AZ Alkmaar: Football club's stadium roof collapses amid high winds in Netherlands

Katy Clifton11 August 2019

A large section of the roof has collapsed at Dutch club AZ Alkmaar's stadium due to strong winds across the Netherlands.

There were no injuries from the partial collapse at AFAS Stadion, the Dutch Eredivisie club's general manager Robert Eenhorn said at a press conference where he also announced an investigation into the incident.

He said: "This surprised us all. We are very shocked but especially happy that there was no human suffering.

"In the coming days we will conduct a study with experts in this field. Only when that investigation has been done can we elaborate on the matter. It is much too early for that now."

The damage to the roof of the AFAS Stadium
EPA

AZ Alkmaar were not playing when the roof fell at their 17,000-capacity stadium, which was officially opened for a friendly against Arsenal in August 2006.

Their next home game is a Europa League third-round qualifier against Ukraine's FC Mariupol on Thursday.

AFAS Stadium of soccer club AZ Alkmaar in Alkmaar
EPA

But Eenhorn was not able to confirm if the match would proceed as planned. He said: "No matches will be played in the stadium if the situation is not safe."

The side are due to play their second match in the Dutch top league away to RKL Waalwijk on Sunday.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT