The King Fahd Stadium (), also nicknamed "Pearl of Stadiums" ( ) or simply "the Pearl" ( ), is a multi-purpose stadium in

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

. 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 ...

matches and it also has

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

facilities.

Overview

The stadium was built in 1987 with capacity over 67,000 seats. It measures 116 yards by 74 yards. It also has one of the largest stadium roofs in the world. It was a venue for matches of the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

in 1989, including the final match. In September 2017, as part of

Saudi Vision 2030 Saudi Vision 2030 ( ar, رؤية السعودية ٢٠٣٠ ''ruʾyah al-suʿūdiyah'') is a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, in ...

, there was a celebration of the 87th anniversary of the Saudi founding with concerts and performances, with women for the first time being allowed into the stadium. The stadium has been included in the FIFA video games since '' FIFA 13'', when the Saudi Professional League began being featured in the game. A modified version of the stadium with two tiers all around was featured in the

Pro Evolution Soccer ''eFootball'', formerly known as ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' (''PES'') internationally and in Japan and North America, is a series of association football simulation video games developed and published by Konami since 1995. The series consists ...

series during the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...

era under the name ‘Nakhon Ratchasima’. The cost of construction was about 1.912 billion

Saudi riyal The Saudi riyal ( ar, ريال سعودي ') is the currency of Saudi Arabia. It is abbreviated as or SAR ''(Saudi Arabian Riyal)''. It is subdivided into 100 halalas ( ar, هللة '). The currency is pegged to the US dollar at a constant rate ...

s or $510 million. The stadium's roof shades over 67,000 seats and covers an area of 47,000

square feet The square foot (plural square feet; abbreviated sq. ft, sf, or ft2; also denoted by '2) is an imperial unit and U.S. customary unit (non- SI, non-metric) of area, used mainly in the United States and partially in Canada, the United Kingdom, Bang ...

. The 24 columns are arranged in a circle with a 247-metre diameter. The huge umbrella keeps the sun off the seats and concourse slabs, providing shade and comfort in the hot

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in deser ...

. The first goal in an official game was scored by Majed Abdullah. As a personal touch to the stadium, a royal balcony was constructed. The architect was Michael KC Cheah.

Events

The stadium's first major musical event was holding a concert by BTS, which was their first concert in the Middle East, as part of their Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour on 11 October 2019. This made the band the first international act to perform in the stadium. They played to an audience of 31,899 people. The stadium hosted WWE's event Crown Jewel on 31 October 2019. The stadium also hosted all the three matches of

2021–22 Supercopa de España The 2021–22 Supercopa de España was the 38th edition of the Supercopa de España, an annual football competition for clubs in the Spanish football league system that were successful in its major competitions in the preceding season. After las ...

which was won by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. The semi-final between

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and Real Madrid was the first official El Clásico to be held in a stadium outside of Spain. On October 28th, 2022

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

performed during the opening ceremony of Saudi Games 2022.

References

External links

World Stadium ArticleWorld Football ProfileSoccerway Profile
{{Portalbar, Saudi Arabia 1987 establishments in Saudi Arabia Football venues in Saudi Arabia Buildings and structures in Riyadh Sports venues in Saudi Arabia Athletics (track and field) venues in Saudi Arabia

Multi-purpose stadiums in Saudi Arabia 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup stadiums Venues of the 2034 Asian Games Asian Games football venues 1992 King Fahd Cup 1995 King Fahd Cup Sport in Riyadh Sports venues completed in 1987

Overview

Events

See also

References

External links