Baandert in Sittard

Opened:    1964
Seats:        13.000
Team:        Fortuna Sittard

Built in 1964 as the ground for Sittardia. First match played here was first division champions Sittardia against Dutch champion DWS/A (1-1). First goalscorer was Piet Quix. Fortuna is a merger of Fortuna '54 from Geleen and Sittardia from Sittard. The first 2 years after the merger, Fortuna played by turns in De Baandert and in the Maurits Stadium in Geleen. In 1970 De Baandert became the steady homebase of Fortuna. Entrepreneurs in Sittard paid for the debts of Fortuna where entrepreneurs in Geleen refused to do so. Record attendance (22.000) in De Baandert was in December 1982 when Fortuna played against Ajax. 1 cap has been played in De Baandert: in 1992 The Netherlands played a friendly against Austria (3-2). Last match was on October 23, 1999 (Fortuna Sittard vs. Sparta 3-2), in the 66th minute Joost Volmer scored the last goal in De Baandert

On Saturday, January 15th 2000, somebody tried to set fire to the old Baandert: a strange way to say goodbye 

Fortuna Sittard started to build a new stadium in 1998 for 33 million Guilders. First match in the new Wagner & Partners Stadium stadium was played on November 14, 1999 against Schalke 04.