AFAS Dome

AFAS Dome in Antwerp is a 23,001-capacity arena whose present name covers a building created for very different crowds: it opened as Sportpaleis in 1933, with an indoor cycling track beneath an 11,600-square-metre roof carried without internal support pillars. That uninterrupted span remains the venue’s defining physical idea, even after the track gave way to concert-scale staging. Its AFAS identity began on September 1, 2025.

A cycling palace remade

Antwerp’s late-1920s plan was for Europe’s largest indoor velodrome; the first stone went down on January 11, 1932 and the hall opened on September 11, 1933. Its wooden 250-metre circuit drove Six-Day races from 1934 until 1983, while war damage and repair bills helped push the programme toward ice revues, circus, sport and international entertainment after liberation. The financial crunch supplied the crucial reset: Sportpaleis went bankrupt in April 1996, then Antwerp Province and private partner ASB bought it in 1997. The following renewal put a new balcony in 2011, permanent stands in 2012, and removed the cycling track in 2013, lifting capacity to 23,001. On September 1, 2025, its first name change since opening made the former Sportpaleis AFAS Dome, under a ten-year AFAS Software naming partnership intended to fund upgrades.

A room built to flex

AFAS Dome books at arena scale: top touring artists, bands and family shows; its programme reaches across pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop, electronic, indie, alternative and metal. The wide main room joins permanent stands and a balcony, while individual promoters set their own seated and standing configurations. Colour-coded ticket zones route people through the foyer, with staff on hand for seat finding. Views vary by production, so the venue’s 360-degree seat map offers a useful read on a specific block before show night.