PSV immediately halves capacity of Philips Stadium away box after construction concerns

PSV has decided to halve the capacity of the box for away supporters at the Philips Stadium effective immediately. It is the outcome of an investigation conducted into the construction of the box.

For next Thursday’s Europa League match with Sevilla, halving the capacity is not a problem, because the Spaniards come to Eindhoven with a limited group of fans. FC Twente, next Sunday’s Premier League opponent, has to disappoint some of the travelling supporters.

After a match between NEC and Vitesse in October 2021 saw the partial collapse of the away box at the Goffert Stadium in Nijmegen, construction measurements were carried out in all Dutch soccer stadiums.

These showed that the load in compartments where fans are jumping at the same time can become higher than was anticipated during the construction of the Philips Stadium and that the construction of the away section could possibly be damaged without modifications.

The Eindhoven club then had an extensive study conducted by an independent party and construction company BAM. The compartments where supporters regularly jumped together were specifically examined.

According to PSV, the extensive inspection further revealed that the club has a safe stadium that is well maintained.

“We are going to make additional adjustments in the away box, because we obviously want to exclude everything,” said Sjors van den Boogaart, director of the Philips Stadium. “We are choosing a temporary solution immediately in the form of a capacity restriction, a reinforcement and in the meantime we are continuing to work on a permanent solution.”