the perfect system for Jan Breydel Stadium. Plus, as an official Funktion-One distributor, they had access to the suppliers of an audio system that has been deployed with great success at Volgograd Stadium for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Lieven Pillaert, Technical Director at Soundsystem.be, takes up the