Al-Jazira Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium ( ar, ستاد محمد بن زايد) is a
multi-purpose stadium
A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...
in
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
, United Arab Emirates. It is currently used mostly for
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
matches and is the home ground of
Al Jazira Club
Al Jazira Club is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League.
History
Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled to st ...
. It is named after
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( ar, مُحَمّد بِن زَايد آل نَهيَان, Moḥamed bin Zāyed Āl Nahyān; born 11 March 1961), colloquially known by his initials as MBZ, is the third president of the United Arab Emirates ...
.
Capacity change
The stadium's original capacity was 15,000 but it was expanded. Half of the project was completed by December 2006 and the stadium hosted the
18th Arabian Gulf Cup the next month. The UAE won the tournament in the stadium which held 24,000 spectators. The stadium was expanded again for the
2019 AFC Asian Cup
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...
.
Trivia
* Hosted 3
List A
List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...
matches in 1999 between the A teams of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
* Hosted 8 matches of the
2003 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. U20 Brazil claimed their fourth title. The 2003 championship was the 14th contested. The tournament was originally planned to be ...
.
* Hosted 3 matches of the
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
and
2010 FIFA Club World Cup
The 2010 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2010 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament that was played from 8 to 18 December 2010. It was the seventh FIFA Club World Cup and was ho ...
s, along with the
Zayed Sports City Stadium
Zayed Sports City Stadium ( ar, ستاد مدينة زايد الرياضية) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The largest stadium in the UAE with 45,000 seats, it has iconic status and ...
.
2019 AFC Asian Cup
The Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium hosted seven games of the
2019 AFC Asian Cup
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...
, including a round of 16 match, a quarter-final match and a semi-final match.
In the
semi-final match between
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
and hosts the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, the UAE supporters threw bottles and
footwear
Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves th ...
onto the pitch. This conduct was preceded by booing the
Qatari national anthem. Qatar won 4–0 despite the situation, reaching their first Asian Cup final.
References
External links
Official Site – Al Jazira ClubImage of the StadiumAFL Architects
{{2019 AFC Asian Cup stadiums
Al Jazira Club
Football venues in the United Arab Emirates
Football venues in Abu Dhabi
Sports venues in Abu Dhabi
Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Arab Emirates
Sports venues completed in 1979
1979 establishments in the United Arab Emirates