Deventer residents contact lawyers to try to get Go Ahead Eagles stadium moved

Dutch top-division football club Go Ahead Eagles is working on expanding its stadium in Deventer, the Adelaarshorst. However, RTV Oost reported that residents who live close to the stadium have contacted a lawyer's office in Amsterdam to try to force the club to move the stadium away from the current area.

Go Ahead plans to raise the stadium's maximum capacity to 13,000. The stadium can currently hold 11,000 people. The municipality of Deventer supports this plan, which was initiated in 2015.

The club's general manager, Jan-Willem van Dip, is astonished by the residents' actions. "This comes as a shock to us." The club had expected the residents to oppose building a new stand as part of the expansion but had not expected this kind of resistance at the last second.

There is a file with over 50 objections against the location of Go Ahead Eagles stadium. "The English setting of a stadium with open corners in a residential area will lead to more spectators, more matches, and more events when the capacity is increased. The nuisance in the neighborhood will increase. The environment is not suitable for processing large flows of visitors. The stadium does not fit into a national vision for good spatial planning," said the residents via the attorney office AVC.

Go Ahead stated that it has been in intensive consultation with these residents since 2022 to properly prepare the plans for a new IJsselstand and B-side. "The necessary changes have been made to the plans in the last year and a half at the request of the neighbors. This to the full satisfaction of most residents," says Van Dop.

The old stadium entrance on the Brinkgreverweg was previously closed, and visitors can no longer walk behind the stadium in the residents' back garden.