Den Dreef, besides known as King Power at Den Dreef for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium situated on Kardinaal Mercierlaan in the Heverlee suburb of Leuven in Belgium. It is home to Jupiler Pro League football team Oud-Heverlee Leuven and hosts the home plate matches of the Belgium women ‘s national football team and the Belgium national under-21 football team. The entrance for visiting spectators is on Tervuursevest. [ 2 ]

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belgian World War Memorial stone with inscriptions in french : “ Le Royal Stade Louvainiste Reconnaissant heroes morts au champion d ‘ honneur, martyr massacres, barbarie Allemande 1914-1918 1940-1945 ” ( translated : “ Royal Stade Louvainiste Recognizes the dead heroes in the field of honor and martyr massacres by german brutality 1914-1918 1940-1945 ” ) With the establishment of Oud-Heverlee Leuven in 2002, the stadium changed its diagnose from Leuvens Sportcentrum to Den Dreef. At that point the stadium had a track and field layout, with the pitch surrounded by tartan track running lanes. There was one main stand with seats approximately two-thirds of the distance of the pitch and a smaller rack with covered standing terracing on the opposite side. Both of these were covered, whereas in both curves the standing places were not covered. The initial layout was such that visiting teams used the north arch and received a part of the smaller stand.

A first propagation came when the curves were demolished and new covered individual grade stands were built on top of the track behind both goals, which allowed the supporters to sit much closer to the field. The one behind the finish to the west is normally reserved for visiting supporters. In the summer of 2011 the lower tier of the main digest was extended to run the unharmed distance of the pitch, increasing the capacity of the stadium to 8,519 in training for the larger attendances expected following Oud-Heverlee Leuven ‘s promotion to the belgian Pro League in season 2010-11. In the summer of 2012 the upper tier of the main resist was besides extended, further increasing the stadium capacity to 9,493 and adding excess space to its corporate entertainment and conference facilities.

In December 2015 the stand opposite the independent stand was demolished and replaced with a like stand as the main point of view. This new stand has been in use since the 2016-17 season and contains skyboxes, media facilities and the dress rooms which were previously located in a separate build up some 20 meters outside of the stadium. The capacitance has increased far to 10,020. [ 3 ] At this steer the stadium no longer had places reserved for standing, but both smaller stands behind the goals are typically used by supporters that stand preferably than sit.

OH Leuven has announced further plans to expand the stadium, stating that the expansion in 2016 was just phase one of a three phase expansion plan. [ 4 ] Phase two will involve expanding the smaller rack behind the west slope finish and connecting it to the main base, increasing the capacity to 11,000. During the third gear phase the smaller bandstand on the east side will be expanded by adding again 1,000 places for standing and connecting the stand to the two stands along the farseeing sides of the pitch. The total capacity will increase to somewhere between 12,000 and 13,000 .

References [edit ]

  • Stadion info and images. OHL.be club website. Retrieved 14 November 2015.