PSV EindhovenGround: Philips Stadion Visits: 1 Date: 4th November 2010 Match: PSV Eindhoven - Debrecen 3-0 (UEFA Europa League) Attendance: 15 200
As in recent years I knew quite early I would be free from work the latter part of the first week of November. Being a week with matches in the two European club competitions I was hoping to combine weekend matches in Germany with Champions League/Europa League games. When UEFA made the draw and fixtures were confirmed I felt a bit unlucky. Most teams I wanted to see played away from home. However, PSV Eindhoven had a home game in the Europa League on Thursday evening. With three Swedish players in the squad making it a bit more interesting for me I decided that PSV Eindhoven vs Debrecen was to be my first match on this tour. With only early morning or late afternoon/evening flights to choose from I made the trip to Amsterdam already on Wednesday evening. I then arrived in Eindhoven around 7 pm and soon discovered my "hotel" was not as I had expected. Either I had done a mistake not reading the room description properly or the hotel placed me in the wrong room. With no toilet or shower in the room I could at least understand why it was so cheap. On Thursday morning I made the short walk to Philips Stadion, the home of PSV Eindhoven, to take some exterior pictures.
PSV stands for Philips Sport Vereniging and as the name indicates the club is closely tied to the electronice company Philips. The club was founded as a works team for factory workers in 1913 and the club has maintained their close ties with Philips. They have for instance had Philips as the shirt sponsors since 1982, the year short sponsorships were allowed in Holland. As with Wolfsburg (Volkswagen Arena) PSV Eindhoven play at a ground named after the big sponsor. Philips Stadion nowdays have a capacity of around 35 000 and for league matches the ground is almost full every time.
Some of the Hungarians staying at my hotel were outside the ground as well and it was good to know we think in the same way. First a look at the stadium and then the city centre. Avoiding my hotel I spent most of the day at Eindhoven library reading my new book. I read all 570 pages (The Hyptonist by Lars Kepler) before returning to Philips Stadion in the evening. My seat was in row 13 of the West Stand (behind the goal). The view from there was quite good, only disadvantage was I couldn´t see all of the away supporters. There were 300-400 Debrecen fans in Eindhoven this windy Thursday evening and in the beginning they were in full voice. As PSV took the lead they went a bit silent and when PSV scored another goal they knew what to expect and their enthusiasm went down the drain. In the end PSV won by 3-0. It could have been more. Two shots off the inside of the post in the second half indicates this. For most of the 90 minutes it was quiet inside Philips Stadion. Not a surprise though as PSV were clearly the better team. The 15 000 or so home fans that showed up this evening could return home knowing their team is close to securing a place in the knock-out rounds.
Philips Stadion
Gate outside the ground
Noordtribune
Oosttribune
Zuidtribune
Old PSV supporters Debrecen fans
My view
Noordtribune
Oosttribune
PSV fans
Kick-off
View of play
Zuidtribune
Pano
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